Parents, not enrichment centres, are key to result
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There are excellent teachers in MOE but none who can teach EVERY subject well. Gone are the days when the primary school exams are of a difficulty one associates with children... and thus well within the reach of every educated adult.
Today's syllabus requires specialized Teachers. Yet, primary school Teachers must teach EMS.
Every system has sub-units (i.e., schools) and whole units (i.e., MOE in its entirety, which includes schools). It is wrong to assume that if every sub-unit is working at maximum performance levels, the whole unit will definitely perform. The organisation is an entity that requires balance and equilibrium between all the sub-units. The fellow that has an overview of all sub-units and the whole unit should be on the lookout for system disequilibria... and continually tweak and fine-tune. When you change one part of the system, you can't leave the rest of the system untouched.
They have changed the syllabus, and pushed it to levels where to teach well Teachers need to specialize. But they forgot to tweak the policy to allow Teachers to subject specialize. I am not surprised Teachers leave. It's not just for the money. There is simply no joy when you know you're teaching one subject well and the other 2 subjects poorly.
They have changed the exams, and made them vastly more difficult (requiring highly complex thinking skills). But they forgot to change the textbooks to include this material. I am not surprised Teachers leave. They've to write their own materials on top of prepare class and mark exams.
The system is in terrible imbalance. Why is no one watching whole unit optimisation against sub-unit optimisation? Whenever things go wrong, fingers point at the Principal... or the Teachers. Hey... take JOINT reponsibility, MOE! Support your Teachers. Support your Principals. Discipline them if necessary but SUPPORT them too!! It is everybody's problem, NOT just the Principals or the Teachers.
Support Teachers with better textbooks. Help the Teachers by allowing subject specialization. -
Chenonceau:
Senior education ministers should seriously consider this...principals/HODs/teachers are purely following guidelines given by MOE. When MOE said no textbooks for English, these poor teachers had to use Stellar to teach stuff like pronouns, tenses etc etc :slapshead: ...but English is a subject has rules like is/are/am/was/were and these will always be taught regardless of level (P1, P6, Sec 1) and century we live. I am glad I still kept my son's Eng textbooks...well, they are not fantastic but at least I have something to fall back on.They have changed the syllabus, and pushed it to levels where to teach well Teachers need to specialize. But they forgot to tweak the policy to allow Teachers to subject specialize. I am not surprised Teachers leave. It's not just for the money. There is simply no joy when you know you're teaching one subject well and the other 2 subjects poorly.
They have changed the exams, and made them vastly more difficult (requiring highly complex thinking skills). But they forgot to change the textbooks to include this material. I am not surprised Teachers leave. They've to write their own materials on top of prepare class and mark exams.
MOE thinks that increasing the difficulty level of exams will make kids think harder because they are smarter :scratchhead: But did MOE consider upgrading teachers to teach kids how to handle such difficult exams ? Give us a GOOD textbook for English...it's hard to coach without one. -
Chenonceau:
:goodpost:There are excellent teachers in MOE but none who can teach EVERY subject well. Gone are the days when the primary school exams are of a difficulty one associates with children... and thus well within the reach of every educated adult.
Today's syllabus requires specialized Teachers. Yet, primary school Teachers must teach EMS.
Every system has sub-units (i.e., schools) and whole units (i.e., MOE in its entirety, which includes schools). It is wrong to assume that if every sub-unit is working at maximum performance levels, the whole unit will definitely perform. The organisation is an entity that requires balance and equilibrium between all the sub-units. The fellow that has an overview of all sub-units and the whole unit should be on the lookout for system disequilibria... and continually tweak and fine-tune. When you change one part of the system, you can't leave the rest of the system untouched.
They have changed the syllabus, and pushed it to levels where to teach well Teachers need to specialize. But they forgot to tweak the policy to allow Teachers to subject specialize. I am not surprised Teachers leave. It's not just for the money. There is simply no joy when you know you're teaching one subject well and the other 2 subjects poorly.
They have changed the exams, and made them vastly more difficult (requiring highly complex thinking skills). But they forgot to change the textbooks to include this material. I am not surprised Teachers leave. They've to write their own materials on top of prepare class and mark exams.
