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Look Ahead 2019: Education — Attempt at levelling playing

field kicks off
By NAVENE ELANGOVAN

Raj Nadarajan/TODAY
Six-year-old Arielle Soon with her parents, Mr Justin Soon and Ms Rinn Khoo. Arielle will be part of the
first batch of Primary 1 students who will not have graded assessments.

Published 03 JANUARY, 2019

UPDATED 03 JANUARY, 2019

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SINGAPORE — Whenever six-year-old Arielle Soon returns home from her

childcare centre, she immediately whips out a piece of paper and pencil and
starts doodling.
Her interest in drawing prompted her father, Mr Justin Soon, 41, to enrol her for
art lessons. “We wanted to explore her interest with professional guidance,” said
Mr Soon.

On Wednesday (Jan 2), Arielle started Primary 1 at Alexandra Primary School.

While beginning school life can be stressful for any young child, a series of
sweeping changes in Singapore’s education system could give those like Arielle
more time to pursue other interests such as art.

The bubbly young girl is among the Pri 1 and Pri 2 students this year who will
not have weighted assessments. For Pri 2 students, they will no longer have a
year-end examination as well. The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced last
September that these will take effect from 2019.

There are about 40,600 enrolled in Pri 1 and 38,000 students in Pri 2 this year.

The changes in graded assessments in primary schools, as well as the removal of

mid-year examinations for Secondary 1 students, are part of a larger plan by the
MOE to reduce the over-emphasis on grades.

Read also: Look Ahead 2019: Education — New year, new school
for some JC students

The ministry’s move to cut examinations for the lower primary school levels was
met with cheers from some parents, including Mr Soon.

Calling it a “good first step”, the civil servant said: “Learning should not be based
on exams alone. It will give the wrong message to the kid that if you do well in
school, then everything will go well in life.”
With the removal of graded assessments, teachers can spend less time
preparing for exams and focus on improving their teaching methodologies, he
added.

There are other parents, though, who are taking it with some trepidation.

Ms Geeta Pillay Krishnan, 39, whose six-year-old son Arvind Pillay Khunaselvam
is in Pri 1 this year, is worried that the removal of graded assessments will leave
her without any means to gauge his academic performance.

“On one hand, you don’t want to stress the child, but then how will you
understand what level they are at and if they understand the lessons?” asked Ms
Krishnan, who is a teaching aide at a secondary school.

She added that with the lack of clear guidelines, it would be difficult for her to
know if her son has met the basic requirements for Pri 1.

Despite MOE’s assurance that students will still be given informal assessments
in class, Ms Krishnan is concerned that parents may not know how their
children are performing. Having the teachers provide constant feedback to
parents about their child’s performance would be the best solution, she
suggested.

Echoing Ms Krishnan’s sentiments, homemaker Alicia Phang, 34, whose son is in

Pri 2 this year, said that she was unsure if removing the year-end exam for the
cohort would be useful because her child will still have to sit for exams from Pri
3.

Tuitions centres here have stepped in to fill the gap, with one making its in-
house exams available to students who are not enrolled with the centre, while
others are introducing more enrichment classes and assessments to supplement
their offerings for primary and secondary school students.
LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD

Announcing the changes last year, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung said that it
was a “calibrated move” to send a strong signal that “we are at a strong position
of rigour, we can afford to unwind a bit without undermining the performance
outcomes of our students”.

MOE said then that the new policies would allow each student to focus on his or
her learning progress and discourage them from being overly concerned about
comparisons.

Aside from removing graded assessments and exams, changes will be made to
how the Holistic Development Profile, or report book, will be presented.
Qualitative descriptors will be used to report students’ learning in all subjects in
place of grades for Pri 1 and 2 students. Certain academic indicators such as
class and level positions will also be removed for all levels, to discourage
excessive peer comparison and ensure that students can focus on their learning
progress.

At an event in October last year, Mr Ong said that a focus on the “true spirit of
learning” was needed and that education was a holistic developmental
experience that went “far beyond grades and marks”.

