Another Callous Wee Shu Min?

makapaaa · May 21, 2010

May 21, 2010

A teaching life or a teacher's lot?

Stressful yes, but not unusual as jobs go



I FIND Ms Aishah Quek's diary of a teacher's day last Saturday ('Work-life balance? Here's one day in the life of a teacher') misleading in detailing the lack of a work-life balance for her husband, a teacher.
Using the same diary format as Ms Quek, I would like to explain why.

5am to 6am: Wake up and prepare for school. A lot of people, including students, take only half an hour to prepare for school or work.

Leave for school at 6am and arrive at 7am. If he needs to take one hour to reach school, Ms Quek's husband should ask for a transfer to a school nearer home.

7am to 7.30am: The 'guard duty' he does is usually done by parent volunteers or rotated among teachers, so it is not a daily affair.

7.30am