Academic Assessment of Home-schooled Children

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim asked the Minister for Education whether beyond just releasing the results of the Primary 4 examinations for children approved to undergo home schooling, the Singapore Examinations Assessment Board can provide further insight on areas of improvement or performance of these children so that the parents or educators of these children will be able to guide these home-schooled children to do better.

All Singapore Citizen children who are granted approval to be home-schooled, are required to take a Mid-Term Assessment when they are in Primary 4 (P4). This is for parents to have a broad understanding of their child’s educational progress mid-way through primary education in preparation for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) at Primary 6.

In preparation for the Assessment, the Ministry provides parents with an Information Booklet for each subject when the child is in Primary 3, specifying the test format and specimen questions which help to illustrate the knowledge and skills assessed. This helps parents to guide their child’s academic development.

Beyond the individual results of the Assessment, an examiner’s report for each subject summarising the key strengths and weaknesses of the cohort performances of P4 home-schoolers in the P4 Mid-Term Assessment is produced. Parents may request for MOE to share information from these reports, to help them understand and bridge their home-schooled children’s learning gaps. For home-schooled children who may not have performed well in the assessment, MOE will follow up with parents to understand their educational plans going forward.