Singapore Teachers Overworked

last SG · 2010-05-20T13:14:30+00:00

YES its also the part about teachimg them to be creative, independent learners that we churn out much more programs, activities for them compared to being a...

UltimaOnline SG

On page 62

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Onlooker on May 29, 2010 at 1:20 pm

Yes , teachers are getting more and more work with each passing year. I am not a teacher but I can see and hear that from my teacher friends. They started off in their career with tremendous passion and drive. They love children. After two or three years, they become drained out and their passion gone. I can see that the majority of teachers are tired out every day, have lost their passion, but yet need to carry on because they need the money to survive. They cannot move on to another industry because they have very little market value.
Each year, quite alot of the students are getting more defiant, rude, vulgar and lazy. Just a 35 minute period of teaching in a class of such students can tire out a teacher completely and demoralize him. It can become a demeaning job for any adult.
Each year, many of the parents are getting demanding. Nowadays, quite a number of parents cannot control their kids (but they are not aware of it or refuse to admit it) So they, cleverly push the responsibility to the teachers to do something extra for their kids to improve their performances.
Each year, some of the principals and vice-principals will pressure their teachers to do something extra or different in order to boost the image of the school or its ranking. They want something different and teachers have a hard time scratching their heads to come up with something extraordinary.
Fortunately, we have a big pool of teachers who still persevere and still try their best even with all these adversities.
However, lately, their feedback and noise is getting louder and louder because things are getting tougher and tougher for them. MOE should really study and investigate their grievances.

joyce on May 29, 2010 at 1:40 pm

There is a huge supply of young teachers joining NIE each year, even though it is an open secret that most teachers are demoralized, badly overworked and distracted with 1001 non-teaching duties.
Each year, I have friends who will joyfully share with us the news that their prayers have been answered; they have been accepted into the teaching service and will be joining NIE in July.
So, why would MOE need to do anything to alleviate teachers’ workload when there is a huge supply of “cheaper, better and faster” teacher-wannabes?

lianamaster SG

Looks like I am in for a hell ride starting next month.

Bio-Hawk SG

Idiots teaching idiots, what do you expect?

Rock^Star SG

I have heard stories of male and female teachers breaking down due to student misbehaviour in class. 35 mins of sheer hell lol.

One classic I heard from my friend:

Teacher: Why are you always late?

Student: Cher, not that I wanna be late but your lessons are really boring.

Teacher was speechless because he was indeed teaching a dry subject. Nevertheless, he reported this to the HOD and the student was summoned to his office. The HOD decided to use the soft approach and the student got off with a slap on the wrist.

Teacher how? Well, virtually a slap on his face and he still has to face the yaya student everyday lol.

UltimaOnline SG

I have heard stories of male and female teachers breaking down due to student misbehaviour in class. 35 mins of sheer hell lol.

One classic I heard from my friend:

Teacher: Why are you always late?

Student: Cher, not that I wanna be late but your lessons are really boring.

Teacher how? Well, virtually a slap on his face and he still has to face the yaya student everyday lol.

Here's another common example (just one of increasingly many these days).

Class (eg. remedial class after school) has started, group of students still slowly eating at canteen, over 15 mins late. Teacher spots them at canteen, tells them, "You're already 15 mins late, stop eating and go for your class now!". Student retorts with impatience in voice, "Can't you see I'm still eating? Are you blind? Duh."

Looks like I am in for a hell ride starting next month.

lianamaster, next month, are you relief teaching (ie. not NIE trained), or beginning your teaching practicum (ie. NIE undergrad), or beginning your full time teaching (ie. NIE grad)?

Rock^Star SG

Here's another common example (just one of increasingly many these days).

lol so what's the teacher's reaction? A retort like that in my school days would have seen an automatic suspension or punishment in front of the whole school.

Man, I feel damn sorry for the state of education these days. The audacity of these students.....has it been condoned by school principals or the MOE?

Rock^Star SG

Ok I give u another example...this time from ITE. My friend says its sheer hell there. The canteen breaks out in fights every other day. No lecturer dares to eat in the canteen because they do not want to be "held responsible" during their lunchtime.

These students are then brought to see the section head or junior director and they are given verbal warnings, at most suspensions. Calls to their parents go unheeded because they just cannot be bothered. Attendance is erratic and they have always been warned that they may be debarred from exams. Come crunch time, no one gets debarred. Reason?? Because the department's KPI (and eventually performance bonus) is pegged to the attrition rate.

Haha...what a farking joke!!

Kiaboon SG

I find Ms Aishah Quek’s diary of a teacher’s day last Saturday (‘Work-life balance? Here’s one day in the life of a teacher’) misleading in detailing the lack of a work-life balance for her husband, a teacher.

Using the same diary format as Ms Quek, I would like to explain why.

An exception is for examination papers and compositions, which are marked by teachers. These are usually marked in school during the teachers’ free periods. The daily routine listed by the writer did not include lunch breaks.

While a teacher’s job is stressful, so are other jobs. Having to work long hours is the norm for all jobs now. At least the workload of a teacher’s job is seasonal and there are times when they can relax a little, for example, during the long mid-year and year-end holidays.

So teachers, cheer up, you are not alone, all other jobs are stressful and requires us to work long hours as well.

eagle SG

All other jobs require us to work long hours?

wee_ws SG

Dear Kiaboon,

Thanks for sharing :)

Let me add some details, from personal experience as a teacher:

1. CCA teachers will need to be around to supervise the conduct of CCA activities. In the case of niche CCAs, the frequency of training may be high even to the extent of weekend trainings.

2. Free periods in between are well-filled with department/committee meetings, briefings and perhaps consultations with students.

3. Entering of marks is definitely more than twice, because school cockpit is not able to support large user loads. Teachers have to take turns to enter marks at designated time periods and wait for the database to respond. In addition, teachers may need to print the slips out and distribute to students for parents' signatures. Also, teachers need to be briefed before the marks are entered. Much time is spent in this area as a result. Sometimes, there is a school-based system and that makes teachers enter marks twice.

4. Marking can be quite substantial if teachers are already struggling to find a continuous stretch of time to mark with momentum. Sometimes, departments set certain expectations on the amount of homework/assignments to be done, which students even find it hard to cope. Books and worksheets may be left to students to mark if they are of the MCQ-type, I believe. That is probably done to increase efficiency.

5. As for lunch, I often hear my colleagues lament that they barely have time to eat properly. For me, I used to survive on a heavy breakfast to last for the entire day.

6. For June hols, it's quite routine for schools to use weeks 1 and 4 for school remedial lessons, CCAs, school meetings, training, etc. The only protected time (on paper, say on SEM appraisal reports) may be weeks 2 and 3, where teachers typically prepare teaching/learning for next two terms.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Wen Shih

UltimaOnline SG

The 65-pages thread (and the glimmer of hope it represented in the minds of many teachers) is dying out. MOE (correctly) predicts that as long as it keeps quiet (and it has instructed the local media not to print the many never-published letters on this topic), public interest in this matter will wane, and status quo (ie. abuse of teachers by school leaders, HODs, P, etc) will be restored, which keeps MOE HQ (who certainly aren't overworked and/or overstressed like teachers, but are paid 2x or 3x as much every month) happy and its self-interest intact.

On page 64

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Disappointed on June 1, 2010 at 12:54 am

I went into teaching with the idea that a teacher’s job is to teach his/her pupils well. However, after teaching for a few years i find that this is not true. Teachers not only have to plan 3 different subjects’ lessons, conduct interesting lessons, mark workbooks and piles and piles of worksheets. They have to use up their free periods to do relief, safety duty, carry out research, organize activites. In the end, there’s almost no free periods at all. After the normal curriculum hours, teachers have to stay back to conduct remedials, supplementaries and attend long staff meetings which end late. Up to this point, teachers do not have time to mark students’ work like Compositions, thick worksheets and plan the next day’s lesson yet. So all these has to be done at home after the school closes. By that time, teachers are already mentally and physically drained out. How about school holidays? They are to be spent going back to school for meetings again, creating the next term’s resources, organizing and planning for next term’s activities, setting exam papers. Teachers can also be asked to accompany students for overseas trips for 2 weeks. All these takes up the supposedly rest time of teachers. At the end of the day, during work review, RO will tell you that you are not doing enough and you are at risk of getting a D. How can a teacher not feel demoralized and lose his/her passion and suffer from depression?

On page 65
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A sup recently met up with a group of teachers at school over this article and its replies. This sup said that if you are not happy, you can disconnect your connect plan. You go figure what it means

For non-teachers, Connect plan is like a cash payout every number of years. 4th, 10th, 15th, etc… This is to “motivate” you to stay in the system.

