Forum Letter Replies
Exam Papers and School Placement for Homeschoolers
In his letter, Mr Rocknathan (“Home-schooled PSLE pupils’ problems”, My Paper, 26/11 and “Different benchmark and posting exercise for homeschoolers”, ST online, 1/12) queried on the benchmarks for home-schooling students; the review of examination papers and secondary school placement for home-schooling students.
Under Compulsory Education, students who are exempted from studying in our national schools, are exempted on the basis that they are adequately prepared in terms of acquiring core knowledge to equip them for further education and the world of work. Hence, they are required to take the PSLE.
The PSLE benchmarks for designated schools (madrasahs and San Yu Adventist School) and home-schooling students were developed taking into account the profile of the students who wish to be exempted from Compulsory Education. The implementation of Compulsory Education, including the setting of benchmarks, was decided after extensive public consultation and taking into consideration inputs from individuals and groups.
The benchmarks for San Yu Adventist and home-schoolers were pegged at the 33rd percentile PSLE aggregate score of all merged stream pupils who took the PSLE in that same year. The respective benchmarks and the need to meet these benchmarks from 2008 were communicated to the designated schools and home-schoolers since 2003.
Mr Rocknathan queried if the review of examination scripts should be conducted by an independent party. The Singapore Examination and Assessment Board (SEAB) follows an established code of practice to ensure that the marking and review processes are rigorously conducted. This code of practice is in line with the practice of other examination boards.
Mr Rocknathan also queried on the secondary school placement for home-schooling students. As the Secondary One Posting Exercise is a placement exercise for students from our national primary schools who are progressing to our national secondary schools, home-schoolers and students from the designated schools are not included in the exercise. For these students, sitting for the PSLE is the means to ascertain that they have been adequately prepared in the core academic subjects. Home-schoolers and students from the designated schools are welcomed to enrol in our national schools. Instead of going through the Secondary One Posting Exercise, they can approach the schools that they wish to be enrolled in directly or seek MOE’s facilitation for admission.
We thank Mr Rocknathan for his feedback and encourage him to approach MOE directly for further information or clarification.
Head, Compulsory Education
Ministry of Education
Director, Corporate Services
Singapore Examination and Assessment Board
Home-schooled PSLE pupils’ problems (George Rocknathan, My Paper, 26/11, pA16)
Different benchmark and posting exercise for homeschoolers (George Rocknathan, ST online, 1/12)
My wife and I decided to home-school our son, Simon-Kyle Rocknathan, in 2006. The Ministry of Education (MOE) gave its approval and granted us exemption from compulsory education.
We educated our son in accordance with the stipulations set by MOE. He took the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) this year and received an aggregate score of 242. He scored A* for Mathematics and Science, an A for English and a B for Chinese as a second language.
We were then informed by MOE that “there is a different benchmark for home-schoolers” and that “the Secondary 1 Posting Exercise does not include home-schooled pupils who sat for the PSLE and wish to enter national secondary schools”.
Home-schooled pupils were to approach schools directly for admission or approach the MOE for assistance in seeking admission to a school with vacancies.
There are three issues at hand:
Firstly, why is there a different benchmark for home-schoolers when they sat for the same PSLE papers as their peers in national schools?
They should be assessed on equal grounds as their mainstream peers.
Should there be any moderation, it should be done on an equal basis as all pupils took the same exams.
Five of the seven homeschooled candidates who must resit their exam next year had grades that would have qualified them for secondary school.
Secondly, when we asked MOE if there was a provision for the exam papers to be reviewed, it replied that we could apply to have the exam papers reviewed by “an official from the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB)”.
PSLE papers were marked by the SEAB. Shouldn’t an independent party be appointed for the review for such a major national exam?
Thirdly, there appears to be discrimination against home-schoolers when it comes to the Secondary 1 Posting Exercise.
Mainstream pupils are required to submit their six secondary-school choices by Nov 26. Home-schoolers need only submit their three choices through the MOE by Dec 12, after which MOE will facilitate the admission application to a “school with vacancy”.
This procedure is normally adopted for mainstream pupils who have fared poorly and cannot be admitted to a school of their choice.
With the above in mind, the purpose of obtaining good grades by a home-schooler in the PSLE is undermined.
We would appreciate it if these areas of concern could be addressed and remedied.