READING ABILITIES OF PRIMARY ONE STUDENTS

READING ABILITIES OF PRIMARY ONE STUDENTS: * * *

40.

Dr Ong Seh Hong asked the Minister for Education (a) over the last five years, what is the number of Primary One students who have reading difficulties when they start school; (b) what is being done to help them catch up with the rest of the class; and (c) which are the vulnerable groups and whether efforts to encourage preschool education have been successful.

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Dr Ng Eng Hen: Over the last five years, around 12% to14% of the children who entered Primary One had very weak oral English and literacy skills. Their knowledge of the English alphabet was incomplete and they were not able to recognise simple English words. They were also not able to understand very simple oral instructions in English. These pupils are identified in January each year and provided with additional support through the Learning Support Programme (LSP).

The LSP is a specialised early intervention programme. The aim is to teach these children basic language and literacy skills as well as word attack strategies so that they can read and access learning in the regular classes as soon as possible. The LSP is implemented by Learning Support Co-ordinators (LSCs) who are qualified teachers specially trained by MOE in reading intervention.

The LSP was reviewed and enhanced in 2005. The enhanced LSP is currently implemented in all primary schools at Primary One and Two. Around 45% of the children in the LSP are able to pass their schools’ English Language examinations and read at a level that commensurate with their age by the end of Primary One. Another 20% are able to do by the end of Primary Two. The remaining pupils had made considerable improvements in their reading skills although the reading gap had not been totally eliminated. Although the LSP does not extend beyond Primary Two, these students would continue to be monitored and supported by their teachers through school-based supplementary and remedial lessons.

For better results, we believe that we should be working upstream. Data from MOE has also shown that children from lower income households who do not attend pre-school are more likely to experience difficulties. Since 2006, MOE has been focusing its efforts and resources on helping children to attend pre-school, especially those from lower-income families to help them level up opportunities early in life.

Preliminary joint efforts by MOE, MCYS and Grassroots Organisations in the outreach programme to reduce the percentage of children not attending pre-school are bearing results. With the measures and efforts in place, we have reduced the percentage of those entering Primary One without any pre-school education from more than 4% to about 2.5%.

This year, we are continuing with our efforts to reach out to children who are not enrolled in pre-school. We have sent the list of these children to the Grassroot Advisers and we urge grassroots leaders to conduct the outreach early to provide the necessary assistance to the children and their families.

Besides putting in place an outreach programme to help reduce the percentage of children not attending pre-school, MOE has been providing Focused Language Assistance in Reading, or FLAiR, to selected second year kindergarten (K2) children since 2007. Under the FLAiR project, trained personnel, called Pro-FLAiRs, provide focused assistance to K2 children who have difficulties with English, as identified by their kindergarten teachers. The Pro-FLAiRs will help the children in speaking, reading and other uses of English daily through dedicated time on a one-to-one basis or in small groups. Feedback from kindergartens and parents has shown that the children have benefited from the

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intervention. As FLAiR is relatively new, MOE will continue to look into ways to further improve the programme.

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