UltimaOnline SG

On page 65
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junior on June 1, 2010 at 8:55 pm

I think it is high time we teachers took action. Here is what you can do;

1) Put your foot down and systematically reduce the amount of work you bring home. Do it gradually, week by week.
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2) Cut down on your monthly expenses, so that you won’t be so financially affected by a ‘C-’ or ‘D’ grade.
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3) Focus on your core duty as a teacher; teaching, marking hw, running your CCA. If you are not that affected by the ‘D’, you will come to realize that your principal and HOD are really that powerless to make your life difficult.
Making your life hell revolves entirely around the ‘D’ grade. That’s the worst bite they can give.
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4) Vote against PAP. The political party is supposed to listen to our voice, and help us. So is the union. But our ruling party has decided that an active union is bad for our country. So, every union is now rendered powerless under the law. Even the biggest union NTUC is more synonymous with supermarkets than workers’ rights.
If the PAP education minister won’t listen to the voices of teachers, then it is time to disconnect him from his own connect plan in MOE.

kimberly on June 1, 2010 at 9:02 pm

The supt that asked teachers to leave if they not happy is a retard.
:
Widespread low morale in any organization usually leads to massive inefficiency and high turnover rate, which will ultmiately lead to greater cost for the organization.
:
MOE is full of such incompetent leaders who climbed their way up not by real talent, but by claiming credit for other people’s work and by wasting a whole lot of time inflating their accomplishment via reports and powerpoint slides.
:
Just do a half-assed job and collect your pay and connect plan. Why be so bothered about the ‘D’ grade? If you really need the money, give part time tuition outside. If politicians can hold multiple directorships, hold down a full time job and still be an MP, i don’t see why teachers can’t give multiple tuition outside school to get more money.
Teachers who work long hours in school also know that 80% of the things they are busy with are not even closely related to teaching.

Less $ But Happy on June 1, 2010 at 10:38 pm

I was a teacher here, until 5 years ago.
My marriage broke down because I had no time for my husband.
He had an affair with someone who had time for him.
He couldn’t take the nonsense of me marking and marking and marking,at home, at dinner, at family gatherings, even on the bed (which made him loses all interest).
.
In my moments of despair – mental breakdowns, depression, marriage counsellings, MCs and no-pay-leave for the counsellings,
guess what did my V and HOD told me?
To wake up and buck up or risk a ‘D’….
and that the world still goes on, the sun still rise and set.
.
I woke up. I bucked up. I quit.
I realised that yeah, life still goes on. What is the point of all those stupid rankings and nonsense? For what? Am I getting paid by the millions?? NO!
I lost my husband, I am not going to lose my children too!
For the first year, after signing above the ‘dotted line’,
I left Singapore. My parents took care of my 3 children.
I went to teach in Indonesia. I settled down, adjusted, stood and faced the world in a foreign land, alone.
My second year, I uprooted my children.
My fourth year, we went to China.
.
Now I am so much happier TEACHING. With 36 periods per week, I teach ONLY English. I marked only EL papers, EL homework, EL worksheets.
No stupid MOE system.
No tons of admin work.
No ambitious and incompetent Ps, VPs and HODs.
All I do now is teach and plan my lessons to cater to my pupils’ needs. Meetings are done twice a month. Of course we have other duties to perform but seriously, they are nothing compared to what I was doing in Singapore. Holidays are truly holidays.
.
Pupils are more respectful, parents are more appreciative.
.
Of course $ is less than what I used to get in Singapore but my children and I are much more happier. We get to travel about during holidays. We went to so many different places. My children have grown to appreciate the value of life, to appreciate what they have, to be respectful towards elders. Learned to do volunteer work at those less fortunate villages, learned to care for the less fortunate, learned to sympathise and empathise. Their IQ are not of those toppers in Singapore but their EQ are much way higher than most of them. This I dare to say.
.
To those stressed out teachers, step out of your comfort zone.
Dare to venture outside Singapore. It is not easy to leave your family, your friends, your everything behind you and pastures are not necessarily greener on the other side but at least you have tried and you know it yourself if they are greener or not. I did, when my world crumbled. Leaving my children behind during the first year was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life (until today). Look where am I now?
.
To MOE, if you don’t wish to lose anymore good and dedicated teachers, you better wake up from your stupid and insipid ideas and methods of managing your teachers.
.
To unappreciative and unreasonable parents, you gave birth to your young(s). Ultimately, they are your responsibility. Not the teachers’. With your unreasonable complaints, threats and even letters to MOE, at most, the teacher loses his/her job. But when your kid is all grown up with no positive changes in character, you are the one to suffer. Not the teacher.

Rock^Star SG

in this modern day, we still have suppression of info. LOL that's absolute regression. These complaints have not been featured in ST? I don't know cos I'm not in sg.

wee_ws SG

Hi,

Truth is always out there to be discovered or found by the keen-eyed :)

The press may not report everything for certain reasons...

Thanks.

Cheers,
Wen Shih

Rooney9 SG

MOE policies failed lar. who is the minister of education now and previously? they all failed. didnt PM Lee said teach less in his national day rally a few years ago?

UltimaOnline SG

On page 65

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dig dig ass end on June 2, 2010 at 11:26 pm

DDSN visited our sch recently. Though I was not in the dialogue with her, my colleagues said that she implicitly (but clearly) implied that if you are not happy with the teaching job, then quit.
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One teacher spoke up about the avalanche of initiatives, and everyone was so worried that he might offend the DDSN. These people only want to hear nice manipulated stuff.

chengsan on June 3, 2010 at 12:04 am

In most countries, when workers go on strike or complain about poor working conditions, they get promises of better pay and working conditions.
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In our MOE, this is what they have done to teachers
1) remove pension scheme. Your CONNECT plan pays much less than pension scheme, by at least 67%
+
2) if you complain, they tell you to quit. There is no talk about improving the lot of teachers.
+
3) you complain, they load you with even more initiatives. They totally are thinking of putting up a bigger opera show. Most of them only promote because of all these show, and not because they did something concrete
=
Just do your job, collect your pay and spend time with your kids. The ‘D’ grade is that big deal?? Then I suggest you manage your finances better, so that you can’t be so easily threatened. If the principal realize that you are not scared of ‘D’, she will be scared of you.
She try to be funny with you, you tell her off. ‘D’ grade big deal ah? But till then, enjoy getting your balls squeezed hard if you scared of the ‘D’ grade.

teachingsux on June 3, 2010 at 12:57 am

The longer I teach, the more I realize that school management only preaches school values, but never practices it.
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Your HOD/principal ask you to go the extra mile, but never tells you that you are doing it for the benefit of her career. And while you slave over your midnight marking, your HOD/principal is having a good night’s rest after having a night of fun.

UltimaOnline SG

On page 70 :

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Hippo on June 3, 2010 at 11:57 am

I threw in the towel after yrs of teaching in a sec sch. My husband is still teaching. I remembered when we were still in the profession together, we would wake at 5am, leave the house at 6am and be home after 6pm, only to eat our dinner in silence. Reason? We were simply too tired to engage in any conversation after a long day of teaching, meetings, admin etc. We would then proceed to the study room to complete markings, prepare lessons and needless to say, more admin which could now be accessed from home. (School-related emails used to be only accessible from school’s network) Whoever finished the work first would hit the sack. It was not an uncommon sight to see our lights still on at 2am. Couple time had to be created. To make things easier, we would sit down and do our respective markings together. This help to create little windows for us to make casual remarks every now and then. Having children was placed on hold because we were both doing very well. Don’t get me wrong, we love our jobs. The joy from spending time with students in the classroom is irreplaceable. It is true that we are often overwhelmed by long meetings, courses and admin work such as collecting money, giro forms etc but we held onto the little joys we get from our students to keep us going.

When we finally have kids, I found it difficult to juggle the long hours and minding the kids. My parents and parents-in-law are getting old and finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the children. I tried the different schemes that MOE has put in place, half-load, 3/4 load, flexi-adjunct, but principals have a lot of control over how they want to ‘operate’ the schemes. A lot of my friends, and myself included, ended up getting the full load but half the pay. Some of my luckier friends get a lot of support from their principals and they find it a lot easier to manage work and family. As a result, they are happier and more willing to commit at work.

Guess after more so many years in teaching, something just had to go as we made the decision to focus on the children. I quitted my job. My husband was very supportive as he, too, is a victim of the system. I find it easier to support him in his career because I have been through the path. Should he come home late and had to shut himself in the study room, I would make sure the kids do not disturb him. We would discuss his students and the best approach to help them achieve their potential. I must admit that if I had been in another profession, we would probably have countless arguments because of his long hours.

On page 71 :

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winnie on June 3, 2010 at 1:09 pm

I once tried to join teaching as a profession in 2004.

The salary they offered me then was only $1900/mth. (Hey I was a NUS science graduate and worked in the society for 3 years already! My previous job pay was $2500!)

Ok, pay aside, it’s the passion for the children right? So i still tried for 6 months.

AND WHAT A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE I HAD.

Firstly, the school’s HOD asked me to plan what I was going to teach for the next week, right down to details such as textbook pg no, and workbook pg no, which example, which questions and on which day and time.

Then I have to look after at least 1 CCA – badminton (which I’m not even good at) after school.

And throughout the 6 months, I have to deal with 3Ps – PARENTS, PRINCIPLE, & PEERS (or fellow colleagues)… one teacher told me that I was not allowed to wear OPEN TOES shoe to school and my skirt has to touch the knee… the principle said that I was not allowed to shout or scold the pupils, no matter how naughty they are… and the parents sided their kids when their kids were touting money from their classmates…

After 6 mths, I quit.

