Strength of Correlation between PSLE Scores and Socio-economic Status over the Years

2 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the correlation between PSLE results and socio-economic status has strengthened or weakened in the past three years; and (b) what further plans does the Ministry have to reduce this correlation.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong) (for the Minister for Education): The correlation between the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results and socio-economic status (SES) has remained stable over the past three years.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) is committed to ensuring that our education system provides opportunities for all students to develop to their full potential, regardless of their backgrounds. Our lower-SES students have done well by international standards. Based on Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022, our students from the bottom-25% SES outperformed the average OECD student in all core domains of Reading, Mathematics and Science, and in Creative Thinking.

We will continue with the following efforts to uplift our lower-SES students.

First, we will continue to build a strong foundation in the early years, both in preschool and at home. We have significantly enhanced the accessibility, affordability and quality of preschools, particularly through government-supported operators. Targeted programmes, such as KidSTART, also support parents from eligible lower-income families with the skills and knowledge to support their child’s development.

Second, MOE will continue to provide additional support to students with higher educational needs through programmes during or after school, both in academic and social-emotional development. For example, primary schools provide targeted academic intervention for students who need more support to strengthen foundational skills in literacy and numeracy. This includes the Learning Support Programme, Reading Remediation Programme and Learning Support for Mathematics. Schools also run programmes to strengthen students’ social and emotional skills, such as goal-orientation, growth mindset and motivation.

Third, we will continue to enhance wraparound support for disadvantaged students. We work closely with community partners to provide targeted programmes such as interest-based activities to impart good values, life skills and habits.

We also provide schools with additional manpower, guidance and teaching resources via UPLIFT Enhanced School Resourcing (UESR). Having observed improvements in students' attendance, behaviour and progression, we have doubled the number of primary schools receiving these additional resources over the past two years.

Addressing social mobility requires a whole-of-society effort. While MOE will continue to work closely with the community and stakeholders in this endeavour, we call on all Singaporeans to share your resources and networks, recognise a diversity of skills and talents, and do your part to uplift those who are less endowed.

Mr Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Thank you, Sir. And I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the reply. I think in reply to my Parliamentary Question (PQ) quite a number of years back, MOE share that there is a positive correlation, which means that students from lower SES are doing not as well in their PSLE as compared to students from higher SES.

So, I know the Senior Parliamentary Secretary has listed a whole range of programmes and outreach we have done to try and help these students from lower SES. But if the correlations still exist, I am just wondering what else is MOE going to do to address this to try and at least lower the correlation or make sure that it does not exist in the first place?

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong: I thank Mr Louis Ng for his supplementary question on that. I think, firstly, it is important to make sure that we are able to identify the disadvantaged students who would need more support, and continue to concentrate on them. Take for example, at the start of primary school, some students who have not demonstrated certain age-appropriate literacy and numeracy skills. In those cases, the students with weak foundations would then be supported by programmes, such as Learning Support for English and Mathematics.

Schools themselves, teachers, school leaders will also have to proactively reach out to students with disadvantaged backgrounds. As the Member said, the correlation already exists, we know which are the target groups, we should focus our attention and resources in those areas. And some of them may not just need academic support in particular, but also non-academic support. For example, schools would proactively identify students would benefit most from, let us say, student care centres, where they will encourage and support families to enrol their children to be part of these student care centres.

In addition, for families under ComLink, there are also dedicated family coaches under the Social Service Offices, where they provide targeted support in co-developing, certain customised action plans, with regard to the background of the family, restrictions and all, and that is where we can start some of our work. And hopefully with those collective efforts, we are able to uplift this group of students.

Mr Speaker: Ms Hazel Poa.

Ms Hazel Poa (Non-Constituency Member): Does each and every school measure the correlation between academic results and SES? And if so, where can we find that information?

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong: Thank you to Ms Hazel Poa for the follow-up question. Mainly at the broad and the entire national cohort level, for students from lower-income households, as proxied from the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme, the range of results is large, but over the past few years, the median PSLE score has been very stable.