SINGAPORE: Two international reports have reaffirmed
that Singapore's students remain among the best performers
internationally in reading, mathematics and
science.
The studies -- Trends in International Mathematics
and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading
Literacy Study (PIRLS) -- saw Singapore students remain in the band
of best performers.
The studies involved a sampling of 12,500 primary
four and secondary two students between 2010 and 2011.
In primary four reading, for example, Singapore was among the top
performers, along with Finland and Hong Kong, and in secondary two
mathematics, Singapore students were again at the top, on par with
students from South Korea.
According to the report, Singapore's education system has also made
significant progress in improving the performance of academically
weaker students.
The percentage of students who performed at a 'low' level or below
that almost halved last year, at 13 per cent, compared to 24 per
cent in 2001.
Ministry of Education (MOE)'S director of Curriculum Planning and
Development division, Chua-Lim Yen Ching, said: "Our academically
weaker students have progressed significantly, and our stronger
support for them did not compromise the performance of our
academically stronger students -- as our weaker students move up,
our stronger students also moved up."
"Our philosophy is that we want to protect the base, but at the
same time, we do not want to cap the top so that they allow our
academically stronger students to flourish.
"We saw an improvement in the reasoning skills and to us that is a
good sign. That means the students are able to move from knowledge
to application and reasoning. Learning is not just a matter of
factual knowledge but it's also the students' ability to be able to
apply."
MOE, which released the report on Tuesday, said the findings are
testament to the strengths of an education system that has
intensified efforts in recent years to help weaker students.
The reports also measured the ability of students in three areas:
knowing, applying and reasoning.
In Singapore's context, students in both primary four and secondary
two improved in reasoning scores in mathematics and science last
year, compared to results in 2007.
MOE said this also reflects the shift of schools towards
higher-order skills.
Despite stellar performances, the reports found that Singapore
students expressed a lack of confidence in the areas they fared
well in.
Government Parliamentary Committee Education's chairman, Lim Biow
Chuan, said: "If we (Singapore students) have done so well, the
other thing MOE may want to study further, is how can we inculcate
this sense of confidence in our students so that they may be able
to compete internationally with anyone.
"Otherwise no matter how good you are, you don't express confidence
in your abilities, when it comes to actual performance in your
work, that will not do well for yourself."
The reports also found that students in Singapore liked subjects
like mathematics and science more than their international
peers.