Passion? I leave it to another passionate person to take over me.

I subsequently joined an MNC whose pay was $3500. There was still stress at work but it was not as much as being a teacher with a low meagre pay of $1900!

Unhappy teacher on June 3, 2010 at 1:14 pm

I really felt unappreciated being a teacher once my principal said that school holiday is meant for students and not for the teachers, we are being paid, so we should stop complaining even we are forced to come back everyday during school holiday. I felt really demoralised being a teacher!

A on June 3, 2010 at 1:18 pm

@ Pay ain’t everything: i agree. to some teachers, its all about passion. my little sis is a teacher. she was so passionate about teaching and before she joined, she told me about her dream and stuff. now sometimes she cried to me, teaching is really tough. and she cant wait for the bond to end. not only her, many of her friends as well.

On page 73

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david on June 3, 2010 at 2:16 pm

working as a teacher in singapore is considered a failure... no respect.

long hours..work like a dog..many stupid paperwork to be done

poor salary…it’s a totally no pride job. many of my friends who dreamt of being a good teacher…6 out 6 all quit.

reality and dreams are 2 different things…once you step into the teaching feids, that’s the time you will understand what is shitpot you’re getting yourself into!

Manchuria on June 3, 2010 at 2:21 pm

From my teaching internship experience: Teaching is one of the dumbest jobs i have tried out and i will never fall into that trap ever again. Politics, Stupid no-brain ruffian kids (teenage boys), endless worksheets to prepare (just so kids have something to do), and the damn politics.. n waking up at 5am and leaving at 5pm, expectated to do remedial, cca n all that crap. Waste of time. If youi have the brains, go do something better. Make full use of your talent in raking in the $ instead of getting sucked into the teaching hole!

RODEO on June 3, 2010 at 2:25 pm

As what is said, I believe that Singapore wants the best for its nation especially in terms of education. But somehow down the years, the passion became incredibly lesser. As a teacher in SPECIAL SCHOOL a non -profitable organisation , for more than a decade, we can feel this too. The school takes lots of good initiative to enhance the learning in benefiting its pupils. But the initiatives, projects and administrative work throughout on going one after another through each year makes us feel exhausted.

As you know that in special school patience and passion must be in build in each of us in order to teach in this line. We had to customised individual needs of the pupils and intervene behavioral problem and some instances can be occupational hazard during work.
We do spent our own pocket money and getting things for the kids for rewards and promote encouragement in learning.
Mentally and physically we are tired after the half day work.

MOE initiaves to special school has also contributed additional administrative work . We understand our P postion and nothing much we can say much but to comply.

For those with family, at times there is conflict between spouse as what we called after work time or quality time on weekends is taken up by school work. We can also see the trend of teacher getting sick is more and this create difficulty for the P to get relief teachers to cover the class of SPECIAL STUDENTS.

I know that in special school, we that we are less priveleges than MOE school, but we contribute because of passion in teaching special children which is very challenging. It is sad if the stressload overcome the passion in teaching.
Many good dedicated teachers will say GOODBYE to teaching.

K on June 3, 2010 at 2:26 pm

With the world class expectations from the government and parents, the system that teachers are facing now will not change. MOE refuses to recognose the real reasons behind the high attrition rates of teachers, especially for those who completed their bond. And it is this bond that made teachers stay for 3 years. Otherwise, most would have left much earlier.

New policies and initiatives are pushed down every now and then. Teachers are struggling to cope with new things while having existing heavy workload to handle.

Does MOE care? Not really it seems. Perhaps we are waiting for a Foxconn to happen here??

Does MOE really care about the teachers’ well-being? Guess not

Juno on June 3, 2010 at 2:36 pm

I think something is seriously wrong if trained teachers are leaving because their passion for teaching has been killed from having too many chores unrelated to teaching. It is one thing to leave for a better opportunity, but so many teachers leaving the profession because of unhappiness is a simply a big waste of resources.

I believe teaching is a profession where one gets better at with time. MOE must look at this issue without delay, because more motivated teachers (not necessarily financially) usually mean better students.

There will always be job related unhappiness for any profession. Instead of telling teachers to stop complaining, offer kindness instead. If you are not a teacher and feel that you are also unappreciated and unhappy at work, maybe you could start a separate discussion in the forum somewhere and vent.

Lonely_Wife on June 3, 2010 at 2:37 pm

Alot of people thinks the teachers are paid well but that is just a facade put up by MOE. Teachers are still civil servants so they do not get to enjoy anything near to the private corps. School holidays are truly for students, not for teachers. If you are not family of a teacher, you will never understand. I am urging my hubby to leave this job as soon as his bond is up. We dare not even think about having kids now. No time! No Money!

Sathish on June 3, 2010 at 2:51 pm

To those who think that teachers are well paid so shouldn’t complain, pls understand that well paid doesn’t mean the boss should overload u. Well paid doesn’t mean the boss need not care. The issue here is that teachers have been facing this problem for some time now n is MOE going to do something substantial to help them. Does the boss care for the staff. That’s the issue.

Pondering on June 3, 2010 at 2:57 pm

Teachers are generally under-appreciated in many countries and are often overworked. Like safety of teachers in UK sometimes face threats from students, apart from the work?

As for suggestions… I’m not a teacher but I’ve friends who are teachers and I find it odd that a lecturer in a university can concentrate on teaching while leaving administrative work to the administrators but a teacher in a primary or secondary school have to manage most things by themselves. Surely the government can afford to spend more on education? Like getting assistants or more admin staff for the teachers to do the administrative work? Part-time teachers to handle the remedial classes so the full-time teachers can concentrate on their own load? If this keeps up, there won’t be anymore quality teachers in Singapore because those who are good are overloaded, drained to the point that to survive, they have to quit for the sake of their health and own lives. Teachers aren’t martyrs, so don’t treat them like one. Anyway, if teachers are able to have better worklife balance and time to rest and recharge, doesn’t it work more to the students’ benefit and thus benefit the country as well? It becomes a cycle really, so I think it makes sense to have this worked out as severely overloaded teachers is already a long standing issue. Better have this solved sooner before there aren’t any experienced teachers left cos’ those remaining are all freshmen. This is not helpful in the long run. No offense meant to fresh teachers.

garnet on June 3, 2010 at 2:59 pm

@NUrse,

NO one in this forum mentioned that being a nurse is an easy job. We are talking about teachers issue in this forum. If you ask for aprreciation and sympathy from other people, maybe you can first offer appreciation and sympathy to teachers first. I do believe teachers will have emphathy towards people from other fields. As everyone else has said, this is not a problem in the teaching field only. But that doesn't mean teachers don't deserve help with their problems.

Adla on June 3, 2010 at 2:59 pm

The thing is you have to be a teacher to truly comprehend the seriousness of this situation. It’s mentally, physically and emotionally draining, and it takes a toll on your health like no other profession does.

Jenny on June 3, 2010 at 3:05 pm

The high number of teachers resigning speaks all. It is not teaching that makes teachers feel stressed. It is the non-teaching duties that stress out teachers. No wonder MOE is so aggressive in advertising for teacher recruitment.

garnet on June 3, 2010 at 3:12 pm

Can’t those people (who dismiss the plight of teachers) tell that this forum is about teachers who are overworked and stressed? The teachers DID NOT tell the whole world that they have the lousiest job in the world! They just want to share their problems with others in this forum. From this forum I can tell that those outside the teaching field really have no idea what teachers go through. Once I was also one of them. The NIE training thing is like a “American Dream” to me and my husband. So he applied for NIE, and bond for THREE years. There is no way out for a financially strapped teacher when you are bonded. Teachers are not asking for pity in this forum, they are asking for emphathy. BUt I understand that in 21st century, people don’t practice that kind of virtue anymore.

Specialists on June 3, 2010 at 3:23 pm

I do not know any other country who makes teachers slog so many hours over so many classes… France, USA, India, Australia, China and HK (pretty decent education providers) all protect their teachers with rights and unions… they teach an average of 10 classes (of 20 students) through a week. If not how does one become a genuinely good teacher that inspires students and makes a difference to their lives? Here, we must teach 40students X 6classes (2 core subjects) on average in MOE schools.

Jason on June 3, 2010 at 3:35 pm

My wife left years ago because of work load and hardly had time for our two sons.
I remember years ago I had to confront her principal because she was required to stay overnight for a school camp while she was in her 8th month of pregnancy.
It is obvious that MOE is “Bo Chap”, allowing their principal to run their school like a prison camp as long as they show results.
I can tell you these principal are hard workers but may lack the human touch!

Jennifer on June 3, 2010 at 4:19 pm

Yes, teachers are very, very overworked. I have come to know this and be mentally well-prepared before I joined the teaching profession but I still overwhelmed with the markings, lesson preparations, CCA admin work, bringing students to competitions, committee works, camps, remedials etc. My weekends are burnt by markings. I don’t have social life at all before Jun & Dec school holidays. In between, 1-2 school holidays are for me to catch up my markings. Not because I cannot manage my time well, it’s because there are too much markings! Sat and Sun are not even enough!

