Teacher always on leave !

[kittytan]

My son is currently in N2. His teachers are always on leave. Sometimes it's because her own child is sick or she herself is sick. And it happened about 2-3 times in a month and for a few days. There was once the assistant teacher went on leave for the whole week after the school holiday! Is this normal ?? :? Please advice . Thank you.

[kysha]

To the teachers , it may just be a job for them …Just like any other jobs , workers may get sick and take m.c leave , or jia zua .

I guess he / she may really be sick or is just not passionate about teaching , loving children . To some educators , it is just counting the days for pay to bank into their bank accounts , waiting for the long school holidays to arrive …
Kids dont lie , from their feedback , you will know if they adores their teachers or not , or they will come and say innocently , " Mummy , my teacher today sick again , never come to school , then a teacher dont know who just give us papers to draw and colour … "

[kittytan]

True. Sometimes my son came back from school saying : "Teacher is not here today again ! Don’t know what school is this! " Sigh…

[happydaddy]

kittytan:

True. Sometimes my son came back from school saying : \"Teacher is not here today again ! Don't know what school is this! \" Sigh....

come on lah... unless you pay top $$ for the CC, in return the CC can pay high $$ to the staff.

If not, what make you think the teacher are satisfied to work at this miserable pay for their rest of the life?

blame it on the greedy landlord for charging so high.

[kysha]

My DD goes to one of the most popular kindergarten and their schools fees are also one of the most expensive in that area … I guess it is the management that is not doing a good job that the schools kept changing teachers . One of the ex teacher also complained about the poor welfare given ,very low moral , besides passion ,i guess teachers also need to make enough to survive …

Some of the ex-parents were also complaining that the principal is money-minded and dominating , school fees keep increasing , crude to teaching staffs , that why some of the good teachers left …
I ,myself too feel that owners of private kinders/pre-school run them so business like to churn big money more than doing it out of passion and dreams …
Thank God , my gal is in K2 , only a few more months to go…

[auntieM]

Same experience for my DS too.. ..especially before and after long weekend breaks..

[maisy]

Yeah.

I disagree that so long as u pay "top $$" , and the dollars get transferred to the teachers in terms of "good salary" means the teachers will surely be good, will not skive , will not "jia zua". That’s shallow thinking.

I have friends whose children are in preschool costing >$1000per month also faces the issue of teachers going on frequent MCs, high turnover of teachers…etc etc…

At the end of the day, besides attractive pay, it all boils down to the individual teacher’s commitment, her attitude towards her job, her passion towards teaching.

AND in addition,

The management (boss) of the CC has to do a good job managing their "talent pool (ie teachers), managing welfare (not just salary) as well as managing the job expectations & job grievance" that adds up as a successful package. As in any job in any industry, a good KPI & "corporate governance" has to be put in place to keep the staff in check & to motivate them. If the management is lax, paying just good salary alone will not motivate the staff … well, perhaps initially…but thereafter the teachers will just "lax together w the management".

JMHO.

[maisy]

of course when i offer my opinion, i do not mean "pay peanuts" to the teachers…


what i m saying is simply paying top $$$ is not the single solution…it has to be a few key factors ie pay well (not simply top $$), have good KPI, address teachers’ grievances( if any)…etc…

Simply offering "solely top $$ itself" is risky cos a lot of young fresh diploma/degree holders might just "grab" the job seeing how well it pays…after a while they realise the job ain’t suitable, or they have some job grievance not addressed properly, then they may not be motivated to go to work…

And if they are in search of a new job, they would want to look for a higher-paying one (which is going to be tough since their current job is already paying them well) …so while looking for a new job , they will just "stick around" first (instead of resigning & losing good monthly pay), that is when they may go on frequent leave…etc

So , that is where teacher’s passion , commitment comes into play… besides good salary & amongst other things; just like any job in the corporate sector.

[littlehelper]

I agree that paying more $$ = better quality.

I think it really depends on each schools principal.
If the principal has good leadership and good management, naturally the teachers will be good as the principal would expect good quality.
And if the principal is not you will see the effects from the teachers.
I think founder of Pat’s schoolhouse is one fine example of a great principal.I think she really has high expectations and choose good teachers!

Also agree that there is a high demand but few teachers.
And since the early childhood course in poly is for those we did not do as well, a lot of them are "forced" to take the course and it goes up with them as they become teachers.They had no choice.Thus the quality of teachers…

[kysha]

To : Maisy,


I think you are not being very polite by commenting that happydaddy and myself are shallow minded . I think that we are more straight forward and frank … , and we felt the same way that $$$ may be one of the biggest motivition to keep good teachers around…Not only in the teacher , i guess it is in every industries …
I guess you must have encountered the most passionate teachers in the world , and that you are full of praises … Me and the rest may not be as lucky as you , that’s how this thread has been formed for us to make some noise…