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Parliamentary Replies

January 11, 2010

Secondary 4 Normal (Academic) Progression Rate

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mrs Josephine Teo, Member of Parliament of Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education

  1. if he will provide the reasons for the decline in the percentage of Secondary 4 Normal (Academic) students eligible for promotion to Secondary 5; and
  2. what more can be done to help Normal Stream students advance to post-secondary education.

Response

Over the past 10 years, there has been a slight decline in the proportion of Secondary 4 Normal (Academic) students eligible to progress to Secondary 5. Between 2000 and 2004, the proportion eligible to progress to Secondary 5 ranged between 78% and 80%. From 2005, it dropped slightly to between 75% and 77%1. This drop was due to earlier changes which allowed weaker students into the EM2 stream in primary schools, and who subsequently entered the Normal (Academic) course. Otherwise, the proportion eligible to progress to Secondary 5 would have increased. For the 2009 Secondary 4 cohort, 73.5% were eligible to progress to Secondary 52.

However, the progression rates to Secondary 5 would be the less important outcome to focus on. More importantly, MOE tracks the proportion of students who enter post-secondary educational institutions (PSEIs) such as the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), polytechnics or junior colleges after their secondary education. This is the more important determinant because these post-secondary qualifications provide students with good employability prospects—not the ‘O’ levels.

For example, if a student progresses to Secondary 5 but then does poorly at the ‘O’ levels, such that he cannot qualify for a polytechnic or junior college education, he may not have chosen the appropriate pathway. For these students, a more practical education at the ITE may have been more suited to their aptitude and provide better employment prospects or further education at the polytechnics later on. For students whose chances of doing well enough at the ‘O’ levels to qualify for polytechnics or junior colleges are low3, opting for an ITE education after Secondary 4 would make for a better choice than staying on one more year in Secondary 5.

To better help students choose their appropriate educational pathway, MOE introduced two changes in recent years which indeed meant that fewer students would progress to Secondary 5.

The first was the introduction (from January 2008) of a new direct pathway to ITE’s Higher NITEC courses after the ‘N’ levels, to provide an alternative to progressing to Secondary 5. The first beneficiaries were the 2007 Secondary 4 Normal (Academic) cohort. Under this option, students can start their Higher NITEC studies a year earlier instead of having to take their ‘O’ levels first. The response has been encouraging, with more than 360 students enrolling in the course each year. Normal (Academic) students who can benefit from the different learning approaches offered by the ITE are encouraged to consider taking up this option for post-secondary studies.

The second was to revise the promotion criterion from Secondary 4 Normal (Academic) to Secondary 5 for the 2009 Secondary 4 cohort, to make it more closely aligned to the admission requirements for the polytechnics. This is to ensure that those who do progress to Secondary 5 to take their ‘O’ levels would have a better chance of entering polytechnics or junior colleges. (Previously, students had to score an aggregate not exceeding 10 points for 3 subjects, and a Grade 5 or better for English. From 2009, they will need to score an aggregate not exceeding 19 points in English, Mathematics and 3 other subjects, and a Grade 5 or better for both English and Mathematics.)

Our approach in providing different educational pathways for students with different abilities and needs has worked well, with 93% of each Primary 1 cohort progressing to post-secondary education—30% in the junior colleges, 40% in the polytechnics, 20% in the ITE, and 3 to 4% in private education organisations. MOE will continue with our efforts to encourage as many students to further their studies in the PSEIs as possible.

Footnotes

  1. The progression rates from 2007 onwards take into account able students who were identified by their schools to bypass the ‘N’ levels and progress directly to Secondary 5. ↩
  2. This figure includes students who were assessed by their schools to be doing well academically and need not sit for the GCE ‘N’ Level examinations at the end of Secondary 4 Normal (Academic). ↩
  3. Over the past few years, some 40% of Secondary 5 students did not do well enough at the ‘O’ levels to qualify for polytechnics. ↩