Recommendation of changes to reduce Stress for PSLE

[Sun_2010]

Time and again , we have parents telling us the shock they recived in P5 CA1/SA1. Where so many children in the class fail.

If that was done to wake up , it does succeed in waking up the parents and rushing them to the tution/enrichment centres.

1.Simply test what you teach to a large extent.
To me its about exam papers set . Extremely tough papers demoralise children, make parents panicky, lead parents to queue up tution/enrichment centres, and that adds stress to parents and children.

There should be a clear division questions in the paper. As an example - 70% based on what is fully taught in class. 20% slightly tricky, infered questions, 10 % tougher/complex questions. If less than 50% of the kids in a class get less than 60-65%, something wrong, topics need to be revisited.

2. MOE should Discourage Tution/Enrichment:
Whether parents listen or not does not matter. Preach it. It will trickle down. Along with the above measure and other measures.
Once a child is scoring in around 70s the parents will not feel compelled to run to a tution centre.
It would then be a good to have thing not a necessity like it appears now.

One more, will write it later, g2g

[janet88]

When my son was in P4, friends and kind neighbor told hubby & I to be prepared for a sharp drop and big landfall. We thanked them for giving us advice what to expect in P5. It was indeed painful last year. Throughout the whole year, we were in the dark tunnel, wondering when we will see light.


We drifted on to P6. Dark tunnel continues, and that the path was even harder to walk.

1) Kids are demoralized bcos they have put in hard work, yet ‘rewarded’ with poor results bcos the exams are tough. They will find it meaningless to continue working hard.

2) Again, the same statement. Test what is taught, if you want parents to rely less on tuition.

[Chenonceau]

I like Sun’s points on…

- not cutting syllabus by reducing breadth of content
- BUT to tackle the DEPTH of content
- NOT dumbing down the syllabus
- teaching what you test
- discouraging tuition

I add my following thoughts…

- if you give more time for compositions , then over the next few years, expectations of writing skill will go up the fill the extra time given because there will ALWAYS be children who can push the envelope of possibility when the system is governed by the Bell Curve

- this syllabus needs to be taught DIFFERENTLY. If teachers know HOW to teach it, covering the syllabus is not a problem (provided there are smaller classes and better access to high quality materials).

[Jtutor]

I subscribe to Sun’s viewpoints which are well thought.


With regards to maths, I wonder how some students manage to handle challenging qns (such as speed) while the majority struggle even with repeated explanations from teachers. Could it be due to the studying style (eg rote learning) as compared to logical thinking process which the MOE hopes to encourage?

[MMM]

I think my issue with science is that, marks are awarded based on production of "Key words" and required answering style… So even a common sense answer without keywords = wrong… My P5 dd manages that but my P4 ds struggles… He enjoys science BUT he struggles during exams as he always like to say in his own words…


I acknowleged I am the type of parent who struggle with science. But is the marking focus today correct??? It appears to promote rote learning eg. memorise the standard answers for given set of questions. That is really stifling.

[iRabbit]

Another way to reduce stress is for MOE to send parents of P6ers to ‘Parenting 101’ course and explain to them that it’s not the end of the world if their kids don’t make it to IP.

[tankee]

er … are we talking about reducing stress for the kids or for the parents?

[BeContented]

tankee:

er .... are we talking about reducing stress for the kids or for the parents?

Meant for the kids.....but from the look of it, parents need it more

[janet88]

MMM:

I think my issue with science is that, marks are awarded based on production of \"Key words\" and required answering style..... So even a common sense answer without keywords = wrong..... My P5 dd manages that but my P4 ds struggles... He enjoys science BUT he struggles during exams as he always like to say in his own words...


I acknowleged I am the type of parent who struggle with science. But is the marking focus today correct???? It appears to promote rote learning eg. memorise the standard answers for given set of questions. That is really stifling.

My son loves science, so we didn't have much problems coaching him without tuition. But we got fed up bcos son couldn't score in his fav subject. We refused to bring in science tutor, still wanting to believe that school will teach students to answer OE questions the way PSLE markers are looking for. But we were deeply disappointed. I do not know how many others feel that way.

[janet88]

FQW:

Another way to reduce stress is for MOE to send parents of P6ers to 'Parenting 101' course and explain to them that it's not the end of the world if their kids don't make it to IP.

Not every parent wants their kids to attend IP schools.
I want my son to go through the normal route...to sit for O levels.