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Gifted Education Programme (Singapore)

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The Gifted Education Programme (GEP) is a Singaporean academic programme designed for the top 1% of pupils (Based on a screening test at the end of Primary 3 and Primary 6, after the PSLE).

Contents

History

The Gifted Education Programme was first implemented in Singapore in 1984 amid some public concern. It was initiated by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in line with its policy under the New Education System to allow each pupil to learn at his/her own pace. The MOE has a commitment to ensure that the potential of each pupil is recognised, nurtured and developed. It was recognised that there are pupils who are intellectually gifted and that there should be provisions to meet their needs. It actually began with two primary centres and two secondary centres but it has currently expanded to nine primary centres (as at October 2004) and was at its peak before the introduction of the Integrated Programme.

Schools offering GEP

As of 2003, nine primary schools and seven secondary schools offer GEP.

Primary schools

Secondary schools

Later, only three secondary schools offered the Gifted Education Programme. These schools are Raffles Girls' School, Nanyang Girls' High School and Anglo-Chinese School, all of which are independent schools.

Impact of the Integrated Programme

In 2004, with the first five secondary schools implementing their own Integrated Programmes with their affiliated Junior Colleges, they are officially no longer under the GEP. However, they still have their own programmes within their respective Integrated Programmes to cater to these gifted students, who still retain their "gifted" status. Despite all the changes, there have not been any major changes to the programme, and this is basically just a change of name.

However, the Integrated Programme proved so popular that in 2004, the remaining schools officially in the programme (Victoria School and Dunman High School) saw a drastic decrease in enrollment. Victoria School had too few students to create a GEP class while Dunman High School had to cut down on the number of GEP classes from the usual 2 to 1.

As of 2005, four of the secondary schools offered only the Integrated Programme (Hwa Chong Institution, Raffles Institution, Raffles Girls' School (Secondary), Nanyang Girls' High School), while the other two (Dunman High School, Victoria School) only offer GEP. Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) is an exception; it offers both the GEP and IP to its students. There are also two GE-IP classes in the School who are offered both the programmes of the GEP and the IP. Anglo-Chinese School Independent is also a International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, the first of its kind in Singapore. Meanwhile, Raffles Institution and Raffles Girls School (Sec) offer the Raffles Programme, while Hwa Chong Institution offers the Gifted Plus programme (before adopting the MOE GEP program, it in the past had its own GEP, identically named, whose aims and goals sounded suspiciously similar to those of MOE's).

Mission

The mission statement of the Gifted Education Programme is to provide leadership in the education of the intellectually gifted. The programme is committed to nurturing gifted individuals to their full potential for the fulfilment of self and the betterment of society. Their vision is to make the Gifted Education Programme a model of excellence in the education of the intellectually gifted. They will achieve this vision by providing professional expertise and exemplary resources to develop intellectual rigour, humane values and creativity in gifted youths to prepare them for responsible leadership and service to country and society.

Admission

All Primary Three students, at the age of nine, can choose to take a Screening Test. This screening test allows the top 1% pupils to enter GEP. The subjects tested are English, Mathematics and General Knowledge. There are two rounds in the test. After a first round, a certain number of pupils are eliminated and those who get through will be in the second round, which will identify the top 1% pupils. After PSLE, there used to be a second round of testing to allow entry for pupils who missed the chance in P3. Students who got in at this round were referred to as being Supplementary Intake students.

Progress in the Programme

The pupils will have to study in this programme from Primary 4 to 6, and after that, the pupils can choose to continue studying in the programme only, in the Integrated Programme, on in the mainstream. To enter the Gifted Education or Integrated Programme in Secondary, they have to score high in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) in Primary 6. Some parents and pupils have argued that the stress in the programme is too great. Currently, however, students who score well in the PSLE are no longer offered the chance to join the GEP program, meaning that the only point of entry now is in Primary 4.

Special enrichment programmes

Schools in the programme set separate (sometimes jointly set with other GEP schools) test papers and generally hold more enrichment activities for the students in the programme, which include the following:

