Changes in streaming

MOE announces change in the Secondary School Streaming from 2024 Onwards.

On 5th March, the Ministry of Education announced a major change in the secondary school streaming system. Previously, students would be divided into 3 streams: the Express, the Normal Academic (N(A)), and the Normal Technical (N(T)) streams. Students in the N(A) and N(T) streams take the Normal level (N-levels) examinations which allocates them to places in Polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education (ITE) based on the marks they achieve. Instead of the N-levels, students in the express stream take the Ordinary levels (O-levels) that allocate them to Polytechnics and Junior Colleges (JC) based on their results.

However, after forty years, the Ministry of Education has decided to tweak the current system in an attempt to break the walls of stigma between the different streams. According to Education Minister Ong Ye Kung, “entering a stream that is considered 'lower' can carry a certain stigma or be self-limiting (to the student).”

The new change would have students take individual subjects based on their strength, essentially streaming students based on individual subjects instead of having them take all subjects at the same level in the stream. Subjects will now be divided into 3 levels, G1, G2 and G3, with G standing for "general". The content taught in G3, G2 and G1 is roughly similar to that taught in Express, N(A) and N(T) streams respectively.

Students who attain scores between 4 to 20 in the achievement levels in their PSLE will be eligible to take all their subjects at G3 level, while students who attain 21-22 will be eligible for G2 or G3 subjects and so on, as depicted in the figure below.

According to the ministry, the subject bands are able to help students who are talented at a particular subject but perhaps not that able in other subjects.

For instance, in the previous system, if a student gets a D in Math, English and Chinese but a B in Science, he would have to take all his subjects at an N(T) level. However, as per in the new policy, the same student would be able to attain 22 points and would be able to at least take his Science at an N(A) level, serving to nurture his passion in the subject while allowing him to work on his other subjects.

In Secondary 4, they will "take a common national examination and graduate with a common secondary school certificate" says Mr Ong during the Parliament debate, much to the approval of many members of Parliament.

The new policy will be implemented from 2024 onwards, with IP and IB school not unaffected by the banding changes and will still offering the "through-train" programme where students do not have to take their O-level examinations.

Along with the new streaming, The ministry also wants schools to avoid dividing students based on academic abilities but rather mix students from different socio-environments to ensure better social cohesion. An example of a secondary school implementing this policy would be Boon Lay Secondary, which places students in the same Co-Curricular Activities in the same class.

Almost immediately after the policy was announced, many people voiced their support for the new system as they feel that labelling students from young do have detrimental effects on their self-confidence. However, some people have explained their concern that "G1", "G2" and "G3" can simply be taken as different names for N(T), N(A) and Express streams and thus does not have the effect the Ministry intends.

References:

Hermesauto. (2019, March 05). Streaming into Normal and Express in secondary schools to stop in 2024: 8 things to know. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/will-there-still-be-secondary-five-and-other-questions-answere-as-streaming-is

Subject-based banding won't slow down teaching, says Ong Ye Kung. (2019, March 10). Retrieved from https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/subject-based-banding-wont-slow-down-teaching-says-ong-ye-kung

Teng, A. (2019, March 08). End of Normal, Express streaming: How PSLE score will decide subject levels in Sec 1 from 2024. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/how-psle-score-will-decide-subject-levels-in-sec-1-from-2024