Bad Teachers

[senseimichael]

TheAnswer:

How do you strike a balance between work and family if working till 11pm is common? Never burnout? How about weekends?

That is why I left. I must say, though, that the MOE of today is different from the one I left in 2002. Teachers teach less periods, and there are more support for them with their work. However, some things, like the tons of never-ending marking, never seem to change.

[janet88]

Marking is a teacher’s worst headache…1 class of 40 x number of classes x diff level. Yet there are some teachers who can still moonlight.

[senseimichael]

janet_lee88:

Marking is a teacher's worst headache...1 class of 40 x number of classes x diff level. Yet there are some teachers who can still moonlight.

You shall always find time for what is important. For some teachers, the tuition is not for the money, but for the satisfaction of having a bunch of children you can truly teach, instead of having to \"deliver a syllabus\".

[osim]

One thing I cannot reconcile is how come teachers are allowed to moonlight as private tutors? When they don’t get enough rest, how can they do their job well? I also hear them complaining being overworked by MOE, so how do they have time to give tuition.


When I was working, if I had to do work at home, it’s work from the company that employed me. Sometimes, I would spend time to read up info to learn and enhance my work proficiency and all these extra time spent was for my actual work , not some moonlighting work.

I think MOE must explicitly disallow teachers from padding their pockets at the expense of giving the children the best in their teaching job.

[Mdm Koh]

senseimichael:

TheAnswer:

How do you strike a balance between work and family if working till 11pm is common? Never burnout? How about weekends?

That is why I left. I must say, though, that the MOE of today is different from the one I left in 2002. Teachers teach less periods, and there are more support for them with their work. However, some things, like the tons of never-ending marking, never seem to change.

I don't think it's about the marking... It's about how all the work piles up, so much so that the teacher is not just a teacher, but he or she also has to be responsible for many different non-teaching tasks.

Teachers moonlight for various reasons. Some of them want to make more money so that they can lead more comfortable lives. Others want to try out tuition or other part-time jobs, because they want to have something to fall back on should they decide to throw in the towel.

[Mdm Koh]

osim:

One thing I cannot reconcile is how come teachers are allowed to moonlight as private tutors? When they don't get enough rest, how can they do their job well? I also hear them complaining being overworked by MOE, so how do they have time to give tuition.


When I was working, if I had to do work at home, it's work from the company that employed me. Sometimes, I would spend time to read up info to learn and enhance my work proficiency and all these extra time spent was for my actual work , not some moonlighting work.

I think MOE must explicitly disallow teachers from padding their pockets at the expense of giving the children the best in their teaching job.

But it can also be argued that teaching tuition helps teachers to hone their skills in the subjects? I think one reason could be that MOE doesn't recognise that being a tutor is a \"real job\". Because tutors are not working for companies and most don't register themselves as owners of a tuition business. Teachers are explicitly disallowed from owning businesses or working for other employers.

[senseimichael]

osim:

One thing I cannot reconcile is how come teachers are allowed to moonlight as private tutors? When they don't get enough rest, how can they do their job well? I also hear them complaining being overworked by MOE, so how do they have time to give tuition.

Trust me, osim, those overworked teachers have no time to moonlight as private tutors! Many who do so are either ready to throw in the towel (and so preparing themselves to be full-time tutors) or else are seriously wanting to do \"real teaching\" of students who are really interested to learn, for once.
[quote]Sometimes, I would spend time to read up info to learn and enhance my work proficiency and all these extra time spent was for my actual work , not some moonlighting work.[/quote]Uh...the tuition actually enhances work proficiency, as they are further exposure to different students. Many of these students are more ready to learn than those some of the teachers faced.
[quote]I think MOE must explicitly disallow teachers from padding their pockets at the expense of giving the children the best in their teaching job.[/quote]The day MOE is prepared to be lynched by kiasu parents who want teachers to tutor their children, sure, they will do that.

[osim]

Sorry I beg to differ that teacher giving tuition will help them to teach better. I learned that in NZ, the teachers spent much of their time finding what is the best way to teach the studuents in school, they do research and share their findings with their colleagues. Here in Singapore, the teacher are more into delivering the curriculum dictated by MOE.


How would doing more of the same thing by giving tuition help to better a teacher's skills? You become better only by learning new methods, spend time to reflect on what has been done right or not so right in the class. At the end of the day, the teacher has to better their skill in teaching a CLASS, so how does being proficient in teaching ONE can help? I think that is not a good excuse.

I see the big cars the teachers are driving to school these days, I think they are not doing badly .

[Mdm Koh]

Well, like sensei michael has pointed out, if there's no demand there'll be no supply!

[senseimichael]

osim:

I see the big cars the teachers are driving to school these days, I think they are not doing badly .

How many of these cars belong to their husbands, or are paid by them? I certainly did not get the chance to drive big cars when I was in MOE!