Primary

  1. Computer Enrichment Programme (Primary 4 & 5)
  2. Individualised Research Study (Primary 4 & 5)
  3. Innovation Program (Primary 5)
  4. Odyssey of the Mind Programme (Primary 5)
  5. Chinese Language Camp (Primary 5)
  6. Creative Writing Camp (Primary 5)
  7. Elevating Concepts by Changing Mindsets (E=C2M) (Primary 5)
  8. Humanities Quiz (Primary 5 & 6)
  9. Learning Journey to the Subordinate Courts (Primary 6)
  10. Advanced Mathematics Enrichment Classes - (selected Primary 6 pupils)
  11. Mathematics Enrichment Camp (Primary 6)
  12. Mathematics Trail (Primary 5)
Secondary
  1. Chinese Language Camp (Secondary 1)
  2. Chinese Language Creative Writing Programme (Secondary 1 - 4)
  3. Individualised Research Study (Secondary 1-3)
  4. Computer Programming Course (Secondary 1)
  5. English Public Speaking Competitions (Secondary 1 & 2)
  6. History Drama Competition (Secondary 2)
  7. International Physics Olympiad Training for Advanced Learners (Inphotal) (Secondary 4)
  8. Creative Arts Programme
  9. Literature Seminar (Secondary 2 & 3)
  10. Mathematics Active Day (Secondary 1)
  11. Mathematics Enrichment Camp (Secondary 2)
  12. Mathematics Seminar (Secondary 3 & 4)
  13. Moot Parliament (Secondary 3)
  14. Science Attachment (Secondary 1 - 3)
  15. Singapore Polytechnic Information Technology course (Secondary 2 & 3)
  16. Specialised Multimedia Camp (Secondary 2 & 3)
  17. Computer Mentorship Programme (Secondary 1 - 4)
Also, under Individualised Research Study (IRS), there are options for mentorship programmes, such as:

Primary

  1. Innovation Programme (Primary 5)
Secondary 2 and 3
  1. Creative Arts Programme
  2. Odyssey of the Mind
  3. Computer Mentorship Programme
  4. Science Mentorship Programme
  5. Humanities and Social Sciences Research Programme (Secondary 3 only)
Many of these programmes are also offered to non-GEP students as well.

Under Secondary level, self-initiated mentorship programmes are also allowed if approved. Also, in Secondary School IRS is also known as a generalization of ISO (Individualised Study Option), under which IRS is recognized as a mentorship programme.

Distinction

In GEP, pupils in Primary 4 can choose to go for a special after-school Chinese course, which includes content like Chinese poetry,comics, riddles etc. The program is called Chinese Language Appreciation (CLA) and is to be attended once a week.

Individualised Research Studies (IRS) is compulsory for pupils in Primary 4 or 5, wherein pupils do research on a specific topic. In Primary 5, good projects will be awarded. However, pupils who do not select IRS in Primary 5 may select the Innovation Programme (IvP), where pupils invent items to solve real-life problems.

Pupils in GEP have to take Social Studies as a graded subject. Overall, lessons in the GEP are conducted with fewer textbooks and workbooks; lessons are more discussion-, worksheet- and project-based.

Pupils in GEP learn poetry and literature (Charlotte's Web in Primary 4, A Wrinkle in Time in Primary 5, and Friedrich in Primary 6) as part of a non-examinable 'Concept' unit under the English Language subject.

Prejudice

GEP students are sometimes prejudiced against and insulted by others and portrayed as nerds who spend large amount of time studying and have no interests in sports or other non-academic activities. This perception may ring true for some GEP individuals, however, as a blanket stereotype of all GEP students, it does not hold true as there have been students who are good in sports and have taken part in numerous sports competitions, both at Inter-School and National levels.[[Citing sources citation needed]] In Rosyth School for example, the GEP soccer team is better than the mainstream classes, and in some Raffles Institution levels, namely the batch of 2007, the GEP classes are much better than the mainstream.

Satire incident

On 4 June 2001, Singaporean satirical site Talkingcock.com posted an account of a day in the life of a GEP student, portraying him nerdily reading his textbook in the bathroom and calling a football a "spherical object", among other depictions, which is a possible reference to a line from Tom Lehrer's Harvard Fight Song, Fight Fiercely Harvard.

This led to a string of more than 100 comments on the website spanning two years including those from GEP students. The first response from a GEP student was made on 24 May 2002 saying that although the article was funny it could have been extremely hurtful to the students. A string of other responses followed to warn others not to prejudice against GEP students. Finally, the argument was cooled down after several users suggested that the site was purely for satire and that the original article should not be taken seriously. The discussion thread is still available on the site as of 2004.

External links


{| id="toc" width="100%" cellspacing="0" |- bgcolor="#6495ed" |align="left" | [http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ] !align="center" colspan="1"| 
 Education in Singapore
|align="right" |

|- !align="left" valign="top"|Education: |Education in Singapore, Ministry of Education |- !align="left" valign="top"|Schools: |List of schools, Millennia Institute, List of junior colleges, Institute of Technical Education, List of universities, List of international schools |- !align="left" valign="top"|Universities: |National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University, SIM University |- !align="left" valign="top"|Programme: |Gifted Education Programme, Integrated Programme, Special Assistance Plan, President Scholar, Provisional Admission Exercise |- !align="left" valign="top"|Examination: |Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board, Primary School Leaving Examination, GCE 'O' Level, Ten year series |- !align="left" valign="top"|Co-curriculum: |Co-curricular activity, National Physical Fitness Award, Singapore Youth Festival, List of youth organisations, Boys' Brigade, National Cadet Corps, National Civil Defence Cadet Corps, National Police Cadet Corps, Outward Bound Singapore, Red Cross Youth, Scout Association, National Physical Fitness Award |- !align="left" valign="top"|Library: |National Library Board, List of libraries |-

 

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