At the 2022 budget debate in parliament (7 March), Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing tried to explain why tests and exams in our schools cause so much stress: Because we use it to compare ourselves/ our children to others, rather than...
Research and Resources
Category: Insights
Report Summary: Academic Stress Among Primary Schoolers in Singapore
If you’ve only got a minute: EveryChild.SG interviewed 15 Singapore-based child psychologists and psychiatrists for a report on the potential link between academic stress during primary school and poor mental health among young...
Open Letter from Educators on Education Reform
Dear Prime Minister, Subject: Proposal from Educators for Reforming Primary Education in Singapore In your 2020 speech at the NUS115 Distinguished Speaker Series, as the former Minister for Education, you had highlighted the critical...
How To Reduce Class Sizes in Primary School
MOE recently published a parliamentary reply and an EdTalk piece on reducing class sizes and how class sizes are determined. MOE admits that “a typical form class size is around 40 students” and its current explanation for why...
3 Facts about PSLE Every Singaporean Should Know
How does PSLE in its current form benefit your child? If no-one, including MOE, has been able to clearly explain to you the benefits of PSLE, it's because there aren’t any! PSLE is just a hurdle every parent in Singapore knows they have...
Why Foreigners are Shocked at our Class Sizes
Well, because our primary school class sizes are so much larger than other developed countries! Our primary school class sizes are also larger than private schools catering to upper-middle and high-income families in developing countries:...
21st Century Competency (21CC) and PSLE – “Neither can live while the other survives!”
Staying Relevant How do we prepare our youth to be successful in a rapidly evolving working environment? With increasing automation, digitisation, and AI, what are job-creators looking for from job-seekers? Ask any business or employer...
Busting the Myth: Game Theory Explains Why Reducing PSLE Pressure Can’t Be Done by ‘Shifting Mindsets’
The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is an academic milestone for 12-year-olds in Singapore that places massive stress and pressure on students, parents and teachers. The government has long argued that what is required is a...
Why Focusing on Continuing Education Alone Won’t Save Us
Our government tends to focus on a few major initiatives at any given time, mostly because our Cabinet Ministers have to ‘pick their battles’ for the relatively short time they are in a portfolio. Our recent Education Ministers seem to...
Student Perspective: A First-hand Comparison of Primary 6 in a Local vs. an International School
As a student, I have had the unique experience of attending one of Singapore's top-ranked local primary schools, where I sat for the PSLE, after which I transferred to Grade 6 in an international system school in Singapore. This journey...