Less Teaching, More Learning?
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Less Teaching, more learning. The most famous slogan in schools.
Less homework, students spend more time in schools with iphones and/or gadgets. Come back you test them on any maths question, they give you the blank looks. :?
Ask around, 90% of kids have some form of tuition. Complain teachers they never teach properly? They bring out the slogan: \"Less Teaching, More Learning\" like Maoist. :x They are plain LAZY?
I think MOE should design curriculum within school hours. Students come back just do homework, then enjoy their childhood. Enough is enough. Like adults, we contain our workload within office..... Never bring home work. That should be the way to ensure stress-free learning.
What do you think? -
I actually don't know any teachers personally, and my son has only started p school, but from what I see from his school, teachers are really overworked.
I'm not sure who is at fault here. Is it really teachers who have to craft the day-to-day curriculum, or is it the MOE who instructs them with catch all phrases like \"more exciting curriculum\", \"interesting\", and yes \"teach less learn more\"?
After awhile, it feels exactly like what it is - empty talk, and the malaise filters down to the kids.
[Sorry - just remembered I do know one teacher personally. And she's definitely not lazy :)] -
Hmmmm, ironic that this topic is highlighted in this manner ..
Anyway, speaking from a personal perspective of an ex sec sch educator ...
All this TLLM is just all talk lah. Truth is, teachers end up having double the workload. Not only must they come up with 'innovative' ways to enable pupils to learn less, they have additional KPIs to counter for. And because more time spent on students 'learning less' during classroom hrs so to speak, they have to make it up by giving them additional homework.
Please, no way does TLLM means less homework and teaching ... the KPIs, remember.
All this is w/i the classroom context.
Lets see now, what about out of the classroom .....
When I was teaching then, we teachers were involved in x no of events in a year, take on leadership roles, mentor pupils on a one to one basis and you can have more than one 'mentee', provide one to one coaching to PRC pupils who are super kiasu (imagine having 10 such pupils in your EL class), be in-charge of a CCA, organize CIP activities for form class AND CCA, take on external invigilation roles, clock in 100hrs worth of courses in a year so that we can TEACH properly, attend meetings ON TOP of setting worksheets, (in my sch, cannot anyhow photocopy from assessment books, so I ended up creating my own worksheets, can publish an assessment book on that oso), marking essays and worksheets, setting test/exam papers .. you get the drift by now right???
I used to work from 7am to 7pm. My DH used to wait for me as he returned home first. Even then, there was prepatory work to be done(because remember, all work had to be original). When on mc for 2 days, I would go back the next day as workload would be piling up. And ohh, even coffee meetings with fellow teacher friends ending up being marking sessions :!: I put on hold the idea of starting a family because I was on a slightly different track from others.
No doubt I am speaking from a personal perspective, but I do know that I was not the only one going through this ..... I know of at least 15 others who were more or less in a similar boat as I.
BTW, in my humble opinion, I always believe that teaching is a calling, not a profession. So based on this premise, I find it very very difficult to accept the fact that teachers are LAZY (quote, unquote).
So please ...I would appreciate the careful phrasing of your adjective(s) when you comment about teachers in future.
And on a last note, don't quite understand what you mean by your 2nd last statement??? If I think it is what you mean, then you have to expect kids to stay on even longer hrs in sch.
Just my very own 2 cents lah, since teachers can be so unappreciated sometimes
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From what I understand, MOE comes up with these ideas/policies.
And most of the time they are pretty sound. Its the organizations/pple (top/middle mgt) who are implementing them that end up interpreting it their own way.
Again, just my very own humble opinion -
Both hands up for AutumnBronze.
But to be fair, there are those who are lazy (one of my colleagues). They live day to day by giving very little homework so that they have very little MARKING to do.
For every homework given, teachers have additional work to do cos we need to create the worksheet and mark it.
If parents want less homework, do let MOE know so that we have easier time cos we do not need to create and mark worksheets.
Parents fail to see the extra background work needed into teaching.
They still have the mentality that it’s like the ‘olden days’ where teachers go home with the students and get fat paychecks plus pension.
Teachers now do not have pension. We are given annual leave but not allowed to use during term time unless something very serious happen (like death of someone). Is it fair to us? We are also human. We also have families, we also need to run our errands to keep our family going.
*Sorry if anyone is offended by my post cos I’m actually very upset with my school management and am deliberating on leaving the service. Reading such posts from parents just adds on to my ‘push factor’.
Students now are tougher to manage but I still love my job because I love them. However, over-protective parents step in to interfere and make a mountain out of a molehill simply adds more stress to teachers and waste our time. Time which could be spent coaching weak students or creating better revision notes/practices for the kids. -
* Just to add on, I hope parents can think back to your school days.
Did your teachers have to create PPTs for every lesson?
Did your teachers have to create fun activities for the class (cooperative learning)?
Did your teachers have to attend ICT trainings and what nots (just to ensure that they have 100 hours of training per year)?
