News and Announcements | Singapore Maths Tuition

We must become a meritocracy of skills, not a hierarchy of grades earned early in life

October 12, 2019 by Maths Statistics Science Tutor

12 October 2019

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung announced earlier this year that the Government is doing away with the Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) and Express streams. From 2024, all secondary students enrolling into Sec 1 will sit for a common examination at the end of Sec 4, but will be allowed to take a mix of subjects at three levels of difficulty G1, G2 and G3, with G3 being the most difficult. This subject-based banding system replaces streaming.

Thanks to meritocracy, a generation or two achieved upward social mobility; they became well-off parents themselves. What their own parents could not afford, they can now pour resources into, such as extra classes, to give their offspring a head start in life. But not everyone can afford such expenditure, and those who can’t risk being left behind in the academic race. A vicious circle takes root and social inequality widens.

Deputy Prime Minister and then Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in his Budget speech in 2015: “We must become a meritocracy of skills, not a hierarchy of grades earned early in life.”

The scrapping of streaming from 2024 is a good first step. But while rules and processes impact the overall system, for any meaningful change to take place, change has to happen at the individual level.

The best thing that has come out of the latest move to scrap streaming from 2024 is to spark a discussion – at home, in classrooms, coffee shops, WhatsApp groups and workplaces – on these questions: what defines success; what kind of society do we aspire to become; and what new normal we hope to achieve in our education landscape.

Singapore’s growing tuition industry and the need to select the right tutor for the student

October 9, 2019 by Maths Statistics Science Tutor

09 October 2019

Singapore households spent S$1.4 billion on tuition, based on the Household Expenditure Survey conducted by the Department of Statistics from October 2017 to September 2018.

The growth of the tuition industry in Singapore is fuelled primarily by two factors: Increasing average real incomes of households and the desire for parents to see their children keep up with the competition.

The fact that anyone can be a freelance tutor in Singapore implies that we have a spectrum of tutors, differing in terms of quality.

There is a need to educate students and their parents so that they will be empowered to select their tutors effectively.

In selecting tutors, students should ask:

(i) Does this tutor have a proven track record?

(ii) Does he / she possess the necessary qualifications to teach the subject?

(iii) Has my appreciation of the subject increased since I started receiving coaching from him/her?

Choosing tutors based on these considerations rather than a focus on the tuition fees will enable students to select tutors who will more effectively help them.

The Early Admissions Exercise for Singapore Polytechnics

June 6, 2019 by Maths Statistics Science Tutor

06 June 2019

The Early Admissions Exercise (EAE) offered by Singapore’s five polytechnics is an aptitude-based admissions exercise, as opposed to an admissions exercise purely based on GCE O Level examination results.

The EAE allows students to receive conditional offers for admission to polytechnics prior to receiving their final examination grades. The school determines the applicant’s suitability based on interest, portfolio and performance during the interview.

The EAE is part of the Ministry of Education’s efforts at expanding aptitude-based admissions, in an overall move away from a pure emphasis on academic results. Under the EAE, polytechnics have greater flexibility to admit students through course-specific talents.

Since the exercise started in 2016, the EAE annual intake across five polytechnics has increased from the initial guideline of 2.5 per cent to nearly 20 per cent this year.

Mr Boo Chong-Han, deputy principal of Republic Polytechnic’s Student Services and Organisational Development said: “The EAE is an excellent opportunity for (students) to pursue a course of study that is aligned with their interests. At Republic Polytechnic, we will help them develop their interests and talents so that they become professionals equipped with the necessary technical and soft skills to achieve successful careers.”

New common national examination for secondary school students

April 25, 2019 by Maths Statistics Science Tutor

25 April 2019

A new common national examination will be introduced by the Ministry of Education in 2027 to replace the current GCE O- and N-Level examinations.

With subject-based banding in force by then, there will be a revised secondary school curriculum and each subject will be categorised into three tiers: General 1 (G1), General 2 (G2), and General 3 (G3).

Under the new national examination, all Secondary 4 students will get a common certificate, which will list the subjects completed and the standard band of each subject.

