For Parents

As a DREAMS participant, your child is a part of our diverse participant group of >7000 students sharing about what it’s like to be a secondary school student in Singapore.

On This Page

Your Role

The DREAMS research team sincerely thanks you, your child, and your child’s teachers for sharing what it’s like to be a secondary school student in Singapore. Without you, this study wouldn’t be possible.

What can I expect for my child as a DREAMS participant?

  • Your child will be allocated time during school hours* to complete 2 surveys per year throughout your secondary education. They will receive a $10 voucher the following year for completing the surveys as a thank you from us. 
  • Your child may be invited for additional follow-up interview or focus group discussion sessions

What is my role as a parent?

  • You will also be invited to complete 1 annual survey which will be sent through your child’s school*. 
  • You may be invited for additional follow-up interview sessions and/or focus group discussions.

What else can I/my child do as a DREAMS participant?

  • Follow us on Instagram or Facebook for regular project updates and findings.
  • Join our free events (eg. parent webinars)
  • Read more about DREAMS here
  • Feel free to reach out to us for further queries

 

* Note: If your child is participating in Study 5 of DREAMS (which involves the participants of the SKIP and SKIP-Up cohorts), surveys will either be sent directly to the email you provided on the consent form or delivered to you as hardcopy.

Information Sheet

Click the links to view/download

For all DREAMS Participants: DREAMS_Information Sheet

For SKIP/SKIP-UP Participants: 

DREAMS_Information_Sheet_for_SKIP_participants_only

Opportunities for Parent Participation

We believe parents are an important part of the picture. We hope you will consider joining our parent survey, interviews or focus group.

Parent Survey

Coming soon: Term 1 2026

Your child’s school will be in touch via Parent Gateway or email.

Note: If your child is participating in Study 5 of DREAMS (which involves the participants of the SKIP and SKIP-Up cohorts), surveys will either be sent directly to the email you provided on the consent form or delivered to you as hardcopy.

Parent Focus Groups & Interviews:

Coming soon: Term 1 2026

Focus Groups: To better understand parents’ perspectives on key transition points in their child’s life, the role schools play in supporting these transitions, and your opinions or suggestions on school programmes that have been offered.

Interviews: To build on insights gathered from the focus groups by exploring individual experiences and perspectives in greater depth, within the same areas discussed in the FGDs.

How to indicate interest: Your child’s school will be in touch via Parent Gateway or via your child.

Session logistics: We will arrange with you and your child’s school for a date and time at a venue that works best, or an online session.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • AI tools will transcribe interview audio and generate initial draft transcripts ​
  • These tools are managed by trusted service providers who follow data protection guidelines, though they are not directly operated by NTU​
  • Identifying information will be scrubbed from the audio files before they are uploaded, and completed transcripts + audio recordings are deleted and not retained by the service provider​
  • Exposure to data leakage is prevented as much as possible​
Your child
  • Being part of something larger that will influence future policy and practice
  • Being exposed to issues that may be important for adolescents
  • Being in a larger community of adolescents
  You
  • Contribute to knowledge
  • Access to experts
  • Connection to other parents
  Society
  • Contribute to key issues in society pertaining to adolescents
  • Findings are shared with policy makers
If your child is a participant in our study, you will be invited to an annual online survey and may be invited to additional surveys, interviews and/or focus groups. You will receive these invitations either through your child's school or directly to your email (if you have previously provided it to us).
We will regularly share our study findings through various channels (eg. tip sheets, blog posts, social media updates, academic publications, and presentations etc.) throughout the duration of the study. The best way to stay up to date is by following us on Instagram or Facebook.
The DREAMS research team takes our responsibility as guardians of participants' information very seriously. We have several procedures in place to keep your data and privacy secure and protected. DREAMS has approval and oversight from the NTU Institutional Review Board (IRB), ensuring compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). The NTU-IRB ensures the protection of human subjects involved in research studies by maintaining the highest levels of research ethics and integrity. Your participation in this research will be kept confidential. Identifying information (e.g., name, last 4 characters of NRIC, e-mail address) will be asked to ensure the accuracy of our records, for linking of data collected at different time points, and for contacting you. Identifying information is removed and replaced with a random numeric ID to ensure anonymity before it is transferred to our research team for analysis, where everyone’s answers are combined and reported as aggregates. The findings of this study may be reported in scientific presentations and reports, as well as social and broadcast media. Your identity will NOT be reflected or disclosed in these presentations, reports, and publications.
This study is run by the National Institute of Education commissioned by the Ministry of Education
Opting out of any surveys will not affect your relationship with the National Institute of Education or Ministry of Education or impact any ongoing assessment/grades. You may skip any questions you do not wish to answer.
Your child was invited to this study either as a part of the 2023 Secondary 1 cohort of one of the 28 schools selected by MOE for this study, or as a previous participant of the SKIP/SKIP(-UP) study.
A longitudinal cohort study is a research project where we observe and gather information from a group of people over an extended period, like several years. Our goal is to understand how students' experiences and choices shape their lives as they progress through secondary school and beyond.