Good article - what teachers want to really tell parents
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Regardless of which country it is, teaching is a profession that is prone to burnout. This is a known phenomenon.
If the organization within which Teachers work do not provide enough emotional sustenance and support, any reasonable human being burns out… stops caring. It may thus be too simplistic to say that Teachers are irresponsible. No doubt, there are irresponsible Teachers but I would say that the vast majority of Teachers are not irresponsible. In general, Teachers are responsible people. The larger proportion of MOE’s teachers are Singaporean. Why would they be any less responsible than any other Singaporean in any other job. So, let’s not so quickly point the fingers at Teachers.
I think it is unproductive to point fingers at individuals. There are some specific systemic issues that can be addressed that will help Teachers help our children.
(1) Have better textbooks
(2) Have more resource materials shared across schools (else, Teachers in every school have to write their own)
(3) Build an encouraging and forgiving ambience amongst Teachers and School Administrators
(4) Less goal driven and more values driven management
(5) Set up an internet portal for Teachers to upload the educational materials they write and pay Teachers a small royalty for each download of their materials
My son gets tons of Math homework that is not calibrated to his level. Twice already, I wrote an excuse letter so that he did not have to do the homework. We needed the time to sort out the more challenging skills sets that his Teachers did not teach but still tested.
Classes are so large that work assigned is not always calibrated to student ability. Homework is not customised when actually the way the syllabus is now structured it needs to be. A syllabus that is heavy on mental skills absolutely needs a TUTORIAL GROUP. That was how university functioned in the past. You sat in a tutorial and thought aloud, and the Tutor could give feedback about how you think and how you string thoughts together. Hence, perhaps we could…
(6) Allow students to choose the homework they want to do after sitting down with each to check ability level.
A system like the one in Kumon centres allows large large numbers of children to move through with few teachers and each child goes at his own pace, with work calibrated to him alone. It does not mean more work for Teachers.
In this way, we move away from focusing on individual teachers and towards systemic improvements that will help teachers to help our kids. -
b2b3m4:
Yap!!! Both my SIL and BIL are teachers. Yes, they always have to choose June and Dec for BIG occassion. And they must plan it well so that it wouldn't clash on meeting, excusion, enrichment for student etc etc. So mostly they plan on mid of december. If they are posted to teach PSLE or N'level or O'level classes, their June hoilday will be BURN!!!!limlim,
I think you really do not understand the job of a teacher. I am not a teacher.
But i know i DD's teachers have lots to do even on your so called 'off days'. For 1, the lastest presidential and general elections. Who do you think are the counters and the people manning the booths and centres. It was the teachers! The teachers were called in for briefing and meetings way before the elections.
During school holidays, these teachers need to bring students to Ubin and OBS for camps. Ya, lots of fun, right? And not to mention, coming back to prepare for competiton, performances etc. National Day- holidays??? Did u see when the teachers need to practicse with them for the National Day Parade? Bring the students for rehearsals? Dun they even deserve 1 day break?
Yes, not to mention the many nights they need to bring papers, student works back home to mark. And nowadays, a teacher can't go to a class and flip her textbook and teach. She/he must plan the course, the objective, opening blah, blah... the paperwork itself is like another thesis. And the KPIs to meet and maintaining school standard and the many telephone calls, e mails that they need to reply from parents.
Yes, they do not have scheduled leaves, and these poor teachers can only get married in June or Decemeber. Imagine being controlled to the point on which day to marry???
And patience involved to teach. For one, teaching DD myself almost make me vomit blood. I cannot imagine teaching a whole class of DDs. -
i know of 2 teachers who have to work when they were on maternity leave. schools were constantly calling them for assessment/test/school programmes discussions. both went back to school pretty often during leave to sort out details which couldnt be done over phone. also papers were sent to them for marking.
another teacher had 3 fun fairs within 2 months recently because the new principal wanted to raise funds. so many afternoons and sat were burnt to do the admin work and planning.
haha, teachers might not necessarily wed in june or dec but they definitely can only go on honeymoon in dec and they cant take leave as and when they like.
but regarding homework, my kids’ teachers would write on the whiteboard the amount of homework given to the kids on what day and when it is due. thus when another teacher sees it on the board, she will either give lesser or hold back work till a later date. there is thus a better distribution of work given to students to do. -
LOLMum:
That's a problem with the system..
another teacher had 3 fun fairs within 2 months recently because the new principal wanted to raise funds. so many afternoons and sat were burnt to do the admin work and planning.
