What then produces top performing schools systems? The conclusions (of the McKinsey report) are crucial. First, instruction counts. In practical terms, it means that: “when a teacher enters the classroom, he or she has the materials available, along with the knowledge, capability and the ambition to take one more child up to the standard today than she did yesterday. And again tomorrow.” Second, good school systems set clear and high expectations for what the students achieve. Here the report does not seek to be politically correct – it is quite frank: “Examinations have a powerful effect in driving the performance of any school system.” In the words of one Australian educationist: “What gets tested is what gets learnt, and how it is tested determines how it is learnt.” School reviews or inspections are also useful, especially to drive complex outcomes which are difficult or impossible to measure in examinations.

- Opening Address by Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education & Second Minister for Defence, at the Teachers’ Conference 2008 on Wednesday, 28 May 2008, 10.10am, at the Suntec City Ballroom

I am not too sure if the Minister is aware of what he said when he quoted an “Australian educationist” saying, “What gets tested is what gets learnt, and how it is tested determines how it is learnt.” All educationists will agree with this statement. But I wonder if the Minister understood fully what has been said as I believe that he is not an educationist himself. The quote was used to justify Singapore’s high stakes examinations system. But anyone who knows about teaching and assessment will know that the quote is not meant to only justify a high stakes examinations system.

There is truth in using this quote to justify the high stakes examinations system in Singapore but it is not as the Minister has intended. The key phrase is perhaps “how it is tested determines how it is learnt.” Precisely because if the manner (the how) it is tested is nothing more than the usual examination format traditionally found with its heavy reliance on standard answers and mechanical procedures, then the way it is taught will be geared towards ONLY answering such questions. Drill-and-practise and rote-learning will be the feature of an education system that relies on testing students by such out-moded examinations. So the Minister is right.

But only partially. The Minister may not realize that this is at best a half-truth. Somebody probably failed to advise him properly on this. This is because the Minister and the Ministry of Education (MOE) wants to move Singapore’s students towards acquiring new skills and literacies of the 21st century environment. These skills and literacies will not be taught seriously as long as high stakes examinations are the keys to further education in Singapore. These skills and literacies cannot be assessed by just these old-fashioned examinations. New skills like collaboration, the higher order thinking skills, creativity and resourcefulness, independent learning and must be assessed in a very different way, not the traditional examination format.

So to justify a high stakes examination system by quoting this unnamed Australian educationist in this manner is inaccurate. The Minister quoted a McKinsey report that said that “Examinations have a powerful effect in driving the performance of any school system.” This is correct but the question is what kind of performance? Singapore schools do well, extremely well in fact, acting as high stakes examination preparation centers. The teaching is excellent with regards to teaching to the examinations. The teachers work very hard to give students tons of homework and go well beyond the working hours to conduct lots of extra classes to get their students to do well in the examinations. Singapore’s education system is excellent at monitoring how well the students perform in the examinations. Singapore students learn well. So Singapore schools have performed well but as glorified examination preparation centers. The McKinsey report is right but again only partially.

Don’t forget that from that statement, it also means what is not tested is also not learned! What is not tested in Singapore’s high stakes examinations are all the new skills and literacies of the 21st century environment that I mentioned above. Therefore they are also not learned. So can we conclude then that all the MOE claims to be its learning goals in its new Teach Less, Learn More initiative (TLLM) is just a pretence? Sop for the rest of the world (and parents in Singapore) about its supposedly wonderful education system?

Look at the tables from the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore’s website on Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM) initiative. I almost wanted to rejoin the teaching service when I saw it. The MOE is going to de-emphasize drill and practice, “one-size-fits-all” instruction, grades, tests, and so on. All the things that I believe in.

But wait a minute. Why didn’t they tell us how they hope to achieve this? It is all fine to have all these goals scribed on a (virtual) wall. But how does the MOE hope to achieve this?

I can’t help a reluctance on the part of MOE to move away from the high stakes examinations that has been a permanent feature of the education system in Singapore. The success of students from Singapore in such examinations has been the benchmark used by MOE to laud itself all these years. They have even gone into examinations in a big way by setting up their own Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) to promote Singapore’s examination-linked brand. The iPSLE is now being sold to neighboring countries.

Will teachers bite into this new initiative? A lot will depend again on MOE. It is not enough to say it wants all these wonderful learning and teaching goals but if it still has the high stakes examinations and the related school ranking system. No teacher who wants to continue in the Singapore education service will change from what he has been essentially doing, which is, to teach to the examinations. Teaching to the examinations of course means all those things that MOE wants less of under its TLLM initiative. Teachers will continue to cover the syllabus, push for drill and practice and rote-learning, continue to teach set formulae and expect standard answers. Their teaching mode will continue to be one of dispensing information. High stakes examinations don’t reward teachers and students to do what TLLM wants them to do. Just stick to the examination-type questions and answers. Students, teachers and principals will continue to fear failure.

The MOE must make a clear signal to all. It can’t pretend all the TLLM goals can be achieved as long as high stakes examinations continue as it is today. Even if changes are made to these examinations through the inclusion of project work the way it is done now,with its direct link to the students’ summative evaluation, it will only serve to emphasize that all learning is for the final results at the end of the academic year. Project work should be encouraged not just to see if students can do another type of assessment but more because it is to encourage deeper learning through inquiry. Teachers are not dumb neither are the students. They will see a summative assessment in whatever bottle it appears in.

All the goals stated under TLLM must be accompanied by appropriate changes to the assessment modes. Alternative assessment modes must be used throughout the year rather than on a seasonal basis as it is done today in Singapore schools. The assessment modes should be able to capture the deep learning and understanding that is called for under the TLLM initiative.

It would be nice to hear from MOE how it plans to go about doing all these. Changing the course in education for Singapore involves more than just stating goals. Just how does MOE plan to get there? Right now the clear destination for all teachers, principals and parents in Singapore is to continue holding their course and head for the next end-of-year examinations. MOE needs to reset its compass and chart new routes and take on new supplies if it hopes to get where it wants to go.