Schools Offering and Annual Cohorts Taking Full Literature at "O" And "N(A)" Levels

Debated in Parliament on 7 Feb 2013.

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From 1992 to 2001, candidature for Full Literature at "O" level decreased from 47.9% to 21.8% of the Secondary 4 cohort, while "N(A)" level candidature fell from 26.5% to 4.2%, with a more stable take-up from 2002 to 2012 at around 9% for "O" level and 2.5% for "N(A)" level.
In 2012, 77 schools (50% of "O" level schools) offered Full Literature at "O" level and 13 schools (10% of "N(A)" level schools) offered it at "N(A)" level, with stable offerings noted from 2002 to 2012.
Pass rates for Full Literature have remained high (around 90%), with distinction rates over 30%, and in 2012, "O" level Full Literature had a 95.8% pass rate and 40.8% distinction rate.
No correlation was found between the take-up rates for Literature and overall English language performance in schools over the past 20 years, as both remained consistent without significant variation.
The Ministry of Education promotes Literature through teacher sharing sessions, a biennial seminar, a special interest group, and syllabus reviews to make the subject accessible and interesting.

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Janice Koh

Ms Janice Koh asked the Minister for Education from 1992 to 2012 (a) what are the yearly number and proportion of schools that offer Full Literature at Upper Secondary level as an "O" level and "N(A)" level subject; (b) what are the yearly number of students and percentage of the annual cohort take Full Literature at "O" level and "N(A)" level; (c) what are the annual performance results for Full Literature at "O" level and "N(A)" level; and (d) whether there is a correlation between the take-up rates for Full Literature and overall English language performance in schools over the past 20 years.

Summary written by AI (learn more)

From 1992 to 2001, candidature for Full Literature at "O" level decreased from 47.9% to 21.8% of the Secondary 4 cohort, while "N(A)" level candidature fell from 26.5% to 4.2%, with a more stable take-up from 2002 to 2012 at around 9% for "O" level and 2.5% for "N(A)" level.
In 2012, 77 schools (50% of "O" level schools) offered Full Literature at "O" level and 13 schools (10% of "N(A)" level schools) offered it at "N(A)" level, with stable offerings noted from 2002 to 2012.
Pass rates for Full Literature have remained high (around 90%), with distinction rates over 30%, and in 2012, "O" level Full Literature had a 95.8% pass rate and 40.8% distinction rate.
No correlation was found between the take-up rates for Literature and overall English language performance in schools over the past 20 years, as both remained consistent without significant variation.
The Ministry of Education promotes Literature through teacher sharing sessions, a biennial seminar, a special interest group, and syllabus reviews to make the subject accessible and interesting.

Questions identified by AI (learn more)

Schools Offering and Annual Cohorts Taking Full Literature at "O" And "N(A)" Levels

Debated in Parliament on 7 Feb 2013.

Summary written by AI (learn more)

From 1992 to 2001, candidature for Full Literature at "O" level decreased from 47.9% to 21.8% of the Secondary 4 cohort, while "N(A)" level candidature fell from 26.5% to 4.2%, with a more stable take-up from 2002 to 2012 at around 9% for "O" level and 2.5% for "N(A)" level.
In 2012, 77 schools (50% of "O" level schools) offered Full Literature at "O" level and 13 schools (10% of "N(A)" level schools) offered it at "N(A)" level, with stable offerings noted from 2002 to 2012.
Pass rates for Full Literature have remained high (around 90%), with distinction rates over 30%, and in 2012, "O" level Full Literature had a 95.8% pass rate and 40.8% distinction rate.
No correlation was found between the take-up rates for Literature and overall English language performance in schools over the past 20 years, as both remained consistent without significant variation.
The Ministry of Education promotes Literature through teacher sharing sessions, a biennial seminar, a special interest group, and syllabus reviews to make the subject accessible and interesting.

Questions identified by AI (learn more)

Full Transcript

Janice Koh

Summary written by AI (learn more)

From 1992 to 2001, candidature for Full Literature at "O" level decreased from 47.9% to 21.8% of the Secondary 4 cohort, while "N(A)" level candidature fell from 26.5% to 4.2%, with a more stable take-up from 2002 to 2012 at around 9% for "O" level and 2.5% for "N(A)" level.
In 2012, 77 schools (50% of "O" level schools) offered Full Literature at "O" level and 13 schools (10% of "N(A)" level schools) offered it at "N(A)" level, with stable offerings noted from 2002 to 2012.
Pass rates for Full Literature have remained high (around 90%), with distinction rates over 30%, and in 2012, "O" level Full Literature had a 95.8% pass rate and 40.8% distinction rate.
No correlation was found between the take-up rates for Literature and overall English language performance in schools over the past 20 years, as both remained consistent without significant variation.
The Ministry of Education promotes Literature through teacher sharing sessions, a biennial seminar, a special interest group, and syllabus reviews to make the subject accessible and interesting.

Questions identified by AI (learn more)

Heng Swee Keat

Literature is a compulsory subject for all students at the lower secondary levels. At the upper secondary levels, before 2001, "O" level students could offer one or two of the following Humanities subjects: Literature, History and Geography. From 20011, all upper secondary students offered a Combined Humanities subject comprising a Social Studies component and one of the following Electives: Literature, Geography or History. Students could also offer Literature, Geography or History as a second Full Humanities subject.

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The candidature for Literature at "O" level in 1992 was 16,970 (47.9% of the Secondary 4 cohort). Over the next 10 years, the candidature decreased to 7,322 (21.8% of the cohort) in 2001. The "N(A)" candidature also decreased from 3,383 (26.5% of the Secondary 4 cohort) to 428 (4.2% of the cohort) in 2001.

From 2002 to 2012, the candidature for Full Literature in English at "O" and "N(A)" levels has been fairly consistent. Each year, there are more than 3,000 (9%) "O" level students and more than 200 (2.5%) "N(A)" level students for Full Literature. In addition, there are about 3,000 (9%) "O" level students and about 400 (3.5%) "N(A)" level students for Elective Literature.

The number of schools offering Full Literature at "O" level has been fairly stable between 2002 and 2012. In 2012, 77 schools (50% of the total number of schools with "O" level course) offer the subject at "O" level and 13 schools (10% of the total number of schools with "N(A)" course) offer it at "N(A)" level.

Students' performance in Literature in English at "O" and "N" level has been consistent over the years, with passes at about 90% and distinction rates of over 30%. In 2012, for example, 95.8% of the "O" Level Full Literature candidates and 91.8% of the Elective Literature candidates passed the subject and the distinction rates were 40.8% and 34.0% respectively. For the "N(A)" level Full Literature, the pass rate was 90% and distinction rate was 38.1%.

As both students' performance in English Language and the candidature for Literature have not varied significantly, it is not possible to infer any correlation between the take-up rates for Literature and English Language performance in schools.

To promote Literature, MOE organises regularly sharing sessions on the teaching of Literature and a biennial Literature Seminar for teachers. A special interest group has been set up for Literature teachers to share ideas and resources. MOE also reviews and revises the Literature syllabus to make the subject accessible to and interesting for students.

Page: 146

Schools Offering and Annual Cohorts Taking Full Literature at "O" And "N(A)" Levels

Summary

Questions Identified

Full Transcript

Janice Koh

Summary

Questions Identified

Schools Offering and Annual Cohorts Taking Full Literature at "O" And "N(A)" Levels

Summary

Questions Identified

Full Transcript

Janice Koh

Summary

Questions Identified

Heng Swee Keat