The system is in terrible imbalance. Why is no one watching whole unit optimisation against sub-unit optimisation? Whenever things go wrong, fingers point at the Principal... or the Teachers. Hey... take JOINT reponsibility, MOE! Support your Teachers. Support your Principals. Discipline them if necessary but SUPPORT them too!! It is everybody's problem, NOT just the Principals or the Teachers.
Support Teachers with better textbooks. Help the Teachers by allowing subject specialization. -
HAPPYH:
:goodpost:
Thanks for the encouragement HappyH! I really appreciate it. -
Chenonceau:
I think this post speaks the mind of several parents.HAPPYH:
:goodpost:
Thanks for the encouragement HappyH! I really appreciate it. -
Chenonceau:
Just to add one more point:There are excellent teachers in MOE but none who can teach EVERY subject well. Gone are the days when the primary school exams are of a difficulty one associates with children... and thus well within the reach of every educated adult.
Today's syllabus requires specialized Teachers. Yet, primary school Teachers must teach EMS.
Every system has sub-units (i.e., schools) and whole units (i.e., MOE in its entirety, which includes schools). It is wrong to assume that if every sub-unit is working at maximum performance levels, the whole unit will definitely perform. The organisation is an entity that requires balance and equilibrium between all the sub-units. The fellow that has an overview of all sub-units and the whole unit should be on the lookout for system disequilibria... and continually tweak and fine-tune. When you change one part of the system, you can't leave the rest of the system untouched.
They have changed the syllabus, and pushed it to levels where to teach well Teachers need to specialize. But they forgot to tweak the policy to allow Teachers to subject specialize. I am not surprised Teachers leave. It's not just for the money. There is simply no joy when you know you're teaching one subject well and the other 2 subjects poorly.
They have changed the exams, and made them vastly more difficult (requiring highly complex thinking skills). But they forgot to change the textbooks to include this material. I am not surprised Teachers leave. They've to write their own materials on top of prepare class and mark exams.
The system is in terrible imbalance. Why is no one watching whole unit optimisation against sub-unit optimisation? Whenever things go wrong, fingers point at the Principal... or the Teachers. Hey... take JOINT reponsibility, MOE! Support your Teachers. Support your Principals. Discipline them if necessary but SUPPORT them too!! It is everybody's problem, NOT just the Principals or the Teachers.
Support Teachers with better textbooks. Help the Teachers by allowing subject specialization.
DO NOT ALLOW existing teachers to teach in tuition/enrichment centres, it dilutes their focus in school and they complain about workload in school? I know of teachers not being able to focus in school due to exhaustion, not because there is alot of work from school but teachers are moonlighting at tuition centres. The irony is tuition centres' parents/students are customers to them so they work doubly hard. Now flipping the coin to the other side, are teachers feeling satisfaction teaching outside just for the monetary awards or there is more than meet the eye? Some teachers may feel teaching in school is restrictive or not leveraging on their strength? I think the teachers' issue in the school is a serious one and its effect cascaded to the children and then translated into lack of performance. -
ksi:
:snuggles:
Just to add one more point:
DO NOT ALLOW existing teachers to teach in tuition/enrichment centres, it dilutes their focus in school and they complain about workload in school? I know of teachers not being able to focus in school due to exhaustion, not because there is alot of work from school but teachers are moonlighting at tuition centres. The irony is tuition centres' parents/students are customers to them so they work doubly hard. Now flipping the coin to the other side, are teachers feeling satisfaction teaching outside just for the monetary awards or there is more than meet the eye? Some teachers may feel teaching in school is restrictive or not leveraging on their strength? I think the teachers' issue in the school is a serious one and its effect cascaded to the children and then translated into lack of performance. -
HAPPYH:
I am happy to know that. More happy than words can express. I feel like a broken record and sometimes I wonder if I am weird to see/write all these things and then have parents read between the lines of my posts to see (1) excess of kiasuism and (2) child tyranny.
I think this post speaks the mind of several parents. -
Chenonceau:
Due to recent high profile case, I'm skeptical. Who's that lousy textbook saleperson and who's that in MOE who endorsed those text books?
But they forgot to change the textbooks to include this material. -
ksi:
Could this be the teacher's strategy - teach less in school and teach more in tuition centre.
DO NOT ALLOW existing teachers to teach in tuition/enrichment centres, it dilutes their focus in school and they complain about workload in school?
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