In 1981, Dr Tay Eng Soon, then Minister of State for Education, led a team to study gifted education programmes in Germany, Israel and Russia. The team found that the Israeli model, which features classrooms specific for academically inclined students, was the most suitable for Singapore.
MOE set up the Gifted Education Branch in May 1983 to select teachers and students for the GEP, conduct teacher training sessions and prepare a curriculum.
The first selection test involved about 40,000 Primary 3 pupils, of which 100 students were selected for the programme pilot at Raffles Girls’ Primary and Rosyth School.
The top 5 per cent of pupils taking the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) were also tested, of which 100 students are selected for the pilot GEP in secondary schools, conducted at Raffles Institution and Raffles Girls’ Secondary.
When the programme first kicked off, the selected students only made up 0.25 per cent of their cohorts.
A 10th-anniversary book by MOE on the programme reported that the GEP in the early years faced challenges, such as meeting the needs of gifted children who have "a wide range of abilities and interests", and figuring out how diverse gifted children in Singapore are.
The curriculum of the GEP in its early years was also different. Primary school GEP students had to sit for social studies papers in their PSLE, for example.
In 1987, a decision was made not to extend the GEP to junior colleges as these schools could already sufficiently meet the educational needs of students with differing academic abilities and interests, and such students could also take part in programmes such as doing research with the National University of Singapore.
But by the 20th year mark of the GEP, the education system had shifted "from an efficiency-driven education to ability-driven education model", then-acting Minister for Education Tharman Shanmugaratnam wrote in a book commemorating the programme's anniversary.
To this end, the GEP was further expanded, and by 2003, 1,393 primary students and 1,954 secondary students were in the programme's nine primary and seven secondary schools.
Students in the GEP were also exposed to more enrichment programmes, such as a Moot Parliament Project that was piloted in 2003.
The 20th-anniversary book also took stock of GEP students who went on to take on scholarships. Between 1991 and 2003, 22 GEP students became President's Scholars. There were also three Lee Kuan Yew Scholars and three Rhodes Scholars during the same period.
In 2004, MOE introduced the Integrated Programme (IP) for secondary school students, allowing selected students to skip the GCE O-Level examination as part of a through-train six-year programme. These students graduate with a GCE A-Level certificate, International Baccalaureate Diploma or NUS High School Diploma, depending on which school they enrol in.
With this move, enrolment into the GEP in secondary schools declined. As such, the ministry discontinued the GEP in secondary schools in 2008, but students could attend school-based GEP in schools offering IP.
That same year, GEP students also started spending half of their curriculum time with non-GEP students to mitigate growing criticism that the programme breeds elitism.
The GEP will now undergo another major shift: Starting with this year's Primary 1 cohort, the revamped GEP will cut across all 180 primary schools, and students will be able to join the programme for the particular subjects that they are strong in.
With the revamp, MOE estimates that about 10 per cent of students will be able to benefit across 180 schools. Currently, just 1 per cent - around 370 to 400 students - of each cohort participates in the GEP, while school-based higher-ability programmes benefit 7 per cent of the cohort.
Instead of two rounds of selection tests involving English language, mathematics and general ability papers at Pri 3, students will take only English language and mathematics papers in the new GEP
Teachers’ day-to-day observations and students’ work will also be taken into account in assessing their suitability. Students can join the programme from Primary 4 to 6, instead of just at Primary 4.
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MOE set up the Gifted Education Branch in May 1983 to select teachers and students for the GEP, conduct teacher training sessions and prepare a curriculum.
The first selection test involved about 40,000 Primary 3 pupils, of which 100 students were selected for the programme pilot at Raffles Girls’ Primary and Rosyth School.
The top 5 per cent of pupils taking the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) were also tested, of which 100 students are selected for the pilot GEP in secondary schools, conducted at Raffles Institution and Raffles Girls’ Secondary.
When the programme first kicked off, the selected students only made up 0.25 per cent of their cohorts.
A 10th-anniversary book by MOE on the programme reported that the GEP in the early years faced challenges, such as meeting the needs of gifted children who have "a wide range of abilities and interests", and figuring out how diverse gifted children in Singapore are.
The curriculum of the GEP in its early years was also different. Primary school GEP students had to sit for social studies papers in their PSLE, for example.
In 1987, a decision was made not to extend the GEP to junior colleges as these schools could already sufficiently meet the educational needs of students with differing academic abilities and interests, and such students could also take part in programmes such as doing research with the National University of Singapore.
But by the 20th year mark of the GEP, the education system had shifted "from an efficiency-driven education to ability-driven education model", then-acting Minister for Education Tharman Shanmugaratnam wrote in a book commemorating the programme's anniversary.
To this end, the GEP was further expanded, and by 2003, 1,393 primary students and 1,954 secondary students were in the programme's nine primary and seven secondary schools.
Students in the GEP were also exposed to more enrichment programmes, such as a Moot Parliament Project that was piloted in 2003.
The 20th-anniversary book also took stock of GEP students who went on to take on scholarships. Between 1991 and 2003, 22 GEP students became President's Scholars. There were also three Lee Kuan Yew Scholars and three Rhodes Scholars during the same period.
In 2004, MOE introduced the Integrated Programme (IP) for secondary school students, allowing selected students to skip the GCE O-Level examination as part of a through-train six-year programme. These students graduate with a GCE A-Level certificate, International Baccalaureate Diploma or NUS High School Diploma, depending on which school they enrol in.
With this move, enrolment into the GEP in secondary schools declined. As such, the ministry discontinued the GEP in secondary schools in 2008, but students could attend school-based GEP in schools offering IP.
That same year, GEP students also started spending half of their curriculum time with non-GEP students to mitigate growing criticism that the programme breeds elitism.
The GEP will now undergo another major shift: Starting with this year's Primary 1 cohort, the revamped GEP will cut across all 180 primary schools, and students will be able to join the programme for the particular subjects that they are strong in.
With the revamp, MOE estimates that about 10 per cent of students will be able to benefit across 180 schools. Currently, just 1 per cent - around 370 to 400 students - of each cohort participates in the GEP, while school-based higher-ability programmes benefit 7 per cent of the cohort.
Instead of two rounds of selection tests involving English language, mathematics and general ability papers at Pri 3, students will take only English language and mathematics papers in the new GEP
Teachers’ day-to-day observations and students’ work will also be taken into account in assessing their suitability. Students can join the programme from Primary 4 to 6, instead of just at Primary 4.
Continue reading...