Review to Ensure Continued Relevance of GCE “A" Level Curriculum for Singapore Schools

18 Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Education having regard to the trend of students taking the International Baccalaureate instead of the GCE “A” levels, the continued popularity of Polytechnics amongst students eligible for Junior Colleges (JCs) and overseas universities offering places to students who complete pre-university foundation courses, whether there will be a review to ensure the continued relevance of the GCE "A" Level curriculum at MOE schools.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Question No 18 has been asked. Dr Maliki, are you answering?

The Second Minister for Education (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman) (for the Minister for Education): Yes, I am answering. The GCE “A” Level programme, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and Polytechnic diploma programmes are different pathways that offer choice and opportunities for students of different interests and profiles.

MOE regularly reviews the GCE “A” Level curriculum to ensure its continued relevance. For example, Project Work and the contrasting subject requirement were introduced to promote collaborative problem solving and broaden learning. In addition, we are also in the midst of reviewing the overall curriculum and assessment demand across the general education system to identify ways to further strengthen the development of 21st Century Competencies in our students.

These reviews ensure that our GCE “A” Level curriculum continues to provide our students with the essential knowledge, skills and dispositions to articulate smoothly to the next stage of learning, and to thrive at work and in life. The pre-university institutions have therefore remained a popular pathway among students eligible for the GCE “A” Level programme.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Murali Pillai.

Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Thank you, Sir. May I ask the hon Minister whether he can look into having better pathways for GCE “A” Level students who have passed the exams, but cannot get into universities. Perhaps there could be foundation courses run by local universities, so they can later on apply to universities. Or for example, there could be transferred credits, so they can go to Polytechnics.

The second supplementary question is in relation to GCE "A" Level students who fail their exams. Can MOE consider offering exams in June, so they do not have to wait the entire year, and hopefully they can then move on and consider the next step without loss of too much time?

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, I thank the Member for his two questions. The first question is on pathways for GCE “A” Level students who have finished their GCE “A” Levels, but may not have made it to universities. Of course, we know that students who do the GCE “A” Level programme set their sights to go to university but some do not make it. What we try to do now is to offer different pathways. Some of them do decide to subsequently go into the Polytechnics and when the Polytechnics admit these students, they get some advanced standings. Some of the students who are admitted with their GCE “A” Level qualifications go straight to the second year. It really depends on the credentials that the GCE “A” Level students come in with.

We are also looking at how we can develop this whole concept of micro-credentialing with our Universities. For example, SIT has started with conceptualising micro-credentialing, in which students will take modules at different points in time, during their career. The broader concept we are introducing to our students is that you do not necessarily have to see the university as your immediate end point after your GCE “A” Levels. Even those who qualify immediately do not necessarily have to go directly to the universities. We do encourage them to have a taste of the work and industry so that they have a better idea if that is indeed the field that they want to get into.

So, we are working on different pathways to provide better opportunities for young people to look at skills as the more critical impetus to their future careers and therefore, when deciding on going into a particular industry, understand what kind of skills are relevant and take courses in relation to that, and then accumulate the micro-credentials, to possibly lead to a degree qualification.

On the second supplementary question, GCE “A” Level students who do not make it to universities. As I mentioned earlier, as and when they are able to go onto other pathways, they are welcome to do so. On whether you can do GCE “A” Levels in June, it might be a bit tougher, because currently the GCE “A” Levels curriculum is also done together with Cambridge. So, the June papers tend to focus more on the languages.

We can look into that possibility, but, really, it is also dependent on the number of students that we want to make it available to. We do not want a situation where just because we make it available in June, then the ones who are supposed to do it in December want to cram everything in June, and therefore, increase the level of stress, which already is very high for our JC students. So, you cannot be doing it just for a group of students who did not do it very well the previous year, because it does require a lot of effort and resources to develop examination papers just for this group of students.

1.01 pm

Mr Deputy Speaker: Order. End of Question Time. The Clerk will now proceed to read the Order of the Day.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos 19-33 and 35-38 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix. The remaining Questions have been postponed to a later Sitting of Parliament or withdrawn.]