Changes made, now the next challenge: Transforming mindset of parents, teachers and students

SINGAPORE — The removal of certain exams and graded assessments are a step in the right direction, said educators, industry professionals and Members of Parliament (MPs), but they stressed that parents, teachers and students have to change their mindset in order for the society to overcome its fixation with academic grades.

On Friday (Sept 28), the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced sweeping changes to school-based assessments for primary and secondary students in an attempt to reduce an emphasis on grades. Aside from doing away with some exams and graded tests from next year for students at selected levels, report cards will no longer reflect students’ class and level positions as well as overall scores.

MP Denise Phua, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Education, said that while the measures are aligned with the MOE’s direction to reduce excessive focus on academic results, “more and deeper work will have to be done on transforming the mindset of parents, and even some educators and students themselves”.

“If not, the tendency to chase test scores and regard them as the only dashboard indicator may still remain,” she added.

MP Zainal Sapari, a member of the GPC for Education, said that only with a change in mindset can the “kiasu” (Hokkien for “afraid of losing out”, or overly competitive) mentality have a “less chance of rearing its ugly head”, to let children have a better childhood.

Associate Professor Jason Tan from the National Institute of Education (NIE) said: “(The changes are) another symbolic move that will work only if teachers, students and parents are convinced that the competitive element in assessments is not as important as the importance of intrinsic motivation to learn.

“If schools want to reduce the emphasis on grades, then they have to refocus the schooling experiences for students so that the non-academic aspects of schooling assume greater prominence.”

Assoc Prof Tan also said that it “will be interesting to watch” how the latest policies will affect the tuition industry.

“A major barometer will be whether parents will indeed feel less anxiety and reduce their investment in private tutoring,” he added.

Tuition agencies approached by TODAY said that they are unfazed by the changes and their businesses will not be affected.

Mr Lim Wei Yi, 38, co-founder and managing director of tuition agency Study Room, said that his students “scoffed” at the latest changes, convinced that “the removal of exams simply means they will have more tests”.

Mr Lim is quite sure that students and parents still think academic scores are important, and it appears that school teachers are also indirectly recommending extra lessons outside the classrooms.

“Based on feedback from parents, there are many instances where teachers will tell them at parent-teacher meetings that the reason their children are doing badly is because they don't have tuition,” he added.

Another reason is that teachers are unable to cope with the heavy workload, so they are still “outsourcing” teaching to tuition agencies, Mr Lim said.

His agency is “well-prepared” to cope with the shift that the MOE is directing, as it has been focusing more on critical thinking and fun learning, for example

“In any case, tuition centres which focus on a curriculum that's not offered by the schools should be safe,” Mr Lim said.

Mr Tony Chee, 37, who founded Best Physics Tuition Centre and who used to be a senior head of the higher education division at MOE, said: "The impact these measures would have on the tuition industry and our tuition business is not that clear, but I believe most teachers in the tuition industry have always been proponents of a more well-rounded life for students, too.”

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