I did indicate in the annual surveys that I had no work-life balance but I do not think it works. If you make too much noise, your boss will think that you cannot juggle between your work life and personal life which reflects your low working efficiency and incapability. So even when my new principal said to us: don’t work too hard and take care of your health, I do not know how much I can believe and follow. Irony, isn’t it?

I really hope that MOE will do something, otherwise they will only lose more and more teachers, then they have to recruit more new teachers and re-train, lose them again and continue the vicious cycle. What’s the point? (Answer : The point is that beginning teacher's pay is much less than an experienced teacher's pay. So MOE wants experienced teachers to quit every year, more newbie cheaper teachers come in every year, so that MOE can save on that money, and use that money to stuff into their own pockets. MOE HQ superscale officers pay themselves $10k, $12k, $15k++ every month, doing MUCH less than half the workload and the associated emotional, mental, social, family and medical stresses & suffering of a $2k teacher. That's the point.)

augustus on June 3, 2010 at 3:30 pm

Honestly, I am really disgusted (literally wanted to vomit) by the behavior of all these teachers that keep complaining about how stressful, overloaded their work is…

Taking high salaries dealing with children and you all have the audacity to come here and complain. Does any teacher know what is the meaning of 生在幸中不知福?

One of the teachers here posted abt how much admin work he has to do. Does he know he is paid to do wad he call administrative work? I will be laughing my pants off if I am paid a teacher's salary doing the child’s play work of a teacher.

Less $ But Happy on June 3, 2010 at 4:22 pm

@ augustus,
If you are not in the teachers’ shoes, please do not post demoralizing comments. Pardon me if I didn’t realise that just because I had a job that is deemed highly paid; that I EVEN had a such a wonderful job, which eventually caused me my marriage, nearly my sanity and health, which is 生在幸中不知福!!!

Ex teacher on June 3, 2010 at 4:36 pm

Why is it that there are so many fools in Singapore who thinks that teachers are making a fuss over nothing? This is disgusting. Who ever says teachers has 2-3 months of holidays? If you are not in teaching, suggest that you just keep quiet. You are entitled to air your views, but not pass judgments and remarks on issues pertaining to teaching that are baseless…. why? Because of the fact that you are not a teacher and have not taught in Singapore schools.

If you take really go down and understand teachers’ work, you will realise that the 2-3 months of holidays is now a myth. My husband is still a teacher and only entitled to take 1 week out of the whole June hols. There are remedial lessons, CCAs, supplementary classes… this is Singapore!

Why is this teacher issue so pertinent? Because we are facing a crisis. Why are so many teachers leaving, or have left? There is something very wrong with the system. It is not the people. And teachers have to do something collectively to voice this out. Something has to be done.

Rock Wallace on June 3, 2010 at 4:55 pm

While we all agree that all jobs have their challenges, what unique about a teacher’s job is that its challenges are multi-faceted, we are constantly “on the job” be it physically or mentally, and also we are expected to be on our toes for our students at all times. This is already exhausting as it is. What’s even more sad is, while i strive to strike a good work-life balance, i’ve been faulted frequently for trying to dedicate that little time I am left to play the role of a husband and father of 2 my little kids. For 2 years, I have been deprived of my performance bonus because of this. Any student from my previous school can vouch the dedication i give to my students.I get numerous nominations MORE THAN MOST TEACHERS IN MY SCHOOL for MOST CARING TEACHER AWARD. MOE, fair? You be the judge.

helpthem on June 3, 2010 at 5:55 pm

Education is very important to our next generation. The concerns of our teachers have to be looked into. The situation seems more serious than what many people know/think. Hope that the MOE will look into this.

In certain “developed” countries (no names mentioned), the education is so appalling, the teachers are really not interested in teaching because of poor incentives. The young kids become poorly educated although they may pass ‘O’ or ‘A’ levels and many become part of social problems.

Jack on June 3, 2010 at 5:55 pm

Both my parents were involved in schools in the 60s 70s 80s and well into the 90s where they retired from teaching. My father cares for the kids that he teaches and was particularly concerned about student who were not only doing well in school but also getting involved with bad elements. He has time to care for the kids as well as to educate them as per the approved curriculum. He gets off work at 1-2pm everyday. Only goes to school to do some work a handful of days during the school holidays. He spends a lot of time educating his children in the afternoons. He is well respected and all his students remember him as the educator, the disciplinarian and the sportsman that he was then.

My wife is a teacher for Singapore’s MOE and has been teaching for about 15 years. These days all I hear from her are grumbles regarding the school. How she is required to stay for needless meetings that achieve little, how she is required to identify KPIs for the year, half of any given school holiday is essentially gone as they are normally full working days. She is not the only one saying this. If she was, I could understand maybe she just needs to get used to it but all her friends and all my other teaching friends are saying the same thing.

My opinion is that school these days are not the education system which cares and teach as they used to and should be. They are run like corporations, with pressures on getting the results up up up. I work in an MNC, I know the difference between a money oriented organization and a true educator’s systems. Why can’t MOE? why can’t our leaders recognize this?

Tan on June 3, 2010 at 6:01 pm

I’m a former MOE teacher who left the service earlier this year. I can testify to the ridiculous things teachers/HODs are expected to do. One teacher was given dirty look when she informed the P that she intends to start a family in the year. Another ‘star’ teacher was told by the VP to get her career promotions and rise up first before getting married while the P announced that anyone who wants to have children should inform him first. Isn’t it a personal and private matter? Since when have they started to play a role in family planning?

MOE have started to introduce CCPE/Adjunct teachers and AEDs in our system but teachers are still expected to carry their own burdens most of the time.

I can relate to the battlefield scenario when one goes to the school. I love the student interaction but honestly and ashamedly, 60-70% of my workload is unrelated to teaching. Its mostly meetings, planning, calling up and looking for people, parents, reports, vendors, and more meetings! Its a luxury when I have the time and chance to sit at my desk for marking. Most people are not even thinking of marking in school. They just want to fight fire first. Just bring marking home.

Mentally draining! Physically exhausting sums up the life of a teacher in Singapore schools.

Unfortunate on June 3, 2010 at 7:01 pm

My ex missus and me are currently finalising our divorce proceedings. My ex missus is a sec sch teacher in a neighbourhood school. Since she became HOD last year, she had even less time for the family. She already had less time for me when she was a teacher. I know she had a lot of work to do but this was not what i chose to marry into.

augustus on June 3, 2010 at 5:03 pm

@ Less $ But Happy on June 3, 2010 at 4:22 pm

i sympathies wif you. but be honest wif urself, i honestly doubt that the failure of ur marriage is solely due to your job commitment.

Less $ But Happy on June 3, 2010 at 7:18 pm

@ augustus on June 3, 2010 at 5:03 pm
.
You are so right. My failed marriage is my own doing.
Because I don’t know how to manage my time,
I don’t know how to do my work properly,
I don’t know how to mark the piles of pupils’ work during the official working hours,
when all I was doing then were admin work,
when even during my pathetic free periods,
I was doing relief teaching, counselling, attend meetings, entertaining parents, or attending to other non-teaching related matters.
Also, I was so incompetent till I ‘forgot’ to have my meals properly,
and I deserved to have my health affected.
Because of all my inabilities as a teacher in Sg then,
I had to bring the papers back home to do.
Before I can even do that, I had to take care of my kids,
take care of my household chores (*ex didnt believe in getting a maid),
after kids went to bed, whipped out the pile of papers for marking,
ex went to bed without waiting for me to ‘take care’ of him.
So in a long run, his emotional needs were taken care of by someone else.
.
So, tell me, are all these my own doings?
Yes, I made a choice.
A choice to be a teacher and I paid a price for it.
.
The teachers voicing out here,
are asking the MOE to take away all those non-teaching duties.
They are not here to compare which occupation is more overloaded.
Kindly bear in mind, our passion in this occupation, is to TEACH.

augustus on June 3, 2010 at 7:52 pm

Less $ But Happy on June 3, 2010 at 7:18 pm

errmm, as much as i dun agreed wif you on the fact that teachers are overoladed, i would like to sincerely apologise to you as my previous post was rather harsh on you. Hope you find your second spring tat love you and your kids!

really a heavy job on June 3, 2010 at 7:46 pm

I am a teacher, this is my second career. I can say that teaching is a very hard job if compare with my last job. Work overtime but cannot claim OT； school like FREE　CHILDCARE　CENTRE and FREE TUITION CENTRE because after school hour (7:40am–1：30pm)must conduct remedial class,supplementary class,CCA…….；pupils done 1 book ,I must mark 100++books because I teach 3 classes.
I felt regret to qiut my last job because at that time I think work as teacher , I only work half day , have many holidays and I can have a lot of time to teach my children, but now I can say loudly THIS IS WRONG！！！maybe you can say quit this job again, but the matter I still on bonding.After bonding I not younger who want to hire nearly 40-year-old ladies?

