While he acknowledged that changing the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) scoring system will not remove all the stress for parents and their children, National Institute of Education (NIE) Director Lee Sing Kong said the move to put students in bands — instead of giving them aggregate scores — will accord the space to develop students more holistically while retaining academic standards.

He said that abolishing the PSLE — which some have called for — is not a viable option for now as there is no alternative “objective testing tool”. Other formats such as the performance-based assessment used in American schools — for example, by observing a student’s communication skills — require extensive training for assessors and there is also subjectivity involved which might arouse doubts from the public, he added.

Among the other changes to the education system announced during Sunday’s National Day Rally was greater flexibility to allow Secondary 1 students to take subjects across streams. Prof Lee said this will create a more homogeneous classroom setting for teachers to adopt a suitable pedagogy for learners of similar aptitude.

Currently, upper secondary students can take subjects across streams if they are assessed to be suitable. A Ministry of Education spokesperson said that between 2008 and last year, an average of about 4,000 Secondary 4 Normal (Academic) students each year — or one-third of each cohort — took O-Level subjects. Over the same period, an average of 150 Secondary 4 Normal (Technical) students — or 2.5 per cent of each cohort — took N(A)-Level subjects each year. NG JING YNG