NORMAL stream students aspiring for polytechnic places will get more help, including teaching staff who understand their learning styles.

There will also be a new direct pathway - skipping the O levels - for N-level students who do well and want to get into an Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

The Education Ministry, at its annual Workplan Seminar for principals yesterday, announced these and other measures to enable the 80,000 Normal stream students - who make up 40 per cent of the total secondary school population - move up the education ladder.

The workplan also unveiled higher salaries for mid-career teachers and a revamped hostel dormitory programme in five schools.

But the main focus was Normal stream students. The ministry wants to open up more routes, and improve the curriculum and its delivery by providing specialised training to teachers.

Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam drew a picture of the plan to 'open up ladders all along the way' for such students, who had complained of having their aspirations 'boxed in' in the past.

Every year, about 78 per cent of the 10,000 Normal (Academic) students do well enough in their N-level exams to make it to Secondary 5, where they go on to sit for the O-levels.

But it is at the O-levels where it can be a steep climb for a Sec 5 student. Of those who take the O-levels at Sec 5, only 60 per cent qualify for polytechnic studies.

To help students get over this hump, the ministry is putting into place new promotion criteria for going from Sec 4N to Sec 5N, to ensure they are better prepared to meet poly entry requirements.

From 2009, it will require Sec 4N students to do well in at least five subjects, including English and mathematics, to move on to Sec 5. Currently, they need only do well in three subjects, including English.

This move is meant to push students to widen their focus from three to five subjects - the number of subjects polys require for admission - and to take their studies, especially in maths and English, more seriously.

Yet another change being put in place is the new direct pathway to the ITEs.

Currently, 20 per cent of Normal (Academic) students head on to ITE after completing Secondary 5. From next year, those who do well in the N-level exams can skip the O-levels and go on to the ITE in the fifth year.

For the Normal (Technical) students, who number about 7,000 every year, the ministry wants to try out a new, bolder approach towards varying their curriculum.

Bedok Town Secondary, Shuqun and Si Ling will pilot the new programme. They will continue to offer core subjects like English and Maths, but will try new ways of teaching the subjects to keep their students interested.

With help from the ITEs, they will also offer new subjects like mechatronics and computer networking. ITE lecturers will be seconded to co-teach some of the subjects.

Even as it opens up more pathways, the ministry realises that good teaching is key to better performance.

Normal stream teachers will have help from education associates hired and trained by the ministry to help teach the applied and technical modules.

Dedicated Normal stream teachers will also be sent for specialised training at the National Institute of Education.

Mr Adrian Tan of Shuqun Secondary fits this profile.

Mr Tan, 31, who has been teaching Normal (Technical) students for five years, said: 'Many of my students learn by doing, rather than being auditory or visual learners. So, it's not that they are not capable. They just need a different approach.'

sandra@sph.com.sg

MORE REPORTS, HOME