It is the 5th day for the thread over there and 2788+ posts over
56 pages have been made on this topic. Amongst today's posts
(page 56), two posts in particular bear hearing
out.
C
K on May 23, 2010 at 10:35 am
Two are two ways to look at this problem. One is that teachers’
work load actually could have been improved ever since
MOE has instructed the heads of school to follow certain
guidelines. In an ideal school where such policies have been
followed, everybody seems to be busy but as educators, everybody
knows that there is just so much to be done for the sake of the
students.When come to holiday time it is a well-earned,
well-deserved holidays. Everbody is tired but not unhappy.
On the other hand, why are so many teachers (in most
schools) still getting unreasonably heavy load? My
observation is that a lot of them especially the younger ones are
actually taking over many duties supposedly carried out by their
HODs, who in the name of training and grooming such young officers
with “potential”, dump the load to the inexperienced and yet
ambitious young officers. There are schools where one can observe
HODs going for lunch which lasted nearly an hour whereas their
subordinates are slogging in the school even after school hours,
taking instant noodles for their lunch after 3pm. They leave school
after 6pm or even 8pm whereas the earlier group of HODs are nowhere
seen to stay back in school for another hour after their long
lunch and head for home as all their duties have been assigned to
their subordinates.
Of course the older group of dedicated teachers have struggling too
due to the ‘demanding ‘ and yet necessary IT innovative teaching
methods expected of them in classroom teaching.
MOE has actually been trying to help but most ‘help’ or ‘aids’are
selfishly snapped up by certain groups of unscrupulous HODs. If
every educator works with conscience, teaching is still one of the
careers worth to be considered.
@@
on May 23, 2010 at 10:40 am
I am going to spend my lovely Sunday morning sharing my opinions
here, so please read especially for skeptic non-teaching
public.
:
For those who still cannot understand why teachers are complaining,
please walk a day… no, a term… in our shoes.
:
Many teachers still have the passion to teach. That is the very
reason why they are complaining instead of quitting. What they
really want is a reasonable workload so that they can better
concentrate at teaching and not other non-academic related matters.
Such as getting gold awards for this and that, making sure
everything is in place and perfect when VIPs visit, etc.
:
Please, you don’t know what teachers went through, unless you’ve
been in their shoes.
:
I was an engineer for many many years in few different companies. I
have been through the toughest moments in the field, on call 24/7,
fly as and when a machine breaks down in some ulu industrial estate
in some other country, work shifts, work 20 hours on ends without
leaving the workplace, stabbed here and there by coworkers, endured
meetings (but none as long as the ones in school), and there was a
few periods of time when I return home crying because I broke down
from the unreasonable workload. So I can tell you that I am
definitely in the position to compare teaching and other “tough”
industry.
:
I regret not teaching earlier. Because I have passion. Which is why
now, I am happier as a teacher. I work longer hours, but each day I
woke up looking forward to going to school. But having said that, I
am glad I had worked for years before teaching, because it helped
me see that I love teaching more than other jobs. I would not see
other jobs as greener pastures. Although I’m a trained and
experienced engineer, I dread engineering jobs now.
:
I love the sense of achievement when I stand in front of a class of
rebellious students and convince them to pay attention for their
own good. I love the satisfaction when my students come to me and
say they have fallen in love with the subjects I teach because they
love my interesting lessons. These are waves of satisfaction and
gratitude that I never felt before in my previous jobs, even after
working long hours, travelling to nasty clients, etc. The machines
won’t say thank you to me for “healing” them. The bosses? Forget
it. Just like the school leaders, forget it… it’s the students that
matter. But wait, the students don’t appraise me. The ‘bosses’
do.
:
Still, I want to complain! Because although I love to teach, I am
laden with jobs out of my scope. I stay back late in school for
remedials, staff meetings, committee meetings, CCA, rehearsals,
etc. I bring all my other work back to do – marking and lesson
planning. It is something I have never done in my previous jobs.
But yes, I used to stay in office until well over midnight. I can’t
do that in school because it’ll be locked up in the late evening,
so I need to bring them home. And I mark and plan lesson… until
well over midnight. The difference? In my previous jobs, I don’t
stay late in office EVERYDAY. Now I bring work home EVERYDAY.
:
After all the meetings etc in the afternoon until late evening, and
then the markings which are necessary to be completed so that I can
return them to the students, the lesson planning is compromised. I
would love to give more interesting lessons, but I do not have time
to prepare. It’s a vicious cycle all teachers face. We have the
passion. We want to teach. Of course we were supportive once and we
want to turn all those initiatives into reality. But do we have the
time and freedom to do so? Unless we work 24 hours each day without
stopping, it is near impossible! And elixirs from the ministry to
help us achieve that?
:
It is my passion for my students’ learning that keeps me going in
this field. Definitely not the long hours of meetings or the
unreasonable parents or “upstairs” people. My love to see the
students coming in empty and blank and leaving school taking
something along with them. That spurs me on and makes me want to do
more for them each day. If I have the time to do more for them… And
I hope this passion will continue to burn and not be burnt out
before long.
:
MOE, you have succeeded in employing teachers who are passionate. I
won’t say all, but many are. I am. Now it’s your say to helping
them stay passionate and making them stay. It is not us that we
want you to benefit upon, it is the students. If I can walk a day
in MOE’s shoes, I will want to believe that it is the students and
their learning that is most important. The students’ learning is
the core business of MOE. Not the leaders’ prides or the schools’
awards. And who has the most direct impact on the students’
learning? Do I have to spell that out for you now?
---- (in reply to someone who said teachers have it easier than
IT professionals, engineers, etc) ---
Can your IT professional or engineer handle 100+ students, help
them learn according to their individual learning ability, aid them
with problems they may face in school and outside school, and deal
with their parents?
I was an engineer, and I have been working on both software
(programming) and hardware (wiring). I can tell you that it is very
different and only when you are in the shoes of a teacher can you
understand the kind of emotional turmoil that may arise from being
one. It is not just the fatigue from being overworked or the lack
of time from too much work. It is a lot a lot more.
:
And I am whining now, because I want people like you to know what
teachers are going through, and appreciate them for what they have
to go through, for the sake of your future leaders, employers,
employees, engineers and other professionals. Teaching is not as
easy as you think.
:
We will not stop whining because we love teaching and we want
something to be done so that we can continue to do what we love –
to teach.