Observer on June 3, 2010 at 7:58 pm

Others are overworked too, but let us not miss the point here. Teachers are critical in shaping future leaders and generation; which includes our children, grandchildren. Are we not bothered that teachers (generally) that our children are being taught by, are unhappy and stressed out?! Or are we too selfish to even think of that?!

Be a full-time teacher for a day before you comment on June 3, 2010 at 8:26 pm

More than half of the teachers were people who have made a career switch some time in their lives & I often hear them saying how their previous jobs paid better and how less stressful it was.
I would not deny that there are other professions which require long working hours as well, but people who come to this forum and brush off this major concern of over-worked teachers, saying that they are also underpaid and over-worked and dissing the teachers, should REALLY JOIN THE TEACHING PROFESSION. Please. They will welcome you.

EXPERIENCE being a teacher, NOT IMAGINE to be one. You will be enlightened and see where they are coming from. Listening and “understanding” is totally different from experiencing.

NOTHING beats the REAL DEAL.

And, what’s with the Dip teachers and grad teachers having exactly same workloads but completely different salaries? A dip teacher’s net pay is $1.5k while a grad’s is $2.7k, yet the workload is equally heavy?

NM on June 3, 2010 at 8:28 pm

I can understand how frustrating it is for mainstream teachers to deal with such heavy workloads and sacrifice their personal quality time. I am a special education teacher, teaching children with Autism. Although we do not have markings to do, we also have heavy workloads of preparing for lessons (which requires a lot of time as we cannot teach children with Autism using conventional methods), doing administrative paperwork, planning and carrying out co-curriculum activities, doing various work tasks for the children who are of different cognitive levels and different learning styles, and scouting around Singapore for materials to use in our teaching.
Although MOE provides 50% of the funding, we, special education teachers are underpaid. Our salary is vastly different from the mainstream teachers. We have heavy workloads, we work extra hours outside of our official work time, we sacrifice our weekends and weekday nights to complete extra work and we take care of special students who need specialized care and attention (sometimes, due to tantrums and meltdowns of our students, we come home with bruises or bite marks) and yet, our salary remains low with very minimal benefits. Many of my colleagues resigned, not because of the challenging students, but because they have families and getting low pay for working long hours is very tough especially when the standard of living in Singapore is high. On top of that, losing our precious quality time to do extra work is simply depressing. I wish MOE will look into the welfare of mainstream and special education teachers. Otherwise, they will lose the good teachers.

ekek307 on June 3, 2010 at 8:37 pm

Is really interesting to read all these comments above. Different professionals are now voicing out that they are overworked. But have they thought about this question: What is the level of influence their jobs has on the society at large? And how often do they need to be accountable to 30 over clients (a.k.a the students), the clients’ parents, the 1st & 2nd heads (a.k.a. the Principal & V. Principal), and the big head boss (a.k.a The MOE!)? So consider this levels of accountability, whose workload is more heavy? You decide for yourself.

ashly on June 3, 2010 at 8:45 pm

Teachers are complaining not because of the workload, but the relevance of the massive amount of work to the very job they signed on the dotted line for – teaching and marking.

Yes, doctors are overworked. Can you tell me: do doctors treat patients, still? Are you saying the bulk of doctors’ job in the hospital is not about treating patients?

I am not sure how many people out there are overworked doing work that are unrelated to their job. Most teachers don’t mind spending the extra hours teaching or marking. I don’t, and can’t, see the relevance of attending courses after courses when we don’t have the time to plan or implement these f-up strategies in the classrooms. I don’t see the need to complete 100 hours of training every year when I am already a fully trained teacher. I don’t understand why MOE pay those speakers at ‘creative-teaching’ workshops big bucks when their workshops bore us to death after we come in after school, leaving behind our unmarked books and worksheets, just so that we could mark them when we get home or during weekends.

ashly on June 3, 2010 at 9:06 pm

It is through this post that I realise how disgusting ignorance can be.

For people who ask teachers to stop complaining and saying that other jobs are equally stressful, or teachers have long holidays, or teachers are always on maternity leave, have you ever asked what teachers are doing during the holidays or maternity leave?

I was depressed when I knew I was pregnant. I thought about abortion, and discussed it with family and friends. I knew I wouldn’t have time for the baby, yet I wouldn’t be able to quit because I didn’t marry a rich man. It was the lack of courage to go for an abortion that stopped me from aborting the baby. Not anything else.

When I was on maternity leave, my handphone was constantly ringing, or vibrating, to ask me about work, or to tell me to email or do something for work. What rest? The moment I closed my eyes, my handphone rang and I had to return to the computer. It was arguably the most torturous time of my life – being weak from the operation, struggling with milk supply and working from home.

It’s the June holidays now. The first and last weeks are taken up by meetings. The two weeks left are meant to do work, and prepare for next term – lesson plans, resources, worksheets.

I’m stoned. I just don’t feel like doing anything, except hoping to enlighten some idiots who have not, and will never qualify to, become a teacher.

I came home from school today at 6 pm, braving through torrents of rain while struggling to hold up an umbrella with one hand and carry piles of worksheets and teacher’s guide file in another.

When I finally got home, my hand shook when I wanted to get myself a drink. The first break of the day and I just felt so overwhelmed.

Jnev on June 3, 2010 at 9:09 pm

I think what a lot of SINGAPOREANS need to realise our teachers are SEVERELY overworked.We tend to be an IGNORANT bunch!

Secondary school teachers’ daily routines are as follows (approximation). I can’t speak for primary school teachers because most of my friends who teach are in secondary schools.

-At around 7 am most of them are already in school or almost there.
-They teach until around 2 pm with a couple of free periods in between, these periods are usually used for the teachers to review their lesson plans/content before next lesson and/or mark their homework.
-After school most are loaded with either CCA’s or some form of extra classes that they have to conduct. If you look at almost any secondary school today, almost all hold COMPULSORY supplementary lessons for their sec 3 & 4 students (even sec 1 and 2 to a certain extent). As such most probably only finish their day at 5pm.
-To add to this the teachers are put in charge of organising various school activities – Speech Day, Sports Day, National Education outings etc.
-Most stay back after 5 to finish up some marking and leave around 6-7

Now assuming that they get back at 8 and sleep at 12 (which means they only get around 6 hours of sleep a day because they must be in sch by 7am)———> that only leaves them with 4 hours to
-shower
-eat
-mark homework from different classes
-do up lesson plan for following day
-spend time with spouse
-spend time with kids
-carry out own leisure activities

Now would you want that kind of life?
I would love to teach, it has been something i was keen on ever since i was a kid but seeing my peers struggle, with no life outside work is just an utter turn off to me…

Is change in sight? if you ask me, change only ever comes when ‘some people’ can profit $$$$$ *ka ching* from it… So unless u expect lower wages i guess its gonna be long hours and no life…

MM on June 3, 2010 at 9:21 pm

The writers’ response and inputs in “Stressful yes, but not unusual as jobs go” (ST Forum, Fri 22 May) clearly demonstrate her complete lack of understanding in the field of education. Perhaps I shall assist in helping her put things in better perspective to make up for her own “misleading” response.

5am to 6am

Granted a teacher’s amount of preparation is subject to one’s own personal preference in getting him/herself ready for work, so I have nothing much to comment about this aspect. However, do consider this – A family living in an apartment where there could possibly be one toilet to share amongst 3-5 people all waiting to get ready for school or work at the same time. Perhaps then there could be a reason for some delay in preparation?

6am to 7am

Asking for a transfer to a school nearer home? What a fantastic idea! Let’s just submit a request and a response would be received, say, in a month or two? Not to mention that we would probably have to wait for the start of a new academic semester to start in a new school, assuming such a school had a ready vacancy for us in the first place. Of course, one could neglect the fact that a school one or two neighbourhoods away could take about 40-45 minutes of travel time if one had to take a feeder bus service to a nearby MRT station, transfer on to the train, get off at a station (or two) away and get another feeder service to get to the school. Oh! Did I mention waiting time? And having to squeeze with the hundreds of other students who also happen to be going to school?

7am to 7.30am

“Guard duty” is “usually done by parent volunteers”. The key word here is “usually” which implies that it is not “always” the case as not all schools in Singapore have the luxury of having parent volunteers who are willing to come down at such a time to volunteer when there are other more enticing options for volunteering. While it is true that the “guard duty” is rotated among teachers and is “not a daily affair”, might I remind her that when teachers are not doing such a duty, they would be in their school’s assembly area looking after the students while waiting for the daily morning assembly to commence? This, for sure, is daily! (except perhaps for weekends)

7.30am to 1pm

Teachers do not teach “at a stretch” as they have one or two free periods in between. She is right! That adds up to about an hour of “free” time which of course teachers could choose to do some of the following (in no particular order):
- Grab a bite to eat
- Go to the washroom
- Make phone calls to parents
- Marking of class work
- Speaking to students over personal/home/school-related issues
- Preparation of materials for subsequent lessons
- Professional Sharing with teachers
- Quick meetings with other department members
- Planning for remedial or supplementary lessons
- CCA arrangements
- Planning for adhoc events – class performance, concerts, workshops, assembly programmes, fund-raising, competitions etc.
- Lesson observations
- Mentoring newer or trainee teachers
- Relief duty for absent teachers (there goes the free period)
(List is not exhaustive)

Take your pick!

