Does Subject-Based Banding truly level the playing field?
My younger brother currently in Secondary 2 in a school nearby, is the pioneer batch for FSBB. This new system, in comparison to the one I experienced, really provides a fresh perspective on what it means to receive and education.
What is Full Subject Based Banding?
According to MOE, Full Subject-Based Banding (Full SBB) is part of MOE’s ongoing efforts to nurture the joy of learning and develop multiple pathways to cater to the different strengths and interests of our students.
With Full SBB, we are moving towards a secondary school education where students learn each subject at the level that best caters to their overall strengths, interests and learning needs. Under Full SBB, there will no longer be separate Express, N(A), and N(T) streams, and students will be in mixed form classes where they can interact with peers of different strengths and interests.
Under Full SBB, MOE will expand Subject-Based Banding (SBB) beyond the four PSLE subjects, to allow eligible students to offer Humanities subjects at a more demanding level from Secondary 2.
Other subjects such as Art, Design and Technology, Food and Consumer Education, Music will be offered as accompanying set of Common Curriculum subjects at lower secondary.
From ministry statements, FSBB can be inferred to provide flexibility towards the streaming system and allow students to choose subjects and specialize into ones that they are most interested in.
Features of FSBB
- Mixed Form Classes
Form Classes are mixed from students of different posting groups to encourage social mixing
Form classes take 6 common subjects (Art, Design and Technology, Food and Consumer Education, Music, Physical Education, Character and Citizenship Education)
Personal Experiences
From the conversation I had with my brother and some friends over from church. This batch of secondary schools students had varying experiences which highlights some issues that may still occur. Take this with a grain of salt, Im working with a sample size of 5.
Students refer to each other by their Posting Groups
Student 1 (G3)
My form class when we were in secondary one, it was divided. The naughty ones are usually from G1, they make the class so disruptive and its annoying.
Student 2 (G2)
Sometimes the G3 kids would ignore me, I don’t know why they are like this, they are not even in the good schools so why treat me like that. The G1 students also abit annoying, always playing in class, makes it very hard to concentrate.
Student 3 (G1)
Okay lah, quite fun, I take G3 Chinese, so it’s great can do the thing im good at. But sometime I feel the G3 students think Im annoying
From this small sample size, I will not come to a full conclusion about the entire educational policy. But from conversations with them, it seems that for schools that have SBB systems. Social divide is still very present.
The good thing is, egos can be mitigated. From one of the kids I talked to,
From Sec 1 to Sec 2, like half the G3 kids in my class became G2 cause their results were like damn bad.
I managed to climb up to G3 now and its great. I no longer feel like I’m stupid or useless. My teachers have been very encouraging and I know I can do well.
Students results really do determine their actions, which I argue is the basis of a functioning meritocracy. The flexibility of this system also teaches good life lessons early on to these students in an arguably low risk environment.
Complacency kills. Keep working hard.
When I was in Secondary school, it was all about results. Coming from a neighbourhood school it was all results based. Work hard. Stream discrimination was very real.
I have to admit, I acknowledge my own privilege, when I was 15 I would not even look in the eye of N(T) students cause I felt they looked scary.
I have matured alot since then, and realised that we are just a product of our environment.
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Romans 2:1-3
As a christian, I use this verse to remind myself not to be judgmental. Never judge anyone, you do not know the full story and do not know their life situation or experience. Be compassionate to each other and mind your own business.
I look at how the lives of my secondary class mates panned out today. I wonder whether this system would have led them to a different path in life.
However, the good thing is, the revamped system seems to place student well being and maximising talents at the forefront of their operations.
The current policy is still too early to tell what the long term effects will be.
This, in my opinion, is a good thing that should be encouraged. That being said, MOE will probably make revisions and changes to their systems after closely monitoring schools.
The future of Education in Singapore is exciting.
References
https://www.moe.gov.sg/microsites/psle-fsbb/full-subject-based-banding/main.html