Mr Ong said that the certificate will be co-certified by both Cambridge Assessment and Singapore “as both are strong international brand names in education, which will enhance the recognition and value of the certificate”.

The new examination framework will affect admissions into post-secondary institutions such as the junior colleges, polytechnics, and the Institutes of Technical Education.

Singapore universities moving away from module bidding systems

April 20, 2019 by Maths Statistics Science Tutor

20 April 2019

Under a new module allocation system implemented at the National University of Singapore, students will no longer bid for modules but instead will be allocated modules based on their needs and preferences.

Under the revised system, students will submit a list of up to 20 modules along with their preferred lecture and tutorial slots. They will be allocated modules based on their student’s faculty, declared major and minor, and year of study.

Professor Bernard Tan, NUS senior vice-provost (undergraduate education), said that the university is consulting students to gather feedback on the proposed new system, which is expected to be piloted in August.

Singapore Management University is the only other university using a module bidding system. Other local universities are already using the allocation method for students to register for classes. At Singapore University of Technology and Design for example, first-year students are assigned modules based on their cohort class groupings.

At Nanyang Technological University, students register for courses at the start of each semester through the Student Automated Registration System.

Worries remain over Integrated Programme schools being exempt from the latest changes to education model

March 20, 2019 by Maths Statistics Science Tutor

20 March 2019

While Singaporeans have largely welcomed the latest move to scrap streaming and improve social mixing in Singapore’s schools, some have voiced concerns that the Integrated Programme (IP) schools have been spared these changes.

There are 17 IP schools, including Raffles Institution and Anglo-Chinese School (Independent). The IP schools, as well as a handful of other MOE schools such as Crescent Girls’ School and Anglican High School, take in only Express stream students.

National Institute of Education lecturer Jason Tan said parents believe that the peer influence in IP schools will benefit their children. By contrast, these parents may also believe that Normal stream students are a bad influence on their own child’s behaviour and motivation.

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar, who sits on the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, said that ideally, all schools should be fully integrated and do not make distinctions among students of different abilities.

A secondary school teacher, who declined to be named, said: “A lot of parents have concerns about peer influence, but they have never thought that their children must be taught to mix with the right people in any environment they are in.”

The benefits of abolishing streaming in Singapore’s schools

March 11, 2019 by Maths Statistics Science Tutor

11 March 2019

To replace streaming, the Ministry of Education has introduced subject-based banding, where students will take a combination of subjects at different levels according to their strengths. Secondary school students will also sit for a common exam, as opposed to segregated N-Level and O-Level examinations.

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung said this change will be implementing at a pace that takes into account the trade-offs, complexities and the immense impact it will have on students.

Taking away the Normal and Express labels is significant, in part because such a move recognizes the fact that students are endowed with varying and diverse strengths.

Students will also get to spend most of the school day in mixed-ability classes, and learn how to interact across the board with peers of varying ability.

These changes will help educators customise education for students, while minimising the effect of labelling and stigmatisation.

Singapore’s social stratification would have been worse without streaming in the past

March 8, 2019 by Maths Statistics Science Tutor

09 March 2019

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has said in Parliament that without streaming in the past, Singapore’s social stratification would have been worse.

In the early years of Singapore’s independence in the 1970s, a third of every cohort dropped out of school. Today, the figure is less than 1 per cent. This is due to the system of streaming, Mr Ong asserted.

Streaming was introduced from the 1980s to arrest the high school attrition rate, and the Normal (Technical) stream was introduced in 1994. Singapore had to move away from a one-size-fits-all education system because if students could not catch up with their lessons, they would lose interest and drop out of school.

“We are now ready to take a further, major move,” said Mr Ong. This includes the roll-out of full subject-based banding starting next year, and then the end of streaming in 2024.

Mr Ong said he was confident that the new system will benefit many students.

“The school system will become far more flexible than today, so that we can customise learning to the student, to give them time to blossom at different points in their lives, while anchoring the belief that we can grow and get better,” said Mr Ong.