1pm to 3.30pm

Remedial lessons may not necessarily be an everyday affair so how about I expand a typical day to a typical week?

Monday – Remedial, Tuesday – CCA, Wednesday – School Workshops, Thursday – Remedial, Friday – School Meetings (choose from Core Department / Non-Core Department / Level / CCA / Events / Subject etc.)

And with regard to her comment about different subject teachers taking the remedial lessons, do be aware that for primary schools in general, the form teachers take all the core subjects: English, Maths and Science. And even if they are specialised teachers in a certain core subject, they will be taking TWO to THREE classes of that subject which means that they may still have to conduct remedial lessons for MORE THAN ONE class! I hope it is more evident to her now how that logic works!

3.30pm to 5.30pm

While CCAs may be conducted once or twice a week as a norm, might I enlighten her that additional days are usually needed when it comes to events/performances and competitions?

5.30pm to 6.30pm

Keying in remarks may be done in mid-term and year-end. However, just to let her know that there as schools move towards holistic assessment, such remarks will be done on a termly basis. And if teachers are not carrying out this particular task, there are others that are just waiting to be completed (refer to 7.30am-1pm)

6.45pm to 7.45pm

(refer to 6am-7am, but this time change students to adults going home from work)

8.30pm to 1am

“Most homework is marked by students…” I suggest she reflects on this particular claim. While it is possible for students to peer-mark multiple-choice questions and questions with only one possible answer, teachers still have to verify these answers. However, such questions only constitute a small percentage of the total amount of work given to a student. Does she seriously expect the student to mark his/her composition writings, mathematical statements or scientific reasoning on his/her own? This sweeping statement clearly illustrates a lack of careful and logical thought in this matter.

She mentions that the daily routine listed by the writer (Ms Aishah Quek) “did not include lunch breaks”. This is for the simple reason that we do not have official lunch breaks! We have our lunch at whichever reasonable “free” time we can find in our “schedule”. Some teachers have their “lunch” at 9.30am (during recess) or even about 4pm (after remedial/CCA).

She claims that “at least the teacher’s job is seasonal”. While the “long” mid-year and year-end holidays are the scheduled breaks for students, please note that while teachers “can relax a little”, they still have to be involved in some of the following before they get to take that break:
- Remedial lessons (for those preparing for National examinations),
- Enrichment workshops
- CCA training (for competition and events)
- School based workshops
- Work reviews
- Target setting for next academic year
- Overseas expeditions (for networking with overseas educational institution)
- Setting of exam papers
- Overseas conferences (for learning of best-practices)
- Time-tabling for next academic semester (especially with new teachers posted in)
- Preparation and planning for next academic semester
(List is not exhaustive)

I do not disagree with the point that other jobs are stressful. What I take issue with is the writer’s reasoning and perception to what a teacher’s work-load entails. It is difficult for teachers to “cheer up” when people like her have such a narrow view of the noble teaching profession. Perhaps, such people should consider a working attachment as a teacher to open your eyes to the reality of this profession.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my job. But some people out there really need a wake-up call!

UltimaOnline SG

On page 78

http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/16/are-singapore-teachers-overworked/comment-page-78/#comments

Disillusioned on June 3, 2010 at 9:57 pm

One reason why teachers are bogged down with tons of non teaching stuffs to do is because of the way teachers are appraised. The more school projects you take up, the more “visible” you are to your reporting officers, the faster you get promoted. Also, teachers are constantly playing office politics to get ahead of one another. Those teachers who are genuinely concerned about teaching their students will lack behind in the career ladder. That is why this report came out. If you care about your career which all of us do, then you have to play the game or you will be left behind. The whole system is not about rewarding the teacher who teaches best but rather, it rewards the most “visible” teacher who is most well-like by his bosses. Its sad but its true.

kangkongkernitz on June 3, 2010 at 9:58 pm

this sucks! after i read these shocking truth and from what i’ve learned from a friend, i was so happy that my application in MOE was not successful. im a professional teacher in my country. all i thought that the work load of teachers there are far worse than here but i was definitely wrong. considering im from a country with a lower economy that singapore.

does this mean that singapore does not deserve passionate teachers? a teacher that does his work begrudgingly is soooOOoo different to a teacher who does the work passionately. teachers from my country are passionate but they dont deserve to work in this kind of scenario (in Singapore) that they look like slaves in the hands of ancient egyptians….

Less $ But Happy on June 3, 2010 at 10:14 pm

@ augustus
Apology accepted. Thank you.
Also, thanks for your well wishes on my ‘second spring’.
Once bitten twice shy.
At the moment, I only want to concentrate on my own children,
and other people’s children. =)

@ Skeptical on June 3, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Yup, money is not everything.
Like my nick suggested, less $ but happy.
I am happy now, very much.
I am currently teaching in China.
Even while in Indonesia,
I had so much free time on my hand to think of ways to make my lessons
more interactive and more interesting for the pupils.
I had so much fun teaching and imparting my knowledge to the pupils.
Never experience such joy while teaching in Singapore.
My children are very much happier too.
.
Like I had mentioned in #65,
the children are more respectful and truly friendly and innocent,
parents are so much more appreciative and sincerely friendly.
.
I didn’t realised how many Singaporean teachers are teaching overseas
until I myself am one of them. =)
Not everyone is so lucky like me.
I have nothing to tie me down in Singapore when my world collapsed, saved my kids.
But they are with me now.
=)
.
To those comrades still teaching in Singapore,
all the best to you.
I hope you are able to make MOE see their nonsense and act on it
(e.g. remove those non-teaching idiotic duties).

WLB on June 3, 2010 at 10:19 pm

A certain teacher I know was tasked by his HOD/principal to take care of some animals after school hours as part of an initiative undertaken by the school. Staff abuse + waste of expensive man hours. Principals probably do not feel the pain since they are not the one paying their teacher’s salary, but you slave drivers will see that your abusive actions will eventually lead to a drop in their productivity and result in high staff turnover rate. I have a good feeling that teachers are quitting like nobody’s business nowadays. Pity to teachers who joined with a passion to teach but are fulfilling unrealistic and unreasonable expectations.

Callitquits on June 3, 2010 at 10:20 pm

That is why I left the teaching profession after more than a decade. Teachers who want to teach are not appreciated. Teachers are jack of all trades but master of none. They have to be an event manager, surrogate parent, counsellor, etc. When they are appraised, it’s taken that they should be doing well in the classroom because that is our ‘core’ business. So how to differentiate one from the other during the ranking session? It boils down to all the other non-teaching duties one performs. So one can be teaching a non-examinable subject like DnT or Art which has little marking and has plenty of time to perform non-teaching duties, he/she will standout cos the things he/she does is visible. Another teacher has plenty of lessons to go to and have no time to wayang so he/she is considered as not contributing to the school. When ranking comes, the teacher who teaches only will be ranked lower. This EPMS thing is full of nonsense.

tanswf72 on June 3, 2010 at 10:20 pm

I managed to find the email address to the education ministry, if I am to write a petition email complaining about teacher workload and attached the log here, will everyone support me?

There is so much unfair treatment against education system in Singapore, it’s about time we should work as a team to raise up to MOE to get this improved.

No point we keep complaining but no action taken. Right?

I am pretty sick of the education system over here, it’s killing those teachers, can’t imagine no matter what and how they do, principal will never appreciate it, instead they will help parents to blame the teachers why? Teachers not just have to teach but have to manage all kind of rubbish administrative matters, what is this? They are human not robots, my goodness, please bear that in mind.

2nd, during school holiday they still have to go to school to do project and all kind of work, they can’t even have a rest day properly.

3rd, do you know that nowadays teaching ‘little monkeys’ in school is worst than before? Those ‘little monkeys’ are simply spolit brat, how can the teachers take it?

I totally agree that our local teachers are overworked. It’s so hard for them to have a work life balance. When I read the articles posted earlier in May, I felt for them. My wife works as a teacher too.

I have a urge to complaint to MOE even if there is a risk and the chance is slim, at least we try, if this goes on, I believe more teachers would become mad and go into mental hospital. I really hope SPH or Mediacorp would publish such article over here on the newspaper to let more people know about the workload so that MOE would follow up.

This is no joke, my dear, if one is stressful it can drive one to be mad.

Joe on June 3, 2010 at 10:40 pm

My fiancee quit teaching as it is simply TOO STRESSFUL and MOE keeps coming up with ‘bright ideas’ that tax the teachers even more. Now, we spend quality time together, which I do not think it is possible if she remains a teacher. With this kind of system, MOE will only force teachers with a passion to burn out fast and leave teaching soon! *sigh* so long about moulding our future generation when the teachers are not sustained!

