Press Releases
Strengthening the Foundation for Future Learning - Enhancing Primary Education
Primary education forms the foundation for future learning, providing our pupils with a broad-based education. The Ministry of Education (MOE) is conducting a review of primary education to explore how schools can enhance holistic learning to better prepare our pupils for the future. In particular, we seek to strike a better balance between equipping our pupils with foundational knowledge and developing in them the skills and values that will prepare them for life. We want our children to be confident, retain a sense of curiosity and the desire to learn, be able to communicate clearly and work well in teams and across cultures. We also want them to be contributing citizens and individuals of good character.
Laying out the broad directions of the review at MOE’s annual Work Plan Seminar on 25 September 2008, Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence, highlighted two strategies for a more balanced primary education:
- Enhancing academic and co-curricular programmes to nurture lifeskills and develop character in our pupils from a young age; and
- Moving towards single-session primary schools to create more space and time for holistic learning.
Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Education, will chair a Committee to look into these strategies and explore others to enhance primary education. The Primary Education Review and Implementation (PERI) Committee will be consulting various stakeholders including school leaders, teachers, parents, pupils and the public, on this initiative in the next few months. The Committee is expected to put up its detailed recommendations by March 2009.
Enhancing Academic and Co-Curricular Programmes
The new PERI Committee, led by Ms Grace Fu, will review the teaching and learning strategies in primary school, so as to provide more platforms to effectively develop key lifeskills and inculcate values in our pupils. These strategies could include the use of innovative pedagogical approaches in the classroom, such as group work and oral presentation, as well as out of the classroom, such as drama and outdoor education.
More opportunities will also be provided for all primary school pupils to participate in Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) as a means to promote leadership, inculcate values, develop character and hone life-skills. The PERI Committee will look into providing CCAs for all primary school pupils, with the possibility of introducing modular CCAs for Primary 1 and Primary 2 pupils within curriculum time. This broad exposure will help pupils identify their interests and talents earlier, and help them develop ‘softer’ skills.
To ensure that students have the financial resources to participate in more CCAs and enrichment programmes, MOE will increase the contribution to Edusave Accounts for pupils from the current $180 to $200 per year for primary pupils, and $220 per year to $240 for secondary pupils from January 2009. In addition, MOE will lift the current age cap for Edusave eligibility and extend the Edusave contributions to all Singaporeans students at the secondary level, regardless of age. The current policy is to give Edusave contributions only to Singaporean students between 6 years and 16 years of age. The lifting of the age cap would allow students who join school late or take a longer time to complete their secondary studies access to additional financial support from Edusave. This will allow students to co-pay for more enrichment programmes to enhance their learning in school.
Creating More Time and Space Through Single-Session Primary Schools
To provide a more holistic learning experience for our children, teachers will require more time to make use of innovative pedagogies to instruct and interact with each pupil. In turn, pupils will also need more time to practise and develop the skills taught. To provide a more conducive environment for our schools to achieve this, the PERI Committee will study the details of moving all primary schools to a single-session structure within a reasonable timeframe. In its study, the Committee will take into consideration the experience of the existing partial and full single-session primary schools.
Since 2004, the Ministry has been moving from double-session schools to partial single-session schools to allow Primary 3 to 6 pupils to be able to utilise the freed-up facilities in the afternoon for enrichment programmes and CCA activities. Some of the schools have been able to move further and operate as single-session primary schools. Currently, we have 72 single-session primary schools. Whilst the partial single-session model has been very helpful to primary schools, it still places significant time and space constraints on schools as they find it challenging to schedule and conduct CCAs and other programmes that can help develop pupils’ lifeskills, character and values.
Schools that have moved to single-session have shared positive feedback on how operating at single-session has provided them with a better environment to develop their pupils more holistically, as they have more time and space to plan and accomplish what they want to achieve for their pupils’ education.
A single-session structure will allow for more time and flexibility in organising the school day. Pupils can benefit from more contact time with their teachers, and higher quality teacher-pupil interaction. It will allow teachers to use the classroom environment more fully to achieve learning outcomes, without being constrained by having to cater to pupils from different levels sharing the same classroom. It will also enable schools to set a common time for greater professional exchange, so that teachers from all levels can interact and learn from one another to raise the level of instruction, and allow for seamless mapping of curriculum and teaching strategies from Primary 1 to 6.