Teacher are meant to teach.. some admin work relating to student's attendance, healthcare etc.. is understandable.. but asking teachers to raise fund and do other profit oriented activities is really sick.. -
limlim:
hahahah... I know some school even give the teacher a QUOTA to sell the tickets. Hence, the teacher have to work harder to \"PROMOTE\" the tickets to their student. They had become a salesman.
That's a problem with the system..LOLMum:
another teacher had 3 fun fairs within 2 months recently because the new principal wanted to raise funds. so many afternoons and sat were burnt to do the admin work and planning.
Teacher are meant to teach.. some admin work relating to student's attendance, healthcare etc.. is understandable.. but asking teachers to raise fund and do other profit oriented activities is really sick..
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some teachers and schools understand that not all parents (regardless of wealth) would buy fun fair coupons or give a donation.
ds’s classmate has 2 other sibllings in the same school and no way the parents could afford to buy $600 worth of fun fair coupons or even fill up the charity walk cards etc. all these are returned without $ to school and none of the kids’ teachers made sarcastic remarks or asked them why returned without any $. -
limlim:
If you say that teachers are paid what we are worth, I feel sorry that you actually think that way.. As private tutors, I am sure their income can easily be more than those full time teachers minus CPF and some other minor benefits.. On top of that, we have loads of admin work and committee work that we do unlike tutors..
Every job has it's tough part. teachers are paid what they are worth.. Just like any job, plus extra holidays like children's Day?
Also, by saying that, it just seems as though you are putting down those having jobs with low wages but yet very important in our daily lives.. No offense to anyone reading this..
If you are comparing the extra holidays that we get, it is not a lot more.. At more 5 to 6 extra days out of 365 days in a year?
No point trying to convince you that we deserve more recognition in our job.. Yes I do grumble at times, it's part of human nature, but I see the importance in carrying out my duties well and educate the future generation properly such that they develop good character and values which is also just as important as their academic achievement..
I sincerely hope that in time to come, you will understand where I am coming from.. -
LOLMum:
i know of 2 teachers who have to work when they were on maternity leave. schools were constantly calling them for assessment/test/school programmes discussions. both went back to school pretty often during leave to sort out details which couldnt be done over phone. also papers were sent to them for marking..
LOLMum, I was a victim myself earlier this year.. It just depends how understanding the head is..
ML suppose to rest but ended up doing work and preparing for presentation.. Oh well..
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pinky_j:
pinky_j, :rahrah:LOLMum:
i know of 2 teachers who have to work when they were on maternity leave. schools were constantly calling them for assessment/test/school programmes discussions. both went back to school pretty often during leave to sort out details which couldnt be done over phone. also papers were sent to them for marking..
LOLMum, I was a victim myself earlier this year.. It just depends how understanding the head is.. ML suppose to rest but ended up doing work and preparing for presentation.. Oh well..
my kid's school teacher tutor just left my house and she is planning to switch to part time teaching or be a full time private tutor (either on her own or join a language centre) next year. she is too tired and she is not even from a top branded or top neighbourhood school.
as i said in one of my posts on another thread, sometimes the cause of stress comes from the principal. -
pinky_j:
ok, some clarifications..
If you say that teachers are paid what we are worth, I feel sorry that you actually think that way.. As private tutors, I am sure their income can easily be more than those full time teachers minus CPF and some other minor benefits.. On top of that, we have loads of admin work and committee work that we do unlike tutors..limlim:
Every job has it's tough part. teachers are paid what they are worth.. Just like any job, plus extra holidays like children's Day?
When I say \"teachers are paid what they're worth\", please refer to the following context..
In earlier part of this thread, I hv pointed out that starting salary of teachers is ~$3200 for those degree holders with NS. Compare this with engineers at ~$2,500k or $2,800, the starting pay is not low by any measure.
hence, that is the basis of mine comment \"teachers are paid what they are worth\", meaning they are not lowly paid compared to other degree holders, like engineers holding profession degree and with honours.
Another point is, I'm not a full time tutor. My income from tuition is negligible. And nowhere compared to teachers. What I want to say is purely the teaching part and dealing with students, communication aspect etc.. it is not that difficult to be in a teaching position, or to be an effective teacher with regards to teaching alone.
The many complains of teachers is admin duty.. but in any jobs, there is bound to be out-of-job scope tasks.. like clerks need to make coffee etc..?
However, I do feel that school should not make use of teachers for profit oriented duties.. that is too much and is unreasonable. the principle should do that with other admin non teaching staff, or maybe just the HODs.
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