Education experts contacted by TODAY said that while the removal of graded
assessments is a positive step, more time and measures are needed for
Singaporean parents to adjust their mindsets and reduce their emphasis on
grades.

Dr Timothy Chan, director of SIM Global Education’s academic division, said: “I

would not expect parents to stop pushing their children for academic excellence
just because exams are removed, but over time, hopefully, they can be convinced
that other life-skills such as interpersonal skills, communication skills and
cultural competence are equally, if not more important than academic results.”
Sharing the success stories of high achievers who were not top academic
performers could help shape the mindset of parents and students, he suggested.

In tandem with the changes in schools, the MOE is also looking into ensuring
that the education system remains a ladder for social mobility. It convened the
Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families (Uplift) taskforce in October last
year to strengthen support for students from disadvantaged families. Chaired by
Second Minister for Education Indranee Rajah, the taskforce will identify gaps
in areas such as the motivation of students, measures to tackle absenteeism and
dropout rates.

The recommendations of the taskforce are expected to be finalised in the first

half of 2019, and efforts will be tracked and evaluated over a one- to two-year
period to ensure they are effective.

Associate Professor Jason Tan from the National Institute of Education said that
the recommendations would provide an indication of the Government’s policy
strategies in tackling educational disadvantage. He thus expects education
inequalities to feature prominently on the policy agenda in 2019.

He added that the primary school admission system now is heavily weighted in
favour of those who come from good family backgrounds, with factors such as
the family’s area of residence, parents’ religious or clan affiliation, or parental
employment in school influencing which school a child attends.

To mitigate these factors, the ministry could identify students with potential in
various fields and help them develop their talents, so that they can qualify for the
direct school admission scheme.

However, he cautioned that with some parents tapping their resources and
networks to enhance their child’s educational success, levelling the playing field
in the education system will be akin to “chasing a moving target”. In this regard,
Assoc Prof Tan said that the Government has to introduce more schemes to help
disadvantaged students and reduce or eliminate the effects of structural barriers
within the education system that unduly favour students from advantaged
backgrounds. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ALFRED CHUA

WHAT’S UP FOR 2019

Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (Uplift):

The inter-agency taskforce led by Second Minister for Education Indranee

Rajah will look at how to strengthen support for students from
disadvantaged families. A key part of Uplift’s role will be directed at pre-

school and primary school children. The taskforce is expected to submit its
recommendations in the first half of 2019 following months of stakeholder
engagement.

Removal of examinations and other assessments:

From 2019, mid-year examinations for Sec 1 students will be removed. All
weighted assessments will be removed for Pri 1 and 2 students, including
end-of-year examinations for Pri 2 students.

The school report card — or Holistic Development Profile — will be

adjusted. For Pri 1 and 2 students, qualitative descriptors will be used to
describe a student’s learning progress, instead of grades. For all other

levels, academic indicators will be fine-tuned.

School mergers:

Four pairs of junior colleges will be merged and begin operations under a
combined identity. The newly merged JCs are Jurong Pioneer, Anderson
Serangoon, Yishun Innova and Tampines Meridian.
 Seven pairs of primary schools and three pairs of secondary schools will
also be merged.

Expansion of MOE kindergartens:

Seven new MOE kindergartens will be opened and will be co-located with
primary schools. They include Kranji Primary School, First Toa Payoh
Primary School and Fernvale Primary School. Another six are expected to

open in 2020, with the target of 50 MOE kindergartens to be in operation by

2023.

The new MOE kindergartens will collaborate with anchor operators PAP
Community Foundation Sparkletots Preschool and National Trades Union
Congress’ My First Skool to provide “a continuum of quality and affordable

pre-services for children aged two months to six years old”, the MOE said.

Review of admissions to institutes of higher learning:

The Institute of Technical Education will be reviewing its admissions

system from the 2019 admission cycle, with the aim of placing emphasis on
skills assessment and expanding aptitude-based assessment.

The Polytechnic Foundation Programme will be expanded to include

students who score an aggregate of up to 12 points, up from the previous 11
points. This will allow 300 more spaces for the 2019 cohort.

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