If you’re parenting a secondary school student in Singapore right now, you’re raising a teen in one of the most tech-enabled school systems in the world. Lessons aren’t just whiteboard and worksheets anymore – they’re happening on Student Learning Space (SLS), in adaptive quizzes, with AI tools helping teachers mark work and give feedback.
That can feel exciting and worrying at the same time.
This post walks you through what’s actually happening in classrooms with tech and AI, what guardrails MOE and GovTech have put in place, and how you, as a parent, can support healthy, meaningful use of technology at home.
1. From Copying Homework to Clicking “Submit”: What’s Changed?
Every generation of students has had shortcuts.
In the past, it might have been copying a classmate’s homework. Later, it was apps like PhotoMath. Today, it’s AI chatbots that can generate full answers in seconds.
The difference now isn’t that kids suddenly became lazier. It’s that:
- The tools are more powerful
- The tools are always available
- The tools are built directly into school platforms
That’s why MOE and GovTech have moved beyond “ban or allow” thinking. Instead, they’re asking:
“How do we design tools so that students still have to think, even when AI is helping them?”
That design philosophy shows up clearly in how SLS and its AI features are built.
2. Student Learning Space: More Than Just Online Worksheets
Your child has almost certainly used Student Learning Space (SLS).
SLS isn’t just an upload area for notes. It’s a national platform built specifically for Singapore’s curriculum, including:
- Mother Tongue languages
- Character and Citizenship Education (CCE)
- Subjects like Economics at JC level
- Contexts and examples that feel familiar to local students
Teachers use SLS to:
- Create module-based learning experiences
- Share lessons that students can revisit for revision
- Set quizzes, tasks, and reflections
- Track responses and identify who needs extra help
Because content is written or curated by local teachers, questions and examples are often much more relatable than those found in global commercial apps.
For your teen, it means:
- Learning doesn’t end when they leave the classroom.
- They have a structured place to go back to past lessons and practise at their own pace.
3. How AI Is Already Helping – Without Replacing Teachers
AI is already embedded inside SLS, but not in the “do everything for you” way that many parents fear.
Here are some key features and how they work.
a) Auto-marking and Feedback Assistants
AI can help mark certain types of work and provide instant feedback, especially for:
- Multiple-choice questions
- Short structured responses
- Certain types of language work
MOE estimates that AI feedback features alone have saved dozens of hours per teacher per year.
But here’s the important part:
Teachers rarely take that as “free time to relax”. Instead, they use it to:
- Spend more time understanding individual students
- Do 1-to-1 conferencing with those who struggle
- Design higher-quality learning activities
So AI is not replacing teacher effort – it’s shifting teacher effort from repetitive tasks to deeper work with students.
b) Speech Evaluation for Oral Practice
For language subjects, especially English and Mother Tongue:
- Entire classes can practise oral responses simultaneously.
- A speech evaluation tool gives each student instant feedback on their speech.
- The teacher then looks at overall performance to see:
- Who is struggling with pronunciation or fluency
- What common mistakes to address as a class
Your child gets:
- Faster feedback
- More opportunities to practise, not just “once in a while before exams”
c) Authoring Co-pilot for Teachers
Teachers can upload a scheme of work or lesson outline into SLS, and the system helps:
- Suggest activities
- Propose questions
- Generate some lesson content
This doesn’t mean “AI writes the lesson”. It’s more like a drafting assistant. Teachers still:
- Curate
- Adjust
- Reject or rewrite
They stay in control of what actually reaches your child.
4. Learning Assistant (LEA): An AI That Refuses to Be a Shortcut
One of the more interesting AI tools is Learning Assistant – a chat-style assistant students can use to get help with learning.
But it’s very different from public chatbots you may have seen.
What LEA doesn’t do
- It does NOT just give answers, even if students try to trick it.
- It does NOT engage in random chatting.
- It does NOT allow endless, unrestricted use.
What LEA does do
- Asks probing questions instead of giving direct solutions
- Nudges students to think about:
- What they already know
- Which concept they might be missing
- Gently redirects them when they say things like:
- “I’m bored.”
- “Can I just chat with you instead?”
There are also limits on:
- How long students can use it
- How many questions they can ask
The goal is clear:
Help students think better, not think less.
5. Guardrails Around AI: It’s Not a Free-for-All
MOE’s approach is not “let’s give AI to everyone and see what happens”.
