Correlation between PSLE Results and Socio-economic Status in Past Two Years

1 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Education (a) in the past two years, whether it has been found that PSLE results are significantly correlated with social economic status; (b) if yes, how does the Ministry intend to reduce the correlation; and (c) if no analysis has been conducted on this issue, whether the Ministry intends to study this issue further.

The Second Minister for Education (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, globally across education systems, students from higher socio-economic backgrounds tend to perform better. This is reflected in OECD’s study of 15-year-olds across more than 70 economies participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA. In Singapore, there is similarly some correlation between socio-economic background and PSLE results.

This is not unexpected, as parents with more resources are able to support their children’s learning and provide them with a head-start in life. However, we must work hard against the natural tendency of societies to stratify, so as to maintain social cohesion and to give our children a good start in life, regardless of their background.

In this regard, our education system plays a crucial role in levelling up opportunities and support for students from less advantaged backgrounds to develop their potential. MOE pays close attention to this issue and provides significantly more support to students with higher needs.

For example, we provide dedicated support for children needing support in basic numeracy and literacy skills through the Learning Support Programme for English and Mathematics in Primary 1 and 2 students. After Primary 2, higher-needs students who require more academic support are helped through programmes such as the Reading Remediation Programme and Improving Confidence and Achievement in Numeracy programme.

Some students also have needs that extend beyond academic support. This is why we have launched the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (UPLIFT), which I currently chair, to enhance our upstream wraparound support for such students. Our efforts comprise strengthening after-school engagement and care through school-based Student Care Centres in Primary schools and after-school programmes in Secondary schools, as well as partnering the community to support students’ families through the UPLIFT Community Network. Schools with a higher proportion of students in need also receive more manpower and funds to support whole-school interventions for their students.

Sir, encouragingly, our students from less advantaged backgrounds do well compared to their international counterparts. OECD’s PISA study, for example, has found that compared to other high-performing systems, Singapore’s students from the bottom-25% of socio-economic background not only outperform their international counterparts of similar socio-economic background, but also out-perform the OECD average in all core domains assessed in PISA.

We will continue to press on to further strengthen support for these students, such as with the expansion of UPLIFT initiatives. Through this approach of tilting more resources and help towards students with greater needs, we will lean against the entrenchment of socio-economic advantages and ensure that our education system continues to provide opportunities for Singaporeans in each generation to succeed and realise their potential.

Mr Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Thank you, Sir. And I thank the Second Minister for the reply and the good work that UPLIFT has been doing. Could I ask, over the last two years, whether the correlation between PSLE scores and socio-economic status has been increasing or decreasing. And two, are we tracking whether the children involved in the UPLIFT programme are actually doing better as compared to their peers who are not involved in the UPLIFT programme?

So, specifically, whether the Primary school students in the UPLIFT programme are going into Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) or the Express streams after their PSLE?

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, I thank Mr Louis Ng for his supplementary question. On the correlation, it has been stable over the last five years – it has not been going up, not going down. We will continue to do our best to ensure that we provide the resources to help our students from disadvantaged backgrounds to continue to do well.

On the outcomes of UPLIFT, I hope Mr Ng will give us some time. We just started in 2018 and the initial outcomes have been quite encouraging. We see more students' attendance improving. We are tracking and monitoring different components of the programme. And I will share a bit more during MOE's Committee of Supply (COS) later this afternoon.