WonderGirl on June 3, 2010 at 10:43 pm

There are so many burnout beginning teachers in schools. Even my own ex-form teacher who is teaching in RJC tells me this. And I’m a teacher.

alvin on June 3, 2010 at 10:44 pm

In general, workers other than teachers will have at least 1 hour of lunch break to enjoy their lunch while at the same time, have a chit chat session with their colleagues. However, teachers can only have lunch during their free time. The fact that we can hardly find time make us even want to even skip our lunch or to delay it like till 3pm at times and I think this is not very healthy in the long run.

Public seems to have this belief that when teachers dont teach, they should be free.I think its a joke. Let me list you a FEW, we as teachers have to set exam questions, have consultation time with students we need to ask questions,remedial lessons in smaller groups for those students who need more attention than the rest, understand our CCA kids cos we need to nominate our students for CCA awards when they graduate and of course, other CCA admin duties esp near competition periods where we have to attend meetings, submit entries for the competitors, CCA overseas trips etc , work reviews which is like 3 times a year which I feel its excessive and creates unnecessary burden, Civics lessons which we need to prepare, attendance taking, writing peer lesson ob forms and PPCR for documentation,meetings like SPA, SGCs, PWs in JC which in fact is not our expertise for some teachers and to handle that, we need to spend A LOT OF TIME doing our homework in order to provide the best to our students and all these are done on top of teaching our core subject and marking. Dont you feel its so scary?? We are not robots. We also need time to rest and for those we are teachers like me, I believe you can agree that for a teacher who puts in effort to teach a 2 hour lesson, you just feel so tired taht you dont even have the energy to talk to your friends. But still, you cant take a break because there are other things that you need to handle.

To teach effectively, we need to have time to reflect and think about ways to teach the students, in a unique and interesting way. However due to those ambitious policy makers, poor teachers have to suffer with those enormous workloads. thinking that since we are being paid and therfore, we should just accept whatever it comes along.

Jac on June 3, 2010 at 10:45 pm

I was a teacher for 7 years before I resigned. It was my first job and I thought I would enjoy teaching in schools till I retire as this is my PASSION. Now, I am still doing education and I still enjoy what I am doing.

The reasons for resignation is as follows:
1 Concerns were raised to management, but were never taken seriously. They do not take in teachers’ feedback whether their NEW projects. They just want their new projects to push through so that will look good in their portfolio.

2 ever since performance bonus were introduced, office politics crept in, and backstabbing of colleagues appears. Come on, this is a school and what we taught pupils do not coincide with what we practice.

3 whenever students wanted to look for me to coach them on schoolwork that they do not understand in class, I was always not available due to senseless meeting and professional development sessions, or out of school on course.

4 I feel that the work I do in schools is not out of passion anymore.

For those fresh grads out there, please think twice before committing yourself for three years of tough job.

KamenRyder on June 3, 2010 at 10:47 pm

When I was in NIE, my lecturer told me she resigned from teaching because of the marking. That scared me. She had to mark in the weekends all the time. And my other lecturer told me to say “no” at times, otherwise we’ll end up burned out. I know what they mean now. T_T

SL on June 3, 2010 at 10:49 pm

I have relatives who are teachers. Heard from them they have a ranking system that really stress them out. From what I gather the schools are generally a very autocratic type of organisation. The leadership approach is top down and there is very little room for disagreement and the ranking system can be subject to abuse by supervisors. For the teachers this will stifle creativity and de-motivate them. I think the school should adopt a common industry practice where the supervisors and leadership are also evaluated by the employees. This will help reduce instances of abuse, bullying, threats, etc by supervisors in charge of the teachers. There should be some check and balances and maybe in this way the school leadership can find a solution to support the teachers heavy workload instead turning a deaf year to them. The 3000+ and growing comments is testimony that teachers are overworked!

SL on June 3, 2010 at 11:07 pm

To those who ask teachers not to complain, try teaching in singapore first before making your comments. Most went in with interest and passion but became disillusioned by the system. To the geek who loves programming (and claims his job is tougher than teaching), its just you and your computer you are facing. Try facing a class of children and teenagers daily and dealing with demanding parents.

Stop trying to sound like a hero on June 3, 2010 at 11:10 pm

@posted here earlier on June 3, 2010 at 10:57 pm

My job requires me to handle 200+ over partners so what’s the big deal here? We all have different job nature so it sounds silly to hear that you start comparing the figures…

@@ on June 3, 2010 at 11:13 pm

Stop trying to sound like a hero
Do you deal with 40 of them AT THE SAME TIME, and easily 200 of them in the same day, plus deal with your partners’ demanding parents too? And how difficult they are to listen, how unwilling they are to learn, find out about their family background to empathize and not be fast to judge if they are failing in schools, listen to their BGR problems and guide them towards the right paths, counsel them, encourage them, motivate them, listen to their problems and help them as much as you can?

rian on June 3, 2010 at 11:22 pm

>>> lx on June 3, 2010 at 10:53 pm

Come on…stop grumbling…what makes you guys think that you are the only ones? I work as a software engineer and my hours easily extend from 8am to >10 pm…weekends are often spent on more programming which I’m not able to complete during the week. Am I complaining?No! In fact I enjoy it. Embrace and enjoy your work and it would not feel like work anymore!!! Education should not be a job which you throw away at 5 pm sharp everyday!!! So stop complaining!! <<<

To the person lx above,

Have you taught as a full-fledged teacher before?

HAve you thought about why so many and i dare dare say vast majority of teachers are complaining out loud or suffering in silence?

If your line of work or other line of work has too much other things to do except what your job title says, i am sure others will pour in their support for you. You are programmer in your company and how would you feel if your company ask you to do tasks not related to programming which takes up 80% of your time in office and out of it? Would you still “Embrace and enjoy your work and it would not feel like work anymore!!! “?

How would you feel if you have 4 weeks of “holidays” as perceived by others but 1st 2 weeks you have to go back to school to teach almost like normal school hours or even longer. And then the last week is as good as gone because there will be the school contact time, and other department, committee meetings and actually you have 1 week or so left?

Many other points have been mentioned by others in close to 4000 posts already so i will not repeat.

I was a full time teacher for 6 years but quited 4 years ago.

Ex-teacher on June 3, 2010 at 11:25 pm

I was a full time teacher for 10 yrs. It was living hell but I have a family to look after and couldn't quit as I needed the money. It was my worst nightmare but good gracious thank God it’s over!!

Unappreciated on June 3, 2010 at 11:28 pm

A female colleague of mine lamented that she has spent her youth giving her life to the school, and to her HODs and principal (who only use her for their own career promotion). She is now past 35 and single. I think there are many like her.

ichgo on June 3, 2010 at 11:34 pm

Yes I agree that teachers are underpaid for the amount of hours they are putting in every single day in school. I feel that the educational system in SG now is getting unreasonable, probably to keep up with the competition coming from foreign students, talents and all the fast-developing countries that has very skilled people with high education such as China, Japan, India… But really, if MOE strives to keep quiet just to push us past our limits so that we can outdo the others, when will this competition end then? By that time, I guess all the teachers would have quit their jobs to find a replacement, with a lower pay, as long as the hours are not so demanding. I’m currently studying in a JC, year 2 this year and my teachers are staying back until 9pm with us sometimes until the school closes to give us consultations, monitor our progress and even give supplementry lessons because the day time isnt long enough for her to finish her syllabus. MOE, please go out to the streets and ask any random student, be it pri, sec or JC. Ask them how many hours are they staying in school until. From there, you should be able to tell how many hours the teachers are staying back as well.
If the educational system sets aside “holidays” in June, Dec and shorter ones in march and sept, aren’t these days supposed to be put aside for students and teachers to rest? The normal curiculum time is already crazy (JC2 student, goes to school at 7.30am and leaves at 9.30pm, same for the teachers!! omg. lessons itself stretches until 9pm already… from 7.30am to 9pm, what kind of crazy job is it? and the pay?) And these holidays are being taken up for lessons, make-up for this and that, extra CCA… Teachers are coming back, serious OT, without any equal increase in their proportion of pay. Is this fair?

Recently, the cut off point for university entry is raised to 75 points. 75/90 rank points is really, something not everyone can achieve. Those who got 70 points and below are more or less stranded. They did well, but not good enough for local universities. And I feel that this is part of the reason why teachers and principals are pushing the hours into the night to conduct lessons, hoping that it will sqweeze more content and skills into the students. But think about it, such long hours… We humans have a limited attention-span. Everyone’s probably tired from 7pm to 9pm. Teachers can’t teach at their best, neither can the students absorb. What’s the point for this? Might as well allow us to go home and have some quality time to rest or to catch up with family.

I really pity my teachers, espcecially those teaching arts subjects like geography, economics, GP, history, lit, art… Sometimes they are so tired that they lose track of their teaching. But we don’t blame them, because they have so much work to mark at home, lessons to prepare, other duties to do like CCA monitoring. Seriously, MOE should do something about it before everyone burns out and this stretegy of forcing us forward will instead backfire.

Who knows? Maybe in the future, teachers need to stay back longer, because the syllabus is getting harder and they have to teach until the students understand in time for the major examinations like PSLE, O and A levels. Besides acedemic achievements, I feel that it is also important to let us have time to ourselves, especially the teachers. MOE, please look into this.

