Holistic Assessment for Students at Lower Primary Levels

Mr Yee Jenn Jong asked the Minister for Education what is the progress on the holistic assessment approach for education at the lower primary levels that places less emphasis on semestral examinations, as recommended in the 2009 Report of the Primary Education Review and Implementation (PERI) Committee.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Ms Sim Ann) (for the Minister for Education): Sir, one of the recommendations of the Primary Education Review and Implementation (PERI) Committee was to introduce more holistic assessment to support learning. Holistic assessment comprises the use of a variety of age-appropriate assessment modes. The emphasis is on skills development and to provide constructive feedback for meaningful learning.

Page: 1183

Holistic assessment is being implemented on a progressive basis, starting from Primary 1. In 2010, 16 prototype schools implemented holistic assessment in Primary 1 and Primary 2. In 2011 and 2012, another 67 and 54 schools started implementation at Primary 1 respectively. We expect the rest to start in 2013. For schools which have started earlier in the journey, efforts are now being focused on implementing holistic assessment at higher levels.

Preliminary findings from schools on holistic assessment are positive. Many teachers commented that their pupils have become more confident and are able to communicate better. Pupils also receive more feedback, have more opportunities to reflect and improve on their learning, and are developed more holistically.

Mr Yee Jenn Jong (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the answer. I would like to ask two supplementary questions. One is that when a child progresses to Primary 3, the school will face pressures, such as the Primary 4 streaming examinations and the PSLE, and it may start to switch back to being very examination-centric again. So, how can we continue to make sure that schools will support holistic assessment wholeheartedly? The second question is: how will holistic assessment eventually change the PSLE and can holistic assessment reports be used for Direct School Admission to secondary schools?

Ms Sim Ann: I thank the Member for his concerns on where we are going with holistic assessment. First, allow me to reiterate what the main purpose of holistic assessment is. Primarily, it is to place the focus on whole child development. It is also to ensure that we have ways of assessing the child for learning, instead of doing an assessment of learning. As we progress with PERI, we do help our teachers and our school leaders manage the transition. It is an important change. So, more time will be needed in order to smoothen out the process.

In doing so, we do equip our school leaders as well as our teachers with classroom resources, with learning journeys to schools that are already implementing holistic assessment, and also through workshops and seminars as well as networking, so as to ensure that we bring out the most optimal outcomes in terms of holistic assessment. There will be a place for examinations as part of the overall education journey for children. But I think, in balancing assessment as well as other modes, our main focus really is in ensuring that there is a way for us to give meaningful feedback to the child. And also in the journey for holistic assessment, we make sure that these are bite-sized and these can be handled and are helpful to both the child, the teachers as well as the parents.