Education Conversations: What MOE Is Reviewing in 2026

MOE’s Education Conversations, launched in a release dated 28 May 2026, are a series of outreach efforts, in person and online, whose topics include the use of the PSLE for Secondary 1 (S1) posting, the Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme, and Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) and Co-Curricular Activities (CCA). As of 19 October 2026, none of the MOE pages we read announces a decision on any of them, and MOE’s own pages still show this year’s DSA, PSLE and S1 posting dates. We could not open the Conversations microsite, which may carry newer information.

The most substantial recent development we found is a speech published on 29 September 2026, in which Second Minister for Education David Neo, speaking for Minister Desmond Lee, said the next phase of the Conversations will examine the transition from primary to secondary school. He gave no dates for that phase and no policy outcome. Since then, a parliamentary reply published on 7 October 2026 said only that MOE “will continue to study possible moves to manage the stakes associated with PSLE”.

The grouping below, of what MOE has said and what is still under review, is ours; the dates and wording are MOE’s. This is general information, not MOE or school advice.

What has MOE said, and what is still under review?

Each dated entry links to the MOE page it comes from. The dates are the “Published on” dates shown on those pages.

What MOE has said, in date order:

• 14 October and 4 November 2025: MOE told Parliament it had been “carefully studying alternative school posting approaches such as a primary-to-secondary through-train model” (reply) and that the DSA review “is ongoing, and we will share more details when ready” (reply).
• 2 and 3 March 2026: MOE said the PSLE “serves a different purpose to school-based assessment” and that “any major changes will need to be considered carefully” (reply). In his Committee of Supply speech, Minister Lee said MOE was “prepared to review” how milestone exams are conducted and how their difficulty should be calibrated, how DSA can be enhanced, and how students are posted to secondary schools, “including the viability of through-train options” (speech).
• April and 28 May 2026: the 28 May release says focused group discussions began in April with education professionals, parents and youths, and names the topics.
• 27 June 2026: the first public session. In his opening and closing remarks, the Minister said groups were not asked to keep to set topics, and that participants raised PSLE, DSA, class size, special educational needs, teacher workload, CCA, internships and skills, among others.
• 1 July 2026: at the Teachers’ Investiture Ceremony, the Minister said MOE is studying how to dampen the academic arms race, and asked as examples whether it needs to adjust how the PSLE is used for secondary school posting and how it can adjust DSA (speech).
• 9 September 2026: replying to an adjournment motion in Parliament, MOE said the Conversations had produced “many reasons for these pressures and varied ideas on how to address them”, that it would “carefully study each of these suggestions, including their merits and trade-offs” and that it would “share our plans in due course” (reply).
• 10 September 2026: MOE announced P1 registration changes. The release does not mention the Conversations.
• 29 September 2026: the next phase was described as examining the primary-to-secondary transition.
• 7 October 2026: asked whether pupils with an affiliated secondary school feel less PSLE stress, MOE replied that the effect is difficult to isolate and that it “will continue to study possible moves to manage the stakes associated with PSLE” (reply).

Under review or being studied, no decision announced on the pages read:

• PSLE use for S1 posting, which MOE lists as “moderating examination stakes, such as the use of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) for Secondary 1 posting”.
• How milestone exams are run and calibrated, which MOE said on 3 March it was “prepared to review”. The pages read give no outcome.
• The DSA scheme, to “strengthen student development, improve selection, and enhance accessibility”.
• Other ways to post students, including through-train models.
• CCE and CCA, listed under “strengthening the education experience”.
• When any change would start, and which year group it would cover. No page read says.

What ideas has MOE heard, and what trade-offs does it see?

In the 29 September speech, the Second Minister said the PSLE, DSA and how to strengthen schools across the system “surfaced most repeatedly”, and that MOE is “not against striving” and is not “talking about dropping standards”. He listed suggestions that MOE says it heard. These come from participants, not MOE, and none has been adopted in the pages read.