Ex-Teacher on June 3, 2010 at 11:36 pm

As an ex-Primary School teacher myself, I can fully identify with the stress that teachers undergo. Teachers are indeed an overworked bunch of people who are expected to juggle many (in fact, too many) roles at the same time. It is only a matter of time before the physical and mental strain smothers the passion for teaching that most fresh NIE grads started out with. I personally have seen talented & dedicated teachers who end up suffering from burnt-out and some of them even slip into a circle of depression or develop psychiatric disorders which they are still trying to recover from even after a prolonged period of time.

For myself, all I wanted to do was just to teach and have more time to nurture & communicate with my pupils, especially the weaker or troubled ones who needed more attention. During lesson time, I found myself rushing from one class to the other and on days when I had to stand in for teachers who were on MC, I couldn’t even find time to catch a breather. I just hoped to have the after-school hours to myself so that I could finish up the marking which was very time-consuming,set practice or exam papers, have time to prepare for lessons and think of creative & fun lessons to enhance the learning experience for the pupils. However, such precious time were often taken away from me by meetings (to plan for events such as visits from some big-shot, sports day, etc.), CCA rehearsals in order to aim for an SYF medal, administrative duties which includes stock-taking etc. and a whole host of other activities.

In order to bring about effective changes which will improve the work-life balance of teachers and allow them to develop into better teachers, maybe MOE policymakers should try their hands at teaching a full load for a term(which should certainly include English as Composition marking is an experience not to be missed)complete with all the MOE initiatives (acronyms which I have already forgotten), events and the whole works. Only then will they truly understand first hand how tough it is to be a teacher. Maybe then they will think twice before launching the next Initiative which more often than not, fails to address the root of the problem but instead, serves to add on more workload to the already heavy burden that teachers nowadays are made to bear.

Until then, I will be sticking with my private sector job which allows me to relax after work and during the weekends, instead of ploughing through stacks of compositions.

ahua on June 3, 2010 at 11:39 pm

yes…teachers do overworked…a few of my friends are teachers… and always have to work at home.. Poor Work Life Balance… this is why many teachers nowsadays are switching career paths… with the kind of pay working these kind of hours…who wants to work??? own family also no time to manage where got time and energy to nurture our next generation… the main focus has been drifted away to nurture the students which they have to learnt the values and academic achievement in schools,instead of doing those non value added/non productive stuff such as administrative works which is time consuming and energy draining…

JY on June 3, 2010 at 11:49 pm

For those who say that other jobs are tough simply do not take into consideration how it is so very draining (physically, emotionally and mentally) having to engage 40 students per class (and some see 3 classes or more per day) for at least 2.5hrs a day. Have you tried playing with your child/nephew/niece for 30min in a row? How much more when teachers have to entertain (yes entertain!) 40 students for at least an hour when they have a double period lesson! The job is draining because teachers deal with human beings and when the students go to them with their problems / learning disabilities, it becomes very exhausting work … the other things mentioned on this board simply compounds the challenges that teachers face. And one more thing, if you are working a desk-bound job, your computer will not talk back to you or give you “attitude” on a bad day and you have the option of simply turning your computer off at the end of the day … how do you propose teachers “switch-off” a tantrum throwing / defiant / vulgarity-spewing student for instance? Dealing with people is always much more demanding than dealing with paper, period.

ex EL teacher on June 3, 2010 at 11:50 pm

I worked in the private sector before becoming a secondary school teacher. I quit 2 over years ago because of various reasons that I will pen below. Namely, it’s due to 1)workload, 2)system, 3)emotional energy spent 4)the feeling that we’re cheating our students. Let me elaborate.

1) It is an undeniable fact that teacher’s workload is way too much – especially for EL and humanities subject teachers. One year, I had 120+ Upper sec EL students. In a neighbourhood school, it takes 8-10 min to make one essay. You do the maths. And that is not counting the frustrations and the headaches deciphering the ‘code words’ Wait.. our 3 week cycle was 1 wk compo, next wk compre, followed by some written project. So that’s just the marking and classroom time. CCA? check. Inane committee? check. Staff meetings? check. Follow up on absenteeism/truancy/poor performance etc. Check. check check. etc etc etc

2) The system sucks. Period. Ambitious principals = extra ‘bright’ ideas/programs/initiatives to win multiple awards in order to raise their profile, get more funding, just see the banners fluttering around the schools. You’ll get my drift. The victims? teachers and students of course. Worse.. while performance review is supposed to be 60% on your teaching, and 40% the other duties, in actual fact it’s more like 20% and 80% respectively. Dedicated teachers who deliver top-notch lessons and results are told “that’s what you are supposed to be good in anyway.. teach.” In order to climb up the rankings, teachers organise big events or head committees, to profile themselves and neglect their teaching. But who gets the promotions? Yes, the ones who has shown their ‘leadership qualities’ in organising big events. And the ones in the ‘inner circle’ – the golf kakis and kopi club. And don’t even get me started on the taking of MCs and childcare leave.

3) Yes, every job has its stresses and long hours. But while engineers, accountants, lawyers etc spend their long hours, they do not need to spend an iota of emotional energy on others. Teachers have to be consummate showmen to motivate the students to pay attention and learn. Try doing it 4 times a day to different audiences. And what if there’s ill-disciplined children in class? We’ll need to scold, cajole, threaten, punish etc. whatever that works. and later counsel the students. And in neighbourhood schools, many of them have reasons for their bad day, and you feel for them. Do machines stand up to the engineer’s authority and question their actions or pull their bra straps? Do numbers spit on the accountants’ faces. Oh, I’m sure many a times the numbers don’t come together, but is it their fault?

4) End of the day, in order to cope and preserve our sanity, teachers end up taking short cuts. Many times I’ve gone into class for a lesson, preparing for it while I’m walking there – more impressive than Chinese poets having to compose their poems within whatever number of steps they take. We get students to mark their work. We distance ourselves emotionally and some times physically and are soon not there for them to talk to. Why? Those who have counselled others will know. One session will zap the energy out of you. So, we quit. We quit because this was not what we signed up for. We were wasting energy and time doing what we felt was not core. And the scary thing is, what I’m sharing is not even the full story.

UL on June 4, 2010 at 12:04 am

@ichgo indeed, especially those students whose major exams draw near (such as those taking O, N or A levels), the teachers make them stay back everyday for several weeks to conduct extra lessons till evening.

@Ex-teacher those MOE policymakers are scholars. Their jobscope is to dole out policies after policies. To make themselves look good on paper. It’s an open secret that in most govt boards, they really don’t have the substantial groundwork experience to have empathy for the people who will be affected by all their idealistic policy-making.

I for one, seriously think our education system needs a big review and revamp. Teacher-student ratio definitely need to be more conducive to learning. How about school hours? I think we can look to other countries’ models and learning systems. How about introducing more technical/specialized schools like back in the day? Or how about implementing a uni-style of learning/teaching? Where TAs help out in the work for the teachers, and the teachers/lecturers themselves conduct several lesson timings throughout the day? How about not giving much homework but timely projects/presentations and lessons are more for class discussions? The education system should start being flexible and offer varied options. Why don’t the policy-makers start cracking their heads and take in all these constructive criticisms before this issue and people in this industry reaches a tipping point?

UltimaOnline SG

On page 82

http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/16/are-singapore-teachers-overworked/comment-page-82/#comments

Mr Chin on June 4, 2010 at 12:39 am

bastard, i never said… Mr Blue, you are poser.

money minded citizen on June 4, 2010 at 12:40 am

the authorities really need to address this issue as teachers are an irreplaceable force in singapore. foreigners can make up for numbers in certain jobs but i feel that we need the core of our teachers to be singaporeans. imagine having our future kinds being taught by foreign talents due to reluctance of singaporeans to take on this demanding and taxing role. sounds like a recipe for a generation gap especially when working singaporeans are finding less time to spend with their kids.

p.s. i am not a teacher but my mom is a kindergarten teacher who was teaching for 17 years and the increase in workload over the years saw her overworked and sleeping less. it amazed me that she was required to pick up IT skills in her advanced years and she spent long hours in front of the computer. imagine the difficulties of a 50 year old trying to figure out thumbdrives, spreadsheets, emails, word processing and internet surfing with a rudimentary command of english. i increased her allowance and encouraged her to quit the job as it was not worth it.

Castello on June 4, 2010 at 12:50 am

maybe can ask MOE to prepare one psychiatrist in school. not for students but for teachers… I remember two incidents of teachers breaking down. One make the 1 metre rule like lightsaber. Become Darth Vader in class… creative ah ? then he smacked one boy’s head with it. Another think he F1 driver. Drive round and roundthe school at xiao speed… no joke ah.

Castello on June 4, 2010 at 12:51 am

i made up that story, its a joke.

Castello on June 4, 2010 at 12:53 am

oiii… only one Solo Castello here

eagle SG

By the way, if anyone thinks there's school holidays for teachers, my gf had to give remedial lessons

And this morning, she has to go for a CCA camp over at Ubin till Sunday evening. Weekend is spent like this.

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