All About GEP

[jtoh]

Desmo:

Thanks for sharing all your thoughts, analysis of the GEP..


Before the GEP briefing, we were 50-50 on letting our DS into the GEP (he of course is stubborn about staying on in his current school)

After the GEP briefing, we decided to let our DS stay in the mainstream school and not entering the GEP program.

Reason are several :
1) There are not many successful GEP cases showcased (apart from interviews of ex GEP students who are now in the profession of prosecutor and another one as director in trade ministry)
I can only assume they are still trying to collate enough successful cases to boost the GEP statistics

You can't expect them to showcase all the successful GEP students in a briefing, nor provide comprehensive statistics. Of the older GEP students from the earlier batches who are working adults, the few I know personally are successful in their chosen careers and are practising medicine, law, and other careers. Of the ones who are currently in university, many are studying medicine, law, or in Oxbridge and Ivy League unis. (I'm not saying that medicine and law are an indication of success, just that of the ones I know many are in medicine and law. )

2) Q&A. Very interesting views brought up by existing GEP parents who voiced their grievances that their GEP kids are not 'assured' of a ticket to DSA/IP (despite spending lots of time in their studies). GEP kids also are not 'guaranteed' a place in the post-GEP Secondary school.
GEP panel replied by saying and stressing to the parents that GEP kids do not have privilege. They still have to compete with other mainstream kids on the path to DSA.

It's been this way for some time since they did away with the secondary school GEP programme. Many do make it back into secondary schools which offer GEP or equivalent. Just that there's no guarantee. And why should there be? GEP isn't a ticket to top schools.

3) GEP Kids are only switched to mainstream curriculum after P6 term 2. (of course the GEP panel stressed that GEP program is 'enriched upon the mainstream curriculum') They believed the GEP kids should have ample time to 'adjust' themselves and be ready to sit for the PSLE.
I wonder why then the need to 'switch' if all along the GEP program is 'enriched' formula based on the mainstream syllabus.

My view on this is that to score at PSLE, you have to give the correct answers in a standard format. The GEP syllabus encourages students to explore deeper and beyond the standard syllabus, where the answers don't have to fall categorically into a marking scheme. So term 3 of P6 GEP helps to rein them back in to give acceptable and standard keywords and answers. Will a GEP student have scored higher if he had stayed in mainstream and studied a syllabus catered for scoring at PSLE and have schools drill them with copious mock exam papers from early P6 (and maybe earlier)? Yes. Probably. If PSLE scores are the end goal of a primary school education, then maybe mainstream is better.

4) Emotional state of the kid. This takes understanding of your own child when taking the decision to take the plunge into GEP pool for the next 2 years. For me, I understand my son is still not 'emotionally stable' in handling friendship ties, bonds. If I were to push him into the GEP pool, if he does not cope well and unable to handle the stress, falling grades, loss of friendship, I'm sure he'll be very miserable.
Understanding your kid is important. If the kid is not ready for GEP, he will not enjoy it and will not be able to reap all the benefits of the programme.

5) Perhaps the GEP panel should come up with the statistic of PSLE score for GEP kids. Afterall, at the end of the day, it's the PSLE score that will ensure a ticket to good secondary schools.

Hence, considering the above points, we've decided to let our DS to be a happy-go-lucky 9 year old kid enjoying and learning what a typical 9 year old kid learn in the mainstream, and not cramping him with skills/knowledge that are at least 2 years beyond him.
Maybe he can cope/maybe he cannot cope. But we'll worry about that when he is ready to learn these knowledge in secondary school.

For now, my DS is so happy that we respect his decision to stay on in his current school. He cannot wait to break the news to his friends/teachers
Respect for your kid's decision is important. Good for you.

[CheLee]

thanks for all the insight shared! and jtoh, your reply above is very impt - to know the end of of primary school education!


I do not know if she will do better or worse at the end of the day… but we can only encourage her along the way, help her to grow and enjoy the process rather than focus on the marks now.

[jtoh]

To add on to my earlier reply, what is the end goal of a primary school education? If it is a high PSLE score that you’re looking for, then mainstream education might better prepare a child for it.


I find that the end goal of GEP isn’t the student’s PSLE score. It’s the process of learning, the journey, the exploration into out-of-syllabus work, the freedom to express and question, to conduct independent research… Most definitely a lot of this isn’t immediately relevant to PSLE, but it is interesting and helps train the mind and will prepare them for secondary school. Which is why a lot of GEP students find lower secondary relatively smooth sailing.

[Nebbermind]

jtoh:

To add on to my earlier reply, what is the end goal of a primary school education? If it is a high PSLE score that you're looking for, then mainstream education might better prepare a child for it.


I find that the end goal of GEP isn't the student's PSLE score. It's the process of learning, the journey, the exploration into out-of-syllabus work, the freedom to express and question, to conduct independent research... Most definitely a lot of this isn't immediately relevant to PSLE, but it is interesting and helps train the mind and will prepare them for secondary school. Which is why a lot of GEP students find lower secondary relatively smooth sailing.

That sums it up quite nicely!

[Ruhemut]

I feel so grateful that many veterans shared invaluable experience with newbies. :thankyou:

[Ruhemut]

I feel so grateful that many veterans shared invaluable experience with newbies. :thankyou:

[Cloud Cloud]

Nebbermind:

jtoh:

To add on to my earlier reply, what is the end goal of a primary school education? If it is a high PSLE score that you're looking for, then mainstream education might better prepare a child for it.


I find that the end goal of GEP isn't the student's PSLE score. It's the process of learning, the journey, the exploration into out-of-syllabus work, the freedom to express and question, to conduct independent research... Most definitely a lot of this isn't immediately relevant to PSLE, but it is interesting and helps train the mind and will prepare them for secondary school. Which is why a lot of GEP students find lower secondary relatively smooth sailing.

That sums it up quite nicely!

Yes, I believe the training from the gep helps. I am happy with DD’s Sec 1 results which are at least 5 marks above the median score. Not bad considering that she only has Maths tuition in a “neighbourhood” tuition centre. I was initially worried because her peers attend tuition at centres like Aspen or Indigo.

[hquek]

Desmo:

No, during Q&A, got parents whose elder kid already in GEP and now is their sibling also got selected into this year GEP, so they were there attending the briefing. So this parent was speaking from experience that his elder kid 'lost' out in the race to DSA as his kid 'did not have anything' to show to gain entry into DSA (seems his kid did not participate enough in the competitions or something but has been diligently doing all the challenging stuff required of a GEP kid)

DS1 did not win any competitions, neither did he represent his pri school in anything significant. He went for cwp and that was about it. HIs list of accomplishments would pale against many of his cohort - some of whom do very well and also represent the school in sports etc. However, he still did manage to get CO & WL - not sure if it was cos of his academic results (not tip top but comfortable ba).

[CheLee]

Is it because he has leadership position and cca?


May I know does this mean that the gep kids have their own edu cert competition? I mean right now they will get edu cert if they are in 25% of the cohort.

Going forward, if they don’t take school exam, how to measure them against the cohort?

[jtoh]

winnieng78:

Is it because he has leadership position and cca?


May I know does this mean that the gep kids have their own edu cert competition? I mean right now they will get edu cert if they are in 25% of the cohort.

Going forward, if they don’t take school exam, how to measure them against the cohort?

The GEP students sit for their own exams which are common across all 9 GEP centres. So in that sense they're measured against their own GEP cohort.