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COMMENTARY: “The Major College Leaving Examination (PSLE) is a crucial checkpoint, however we can not let it eat us. If we connect an excessive amount of significance to the examination, it should develop to turn into a trial of horrifying disproportions, and our youngsters shall be daunted and afraid.”
The content material of this text was initially revealed on Jul. 15, as a LinkedIn put up titled “Taking Examinations within the Proper Spirit”, by the Ministry of Schooling (MOE)’s Director-Basic of Schooling, Liew Wei Li, herself a mum or dad of two kids who’ve taken the PSLE.
The put up is reproduced right here in full, courtesy of MOE.
By Liew Wei Li
It’s three weeks into the brand new college time period, and the June holidays are more likely to be a pleasing reminiscence within the recollections of many households. For some households although, the June holidays might have had rather less vacation cheer.
As an educator for greater than 25 years, I’ve heard of fogeys taking break day work and college students taking on further teaching through the college holidays within the yr of the Major College Leaving Examination (PSLE) – making it nearly a whole-family affair. The truth is, intensive revision for some college students begins sooner than June.
For a lot of dad and mom, the nervousness is contagious. If you hear of how some dad and mom help their kids, it’s possible you’ll really feel aware or troubled that you haven’t achieved as a lot. I actually have two kids, and regardless of being an educator who’s aware of the design of examinations and the help colleges and lecturers present to our college students, I’m nonetheless not immune. Frankly, that’s the reason I exited the mum or dad WhatsApp group chats for each my kids.
By way of nationwide examinations, the PSLE appears to draw essentially the most stress. Oddly sufficient, the GCE N, O, and A degree examinations are harder whether or not we choose by examination demand, proportion of higher-order questions or grades. Maybe it has to do with the secondary colleges we hope our youngsters will be capable of progress to, or that the PSLE papers are extra accessible to us as dad and mom. It may be that our youngsters are nonetheless at an age the place many dad and mom, myself included, are nonetheless studying to let go.
In 2021, our society was all abuzz when it was reported that some kids returned dwelling crying concerning the “Helen and Ivan” query after the PSLE Arithmetic paper. On the coronary heart of the matter, no mum or dad ever needs for his or her little one to turn into dissatisfied whereas within the pursuit of their objectives. As dad and mom, we want to multiply our youngsters’s joys, while defending them from adversities and harm. But we can not defend them from all of the difficulties and setbacks that they might face in life. Checks and examinations, similar to sports activities or arts competitions, are some early alternatives for us to show our youngsters about braveness, and having the resilience and willpower, to work in direction of our objectives.
To journey with our youngsters, I placed on my educator’s hat to assist us perceive the aim of examinations, and the way they’re designed. Take coronary heart. No instructor nor exam-setter ever units out to inflict stress.
PSLE requirements are stored constant by way of the years.
Whereas lately, particular arithmetic issues have been the centre of public dialogue and debate, such questions are literally few and much between throughout the examination. You will need to keep in mind that the general commonplace of any examination paper is set by the combo of questions as a complete, and never by simply the “Helen and Ivan” query for that yr.
In Singapore, the PSLE is stored at a constant commonplace of issue throughout the years. This commonplace is maintained by capping the proportion of questions which are labeled as “difficult” at 15 per cent annually. What this implies is that there’ll solely be a couple of difficult questions set annually, making up about 15 marks of the paper.
Therefore, the PSLE is designed to cater to college students of various talents. The vast majority of questions are accessible to most college students, with a small variety of questions permitting stronger college students to exhibit their mastery of the topic.
PSLE offers data on how a lot our youngsters have learnt
As a checkpoint on the finish of major college, the PSLE offers us with a snapshot of studying — to take inventory of the place the kid is, when it comes to studying, and what their particular person strengths and weaknesses are.
It’s worthwhile to keep in mind that with the brand new PSLE Achievement Degree (AL) scoring system, each kid’s AL is really a mirrored image of their very own mastery of the topic. There is no such thing as a bell curve, and no quotas imposed on the variety of college students for every AL band. The truth is, as a result of the vast majority of college students discover the PSLE requirements manageable, their scores are sometimes distributed in direction of the upper finish, with nearly 50 per cent of scholars attaining 75 marks or extra (AL4 or higher) throughout all PSLE topics.
Cohort efficiency apart, on the finish of the day, each mum or dad desires our little one to have choices. The PSLE outcomes present essential data on the form of academic decisions which are appropriate for our youngsters, primarily based on their present talents. They assist us information our youngsters to make applicable secondary college and subject-level decisions.
Pursue progress, not perfection
The PSLE is each a standard and private expertise for a lot of. Some might even go as far as to say that journeying with their kids by way of the PSLE, and receiving their outcomes with them, is a ceremony of passage for a lot of Singaporean dad and mom.
I’ve gone by way of the PSLE twice as a mum or dad myself. One in every of my kids struggled with studying Arithmetic. She needed to study by herself and I revered her want and willpower. Sooner or later whereas doing her maths revision, she broke down and cried. I hugged her and stated that regardless of her grades, we might all the time love her unconditionally. Her optimistic angle and diligence in direction of studying was ok. I took her for a stroll to get her favorite yoghurt, and left off the revision train till she was prepared to choose it up once more.
I’m glad that her PSLE rating guided us to colleges that had been paced proper for her. It was her fantastic arithmetic instructor in secondary college that helped her overcome her concern of the topic and even gave her the boldness to take Extra Arithmetic in higher secondary. After we reward and encourage our youngsters for the trouble they put in, our youngsters might begin to see that studying and progress are extra essential than grades or attaining the right end result.
With the implementation of Full Topic-Based mostly Banding in secondary colleges from 2024, and the enlargement of a number of post-sec pathways, there shall be many extra alternatives for every pupil to develop and blossom at their very own tempo, all through their training journey
The PSLE is a crucial checkpoint, however we can not let it eat us. If we connect an excessive amount of significance to the examination, it should develop to turn into a trial of horrifying disproportions, and our youngsters shall be daunted and afraid.
Finally, when colleges, lecturers, and oldsters, function mannequin the fitting views and attitudes in direction of such milestones, our youngsters will study to construct the resilience they should face challenges sooner or later. Each setback is a studying alternative, each mistake a second likelihood we give to ourselves. Our youngsters’s long-term progress issues greater than the brief time period outcomes. Allow us to spur them on to be higher variations of themselves—variations that you just and I will be happy with.
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High picture through Liew Wei Li on Fb and MOE
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