• On the PSLE and posting: remove, postpone or make the PSLE optional; make scoring bands broader at the top and narrower at the bottom; change how students are posted; strengthen more schools so families do not feel they need a handful of them.
• On DSA: scale it back or abolish it; expand it; spread places or talent areas across more schools; focus on aptitude and interest rather than skills that can be intensively coached.

He then set out trade-offs MOE sees. More balloting “could increase uncertainty and anxiety”. Proximity “could worsen social mixing”. A through-train model “could shift competition to Primary 1 admission” and reduce a child’s ability to choose a secondary school later. Removing DSA entirely, he said, could mean “the pressures may simply return to PSLE”. These trade-offs “are not reasons to avoid change”, he added, but MOE is “consulting widely, rather than rushing to a single solution”.

On 26 July, at a session organised by Lianhe Zaobao with MOE’s support, Minister of State Jasmin Lau said in Mandarin that even if scores were not used to allocate schools, some allocation mechanism would still be needed, to encourage students to keep achieving through their own effort (our translation of her remarks, which MOE’s page gives in Mandarin only; original: 即使不用分数来分配学校，我们还是需要某种分配机制).

What about CCE and CCA?

No decision is announced here either, on the pages read. On 1 July the Minister said MOE is “looking into how we can further strengthen” CCE and CCAs, and the pages read give no detail. In a 10 September parliamentary reply on whether external activities could count as CCAs, MOE said that while students may pursue external activities, it “remains important” for them to take part in a school-based CCA.

Does anything change for this year’s PSLE, DSA or P1 dates?

No change is announced in the pages read. MOE’s own pages, reread on 19 October 2026, show the dates below, and none of them mentions the Conversations.

• DSA-Sec preferences: students who have received DSA-Sec offers submit up to three school choices in order, from 9am on Monday, 19 October to 4.30pm on Friday, 23 October 2026 (preferences page, updated 20 April 2026), and receive school allocation along with the PSLE results (MOE’s DSA page, updated 19 October 2026, when it added a notice giving the same window). Our DSA preferences guide covers the window.
• PSLE results: tentatively Tuesday, 24 or Wednesday, 25 November 2026 (national exam dates, updated 27 March 2026). The S1 posting page, updated 14 October 2026, gives seven calendar days from results day to submit school choices and Friday, 18 December 2026 (tentative) for posting results. See our PSLE results and S1 posting timeline and the achievement levels explainer.
• P1 registration: MOE’s vacancies page, updated 31 August 2026, says the 2026 exercise for citizens and permanent residents has ended. The 10 September changes take effect from the 2027 exercise; see our guide to the 2027 P1 changes.

The P1 changes are a separate announcement: the release calls them part of “MOE’s continual review of our policies” and does not mention the Conversations. MOE has said nothing on the pages read about when any change to PSLE posting or DSA could start.

How can a parent take part?

• Online or in person: the 28 May release says the public can sign up for in-person sessions, and share views in English and vernacular languages, through the Education Conversations microsite at educationconversations.moe.gov.sg. We could not open that site from our research environment, so we cannot describe its forms or session dates. Check it directly.
• The next phase: on 29 September the Second Minister invited Singaporeans to share experiences and ideas “especially on where the stakes feel highest”. The pages read give no dates or format.
• The Minister’s suggestion on 27 June: “Talk to your children; talk to other parents; talk to your children’s teachers.”

What could a family do now?

These are our suggestions, not MOE guidance, except where we say it is MOE’s wording.

1. Plan on the dates MOE publishes today. Note which MOE page and update date you relied on, and recheck it before you act on a date.
2. If your child is in Primary 6 and holds a DSA-Sec offer, the school preference window opened on 19 October and closes at 4.30pm on Friday, 23 October 2026. MOE’s DSA page encourages families to decide together with the child whether DSA-Sec suits them, and its S1 posting page says to start discussing secondary school choices early, before the PSLE results (MOE’s wording).
3. If your child is younger, no page read says whether any change would apply to their year. Treat any claim that a PSLE or DSA rule has already changed as unconfirmed until it appears on an MOE page, and check MOE’s news page for the next-phase announcement. More guides for school-age families are in our learning topic.

Common questions