Did they have to create worksheets for every lesson?
Thinking back, my teachers read from the textbook.
Only some teachers will come prepared with OHTs (this was in sec schoo).
(I studied in Pri school in early 90s).
It’s not the same workload now.
And if you think back again, if you went home to complain to your parents (if you dare, that is) that your teacher punished you, what will your parents do?
Most of my friends’ parents and my own parents will just say ‘SERVE YOU RIGHT! YOU MUST HAVE MISBEHAVED SO TEACHER PUNISHED YOU!’
If kids go home with complains now, parents will rush to email to Principal and MOE to COMPLAIN without checking the facts. Making teachers have to write reports over simple incidents and wasting alot of time on ‘investigation’. -
mrswongtuition:
Thanks mrswongtuition :love: Haven't read you for quite a while.Both hands up for AutumnBronze.
But to be fair, there are those who are lazy (one of my colleagues). They live day to day by giving very little homework so that they have very little MARKING to do.
For every homework given, teachers have additional work to do cos we need to create the worksheet and mark it.
If parents want less homework, do let MOE know so that we have easier time cos we do not need to create and mark worksheets.
Parents fail to see the extra background work needed into teaching.
They still have the mentality that it's like the 'olden days' where teachers go home with the students and get fat paychecks plus pension.
Teachers now do not have pension. We are given annual leave but not allowed to use during term time unless something very serious happen (like death of someone). Is it fair to us? We are also human. We also have families, we also need to run our errands to keep our family going.
*Sorry if anyone is offended by my post cos I'm actually very upset with my school management and am deliberating on leaving the service. Reading such posts from parents just adds on to my 'push factor'.
Students now are tougher to manage but I still love my job because I love them. However, over-protective parents step in to interfere and make a mountain out of a molehill simply adds more stress to teachers and waste our time. Time which could be spent coaching weak students or creating better revision notes/practices for the kids.
Just to add on to your point above about giving less homework ... from what I understand from my colleagues in other schs, hard to 'escape' from not giving homework cuz its one of the factors, (as well as whether marking is done properly, corrections done and followed up as well) they (top/mid mgt) use to gauge for ranking of teachers. HODs also don't let such incidents slip by. This was also practiced in the sch that I was in too.
Agree with you on all other points.
I do hope you think carefully about your decision cuz from your previous posts, you come off as one helluva great teacher :celebrate:
It'll be a great loss to the service if you decide to leave. -
Thanks for your comments.
Think there are some who entered the teaching profession just to make a living.
These are some of my observations:
1. mistakes in the kids homework no spotted.
2. Untidy handwriting not highlighted.
3. Text not gone through in class but tested in exams.
4. Examples in the textbooks are not discussed or worked out in class.
5. Always organise Parents'Workshops to ask Mum/Dad to teach.
6. Pushing the teaching responsibilities back to Parents.
7. School unable to tackle students then put blame back to parents.
We send our kids to schools to study.... :lol: not to play iPhones :?
End up kids don't know this, don't know that.... we have to teach them until 12midnight...
Sleepy next morning..... Bosses not happy with us. Saturday, also need to coach them..... Reject bosses invitation to work overtime on Sat/Sun. How to survive in Singapore if teachers are not teaching? :stupid:
We suffer..... very chammm.. -
Donkey Kong:
Donkey Kong,Thanks for your comments.
Think there are some who entered the teaching profession just to make a living.
These are some of my observations:
1. mistakes in the kids homework no spotted.
2. Untidy handwriting not highlighted.
3. Text not gone through in class but tested in exams.
4. Examples in the textbooks are not discussed or worked out in class.
5. Always organise Parents'Workshops to ask Mum/Dad to teach.
6. Pushing the teaching responsibilities back to Parents.
7. School unable to tackle students then put blame back to parents.
We send our kids to schools to study.... :lol: not to play iPhones :?
End up kids don't know this, don't know that.... we have to teach them until 12midnight...
Sleepy next morning..... Bosses not happy with us. Saturday, also need to coach them..... Reject bosses invitation to work overtime on Sat/Sun. How to survive in Singapore if teachers are not teaching? :stupid:
We suffer..... very chammm..
Then why are your observations here??
Shouldn't they be taken up in your child's sch??? -
Feedback many times to school.
No use. They still like dat and we still suffer....
Everyone has role to play.. We work for our bosses and our bosses expect 150% commitment and loyalty. Unable to turn up for extras when bosses called you means........ Doom. Due to wat? Child's homework.
We put our kids in school, hope dear teachers will ensure they pass PSLE, express or normal, never mind. They organise talks to tell parents about Foundation programs for each subject.. Expect parents to follow up.
Teachers should guarantee all students pass exams.... have to motivate the students like Adam Khoo.
:celebrate:
Just like engineers guarantee all buildings are safe and sound. That is our simple wish. :celebrate:
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