In an attempt to make education free of competition, the Education Minister of Singapore Ong Ye Kung has proposed the stop the ranking system in the exams. He said that no one should know who stood first or last in the class. For this a new report card format has been proposed which will include a lot of other things such as:
- Class and level mean
- Minimum and maximum marks
- Underlining and/or colouring of failing marks
- Pass/fail for the end-of-year result
- Mean subject grades
- Overall total marks
- L1R5 (English plus five relevant subjects), L1R4 , EMB3 (English, maths, best three subjects) and EMB1 for lower secondary levels
Purpose
The main purpose of the changes is to shift the focus of the students from competition to learning. The education minister believes that there is no point in comparing oneself with the other.
How will the assessment take place in the class?
- Apart form holistic discussions in the class there will be quizzes and homework to measure the performance of the students In place of grades, ‘qualitative descriptors’ will be used to evaluate the children
- Marks will be presented without the use of decimal points which will reduce the focus on the marks
- Report cards will be given to the parents during the parent-teacher meetings.
In an address to some 1,700 school leaders earlier this week, Mr Ong said: "I know that 'coming in first or second', in class or level, has traditionally been a proud recognition of a student's achievement. But removing these indicators is for a good reason, so that the child understands from young that learning is not a competition, but a self-discipline they need to master for life. Notwithstanding, the report book should still contain some form of yardstick and information to allow students to judge their relative performance, and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.”
Tags: Report Cards
Reforms In Education
No Ranking System
Singapore Education Minister
Ong Ye Kung
