Learn for Life: Confidence for a New Tomorrow

1. At the Committee of Supply debates on 7 March 2022, Minister Chan Chun Sing, 2nd Minister Maliki Osman, Minister of State Sun Xueling, and Minister of State Gan Siow Huang spoke on the Ministry of Education (MOE)'s initiatives to advance the vision of Confident Singaporeans, a Competitive Singapore and a Cohesive Society.

Expanding Pathways and Opportunities Across a Life Course

2. MOE will continue with structural reforms to nurture the joy of learning in our students, and provide multiple pathways and opportunities across the life course to cater to different strengths and interests. This will enable our students to achieve their full potential and pursue opportunities in a fast evolving and complex world.

Enhancing Porosity and Flexibility

3. We are progressively rolling out Full Subject-Based Banding (SBB) to secondary schools between 2020 and 2024, so as to provide students with greater flexibility to customise their educational experiences. We will extend Full SBB to three schools which currently only offer the Express course – Crescent Girls' School, Tanjong Katong Girls' School and Tanjong Katong Secondary School. With the removal of stream labels, students will have the flexibility to take different subjects at appropriate subject levels throughout their secondary school years.

4. To allow a wider group of learner profiles to benefit from a practice-based preparatory pathway to a polytechnic education, we will expand the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP) and relax selected grade requirements for entry from the 2024 intake.

5. Building on earlier efforts to broaden the definition of merit, MOE will increase Direct School Admission (DSA) places for Government and Government-aided junior colleges (JCs) from 10% to 20% from the 2022 DSA-JC exercise. This will enable more students from diverse backgrounds and talents to enrol in JCs through the DSA.

(More details on Full SBB, expansion of the PFP and increase of places for DSA-JC are at Infosheet 1).

Investing in Our Learners for Life

6. MOE will review the publicly-funded university cohort participation rate, to provide more opportunities for skills upgrading and access to degree pathways over the life course. Our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), including the Autonomous Universities, will also review their continuing education and training offerings to enhance quality and accessibility for adult learners.

7. MOE and SkillsFuture Singapore will also strengthen support for our mid-career workers by launching the new SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme and expanding course coverage for Additional SkillsFuture Credit, so that working adults can access a wider range of courses. As an additional pillar of our social compact, we will also study how to further strengthen support for Singaporeans, especially those in their 40s and 50s, to reskill and seize new career opportunities.

8. In line with the recommendations from the Review of Opportunities and Pathways in Applied Education announced in January 2022, polytechnics will provide greater flexibility in their curricula for students who will benefit from spreading out their learning beyond three years. ITE will progressively expand its Technical Diploma and Work-Study Diploma offerings to provide more upgrading opportunities for their graduates.

9. In addition, the polytechnics and ITE will strengthen industry partnerships to enhance graduates' skills upgrading opportunities and career prospects, starting with five sectors – Manufacturing, Built Environment, Infocomm Technology, Retail and Food Services.

(Details on changes in our higher education landscape are at Infosheet 2).

Nurturing Confident, Resilient Learners

Building Future-Ready Competencies

10. We will nurture our students across different age groups to have a strong foundation of knowledge, skills and dispositions so that they become confident, lifelong learners.

11. To give more time and space for students to further develop their 21st Century Competencies¹ and engage in more student-initiated learning, we will remove mid-year examinations for all primary and secondary levels by 2023. This is in line with our efforts to shift away from an over-emphasis on examinations, and nurture an intrinsic joy of learning.

12. For other age groups, MOE will roll out an updated Nurturing Early Learners Curriculum Framework for pre-school education. The polytechnics and ITE will also roll out an enhanced LifeSkills curriculum for all incoming students from AY2022 to better equip them students with skills and competencies to navigate work and life. A similar LifeSkills framework will be rolled out in the Autonomous Universities. (See Infosheet 2 for more details).

13. MOE will continue to help our students develop a firm anchor to our heritage and culture through Mother Tongue Languages. From 2023, MOE will set up the fourth centre for the Elective Programme in Malay Language for Secondary Schools at Raffles Institution. We will also pilot a Modular Third Language Programme to provide greater flexibility and access for students who have the interest and aptitude to take a third language. At the same time, we will develop our students' confidence in fostering diverse connections and engaging the region and the world by helping our schools to strengthen overseas partnerships.

Supporting Students with Different Needs

14. Building on our ongoing efforts to enhance accessibility to Special Education, MOE will work with Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore to set up a new school for students with Multiple Disabilities. This year, MOE has also opened the St. Andrew's Mission School, which serves students with Autism Spectrum Disorder who can access the National Curriculum. MOE is also on track to roll out TRANsition Support for InTegration² (TRANSIT) to all primary schools by 2026 to support students with special educational needs entering P1.

15. From 2022, the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (UPLIFT) will expand two UPLIFT initiatives to support more disadvantaged students. When fully rolled out over the next few years, the UPLIFT Enhanced School Resourcing programme is expected to support around 13,000 students annually and the UPLIFT Community Network will benefit about 1,800 students nationwide.

16. Under the Review of Opportunities and Pathways in Applied Education, the polytechnics and ITE will study how to enhance coordination of care and support for students with complex needs. They will also enhance pastoral care support for students by exploring having more dedicated time for Personal Tutors (PTs) to check in with students and enhancing training for PTs.

(More details on MOE's efforts to nurture confident and resilient learners, and support for students with different needs are at Infosheet 3).

Empowering Educators to Steward Change and Shifting Mindsets Through Partnerships

17. Through the Teacher Work Attachment Programme-Plus, MOE will continue to help our teachers develop professionally and expose them to diverse experiences, to enable them to bring fresh insights into the classrooms. At the same time, MOE will continue to support teachers' mental well-being by working with schools to manage teachers' workload and strengthening peer support for teachers.

18. MOE will continue to partner Parent Support Groups and the COMmunity and Parents in Support of Schools (COMPASS) council to provide parents with more resources and support for their children's holistic development. We will also strengthen community partnerships such as the Youth Mental Well-being Network and UPLIFT. (For more details, please refer to Infosheet 4).

Nurturing a Sustainability-Conscious Generation

19. Our schools and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) aim to empower the next generation of sustainability leaders to contribute towards Singapore's green economy. Our IHLs have integrated sustainability into their curriculum to equip graduates with skills to thrive in emerging green jobs. Using their campus as living laboratories, they will continue to actively invest in talent development, research and innovation projects, and partner with community on initiatives to deepen Singapore's sustainability footprint. In schools, sustainability initiatives will be enhanced under the Eco Stewardship Programme to nurture care for the environment from a young age. (For more details, please refer to Infosheet 5).

Footnotes

1. For more information, please refer to: https://www.moe.gov.sg/education-in-sg/21st-century-competencies

2. TRANSIT supports P1 students with social and behavioural difficulties to transit into primary school.