Excited for my teen as post-secondary pathways open up

Singapore's education system is being tweaked to be more fluid and inclusive

- Jill Lim

As my youngest child approaches the end of her secondary school era, I feel optimistic about the next many years of her educational life, and those of the cohorts after her.

What I like most? That the education system is being tweaked to be more fluid and inclusive. I also like that it offers practical and forward-looking options.

It is exciting to see changes that will widen, rather than narrow, Singapore's education pathways. Students have more opportunities to flow in different ways - and to flow in and out of the education system - at different stages of what should be lifelong learning journeys.

RECOGNISING DIFFERENT ABILITIES

Remember when education systems functioned more like a funnel? From a broad base, more and more people were cut as they advanced through the levels, until only the so-called best were left.

Secondary schools had distinct categories - "Normal", "4 Arts 1", "Commerce" - and the idea of there being a "best" class was a reality then.

The principal at my secondary school once even used the phrase "cream of the crop" on my class, though it was, unfortunately, part of a tongue-lashing on how bad we were (there was a mention of soured cream) rather than how exemplary.

In contrast, our children's experience is of subject-based banding (SBB), where students take subjects at different levels, depending on individual abilities. This can be a confidence booster and go a long way towards reducing the conventional stigmatisation of an entire class of children.

SBB was instituted in secondary schools in 2018.

Streams won't even be a thing in a few years. With full SBB instituted in all schools in 2024, all batches of Secondary 1 students will not be streamed. They will take subjects at different levels based on their strengths.