Singapore’s Economic, Social and Cultural Status’ Slope Ranking of Second out of 79 in PISA

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Assoc Prof Kenneth Goh, Nominated Member of Parliament

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) how the Ministry assesses Singapore's economic, social and cultural status (ESCS) slope ranking of second out of 79 in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) systems, given that comparable high-performing systems such as Japan and Korea rank significantly lower; (b) what specific measures target a reduction in this slope; and (c) what progress is expected.

Response

1. Based on our Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, Singapore has a steeper slope representing the association between the socio-economic status (SES) background and performance of our students, compared to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average and most other systems. This is because, while our students from our lower-SES homes, as a group, performed better than their OECD counterparts with similar SES, our students from higher-SES homes outperformed their peers by an even larger margin. This differential gives rise to the steeper slope.
2. One simplistic way to flatten the slope is to stop our higher-performing students from doing so well. But that is not educationally sound and goes against our education philosophy of helping all students to develop to their full potential.
3. The Ministry of Education (MOE) is committed to uplifting students who need more help, without capping the potential of those who can excel. We do so through targeted measures, such as providing additional support to students who come from lower-income households or who have higher needs, including school-based after-school programmes for students from more challenging home environments.