There are age-appropriate guidelines on AI use:
- Primary 1–3
- No AI use recommended.
- Kids are too young for independent interaction with AI tools.
- Primary 4–6
- Some AI exposure in class, under teacher supervision.
- Independent use is still not encouraged.
- Secondary School and above
- Students begin to use AI more independently.
- They go through AI literacy modules that cover:
- How to tell AI from a human (even in call centres or chat)
- How AI can be helpful – and where it can go wrong
- Why they must stay sceptical and verify information
On top of that, there are parent resources such as:
- Screen use guidance
- Parenting for wellness materials
- Parent- and family-focused portals
All of this reflects a consistent message:
AI and tech are here to stay – but they must be used deliberately and safely, never blindly.
6. What Tech Can’t Do: The Irreplaceable Role of Teachers
All the experts in the episode were clear on one thing:
AI cannot replace teachers.
Here’s what tech still cannot do:
- Feel empathy for a stressed or anxious teen
- Understand your child’s family situation or personality
- Know when a student needs a push and when they need a break
- Build the kind of trust and relationship that makes a teen open up or try again after failing
Even when AI provides feedback, many students still need:
- A human to interpret that feedback with them
- Someone to say, “This is what it really means, and here’s what you can do next.”
- Encouragement to keep going when learning is hard
Teachers are also deliberately balancing:
- Tech-based activities
- Discussions
- Group work
- Tech-free, face-to-face moments in class
Especially in language subjects, there’s a recognition that not everything should be done on a screen.
7. The Future: Tech Will Be Everywhere – So Critical Thinking Matters More
In the future, your child will live in a world where:
- AI is embedded in countless systems, often invisibly.
- Many jobs will involve working with AI, not avoiding it.
- Information will be easy to generate, but not always easy to trust.
That’s why one of the key goals of education now is to help students develop a “muscle” for:
- Healthy scepticism
- Fact-checking
- Asking, “Is this valid?” instead of simply, “Is this convenient?”
MOE and GovTech are less focused on turning every child into a programmer, and more focused on:
- Helping them move between digital and physical spaces confidently
- Understanding both the power and the limits of technology
- Staying grounded in human relationships and community
8. How You Can Support Your Secondary School Child at Home
You don’t have to understand every technical detail to make a big difference. Here are some practical ways you can support your teen.
a) Normalise effort, not shortcuts
You can ask questions like:
- “What was the hardest question you did today?”
- “Where did you actually get stuck – and how did you try to solve it?”
- “Did you use any online tools or AI? How did they help you think more clearly?”
This sends the message that struggle is normal and even valuable.
b) Talk about AI openly
Instead of just saying, “Don’t use AI,” try:
- “If you use AI for homework, how do you check if it’s correct?”
- “What’s the difference between using AI as a tool and letting it do everything?”
- “How can you make sure you still know how to do it on your own in exams?”
Your teen is more likely to be honest with you if they know you’re not going to panic about the word “AI”.
c) Watch for emotional over-dependence
Some teens may:
- Feel more comfortable “talking” to tech than to people
- Use chatbots as a form of emotional support
You can gently:
- Check in on how they’re feeling generally
- Encourage real-life friendships, CCA bonding, family time
- Keep certain times of day tech-free (e.g. dinner, before sleep)
d) Model scepticism and checking
When you see content online (news, videos, AI answers), you can say:
- “Let’s check if that’s really true.”
- “Where did this information come from?”
- “Does this match what we know from other sources?”
Your child learns not just from what you tell them, but from how you react to information yourself.
9. Putting It All Together
For parents of secondary school students, the key is not to see technology as purely good or bad.
Instead, think in terms of:
- How it is used
- When it is used
- What it’s used for
- Who guides that use
In Singapore’s classrooms today:
- Platforms like SLS and tools like Learning Assistant are designed to support real learning, not replace it.
- Teachers remain at the centre – as designers, decision-makers, and human guides.
- MOE and GovTech have built guardrails for safety and meaningful use, especially around AI.
At home, your role is powerful:
- You can shape your teen’s attitudes towards effort, shortcuts, and integrity.
- You can help them see AI as a tool that supports their thinking, not a crutch that replaces it.
- You can hold space for tech-free conversation, connection, and rest.