What CORE means for your child
For parents and guardians: you may have seen the consent form about the CORE research programme through your school's Parent Gateway. This page explains what the study is, what your child would be involved in, and how we protect their privacy.
What is CORE?
CORE is a long-running research programme, active since 2004, that studies how teaching and learning actually happen in Singapore classrooms. It's a partnership between the National Institute of Education (NIE) and the Ministry of Education (MOE), not a commercial study.
Is CORE an evaluation or assessment of my child?
No. CORE does not evaluate, test, or assess your child in any way. We are not measuring your child's ability, and nothing we observe is used to judge them, their teacher, or their school.
What would my child be involved in?
Depending on the school's participation, this may include lesson recordings, a short online survey, quick exit cards after a lesson, and, for some students, a group discussion or a few pieces of marked work. Nothing changes about how your child is taught.
Which lessons, and which year levels
We study lessons at the Primary 5 and Secondary 3 levels because these are the years before the PSLE and the 'O' Levels respectively, and we want to document how classrooms work during these important years. We also study Secondary 1 sometimes, as it is an important transition period from primary to secondary school.
Primary 5
Mathematics.
Secondary 1
Music and Visual Arts.
Secondary 3
Mathematics and Literature.
Findings shape education policy, guide teacher training, and give schools timely feedback on how the curriculum is working in practice.
Since 2004, CORE has been into over 200 schools and observed more than 1,000 teachers, without a privacy or confidentiality incident.
What your child would actually do
Participation is voluntary, and your child can withdraw at any time. There are no risks beyond a minor initial distraction, and no compensation is provided. Our presence is completely passive and silent: your child's daily school routine, teacher interactions, and learning remain 100% unchanged.
Lesson recordings
Cameras focus on the teacher, not your child. A normal lesson, just observed.
Exit cards
Five multiple-choice questions after a lesson: a minute or two to complete.
Online survey
A short survey on how they feel about the subject: attitude, motivation, interest. Up to an hour.
Focus group discussion
For selected students only: five students share their learning experiences, about 30 minutes.
Sample worksheets
For selected students only: a few pieces of marked work, chosen at random by the teacher.
Who takes part
All participating students do the survey, recordings and exit cards. Only some are asked for classwork or a group discussion.
How we protect your child
To further protect your peace of mind, all recorded observations are immediately anonymised and strictly secured, so no identifiable information about your child is ever shared beyond our research team.
No student is named
Video focuses on the teacher. Audio is transcribed and coded, worksheets have names removed, and surveys and exit cards are anonymised before analysis.
No student is labelled
We do not single out or label any child based on research findings. Nothing we observe becomes part of a student's record.
Voluntary participation
Taking part is voluntary. Speak to your child's school or contact us directly with any concerns about participation.
Stored in Singapore
Data is held on secure NTU and NIE servers within Singapore for a minimum of 10 years, with access restricted to the Principal Investigator and study team.
Only de-identified data is shared
Aggregated, de-identified data is shared with MOE for research purposes. Publications and repositories such as DR-NTU receive de-identified data only.
Feedback to schools
Schools receive feedback on how the subject is being taught, based on pooled findings, not on individual students.
All research is conducted under formal ethics approval (NTU IRB-2025-210), reviewed independently before any data is collected.
The CORE study, explained simply
A three-page visual guide walking through the study: what we research, what your child would do, and how their data is kept confidential.
1 · Understanding CORE
Who we are, our research focus, what student participation involves, and what we do with the data.
2 · What to expect
Each activity your child may take part in, and roughly how long it takes.
3 · Data storage
What happens to each type of data, and exactly where it is stored.
Download the parents' guide (PDF, 612 KB) ↓
If you have any questions, email core@nie.edu.sg and we'll get back to you.
If you're the one in the lesson
Everything on this page is written for parents, but it's about you too. In short: a researcher may sit at the back of your classroom sometimes, mostly filming your teacher rather than you. You might get a short survey or a quick set of questions after a lesson, and a few students are sometimes asked to join a short group chat about what they thought of the lesson. None of it is a test, and none of it affects your grades.
Frequently asked questions
Is my child required to take part?
Participation is voluntary and based on the consent process shared through your school. You can ask your school or CORE directly if you have questions before deciding.
Can I withdraw my child later?
Yes. Contact us using the form on our Contact Us page and select "Parent Question" to discuss withdrawing at any stage.
Who sees my child's information?
Only the CORE research team, under strict ethics and data-protection protocols. Data is de-identified before it is analysed or published.
Does this affect my child's grades or school record?
No. CORE is a research study, not part of school assessment, and has no bearing on your child's grades or official school record. It is a non-evaluative baseline investigation, since we document what already happens in classrooms rather than assessing anyone.
Will my child be recognisable in the video recordings?
The cameras are pointed at the teacher, not the students. Recordings are used only for analysis by the study team, and no student is identified by name in any transcript, report, or publication.
How long is the data kept, and where?
On secure NTU and NIE servers within Singapore, for a minimum of 10 years. Raw data sits in an access-restricted research archive available only to the study team; only the final anonymised data set goes into the NIE Data Repository. Data is retained for auditing purposes too, for example if a claim of research misconduct is ever raised.