MOE to focus on tertiary, secondary education before turning to PSLE

23.05.2014

Changes to the PSLE scoring system will not be announced any time soon, says Education Minister Heng Swee Keat.

SINGAPORE: With the Character and Citizenship Education syllabus being rolled out in all schools, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will tilt its focus towards secondary and post-secondary education in the second half of the Government’s term, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Thursday (May 22).

Changes to the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) scoring system will not be announced any time soon, as the ministry embarks on the more immediate tasks, which will also pave the way for tweaks to the PSLE.

“Once I have announced the other pieces, I will come to tackle this piece (on PSLE),” said Mr Heng, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Singapore Polytechnic’s graduation ceremony.

High on the MOE’s agenda is the recommendations from the review of the polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) sector, which are slated to be released later this year. Apart from the review, Mr Heng said he would be watching closely the performances of the two new applied learning universities – SIM University and the Singapore Institute of Technology.

At the same time, Mr Heng said he will keep up the momentum on values education and also track how secondary schools are implementing the “applied learning” and “learning for life” programmes, which aim to help students connect academic knowledge and real-world skills as well as nurture their character.

By 2017, all schools have to introduce these programmes. “I would like to see a more distinctive and variegated school landscape,” he said.

Mr Heng reiterated that relooking the PSLE scoring system is not the last thing on the MOE’s agenda. He pointed out that changes to the PSLE will have to be integrated with all other policy changes.

“The PSLE changes that we will provide details of later must fit into this broader framework of a more distinctive secondary school landscape, so it’s not a standalone piece,” he added.

“It is a piece that is in support of major changes that we are making, to create more pathways to emphasis lifelong learning and learning of intangibles.”

Sectors: Education & Training
Countries: Singapore
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