Distinguishing Effects of School-based Learning Versus Private Tuition on Singapore Students' Performance in International Benchmarks

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Education whether the Ministry has assessed (a) what proportion of Singapore students' performance in international benchmarks, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment, can be attributed to school-based learning versus external tuition or enrichment; and (b) what methodologies are used to distinguish the relative contributions of each.

Mr Desmond Lee: Research has shown that many inter-dependent factors, both in and outside schools, can influence student learning 1 . It is not possible to conclusively partition educational outcomes into distinct parts attributable to different contributing sources.

Note(s) to Question No(s) 25:

1 E.g., Jacobson, M. J., Levin, J. A., & Kapur, M. (2019). Education as a complex system: Conceptual and methodological implications. Educational Researcher, 48(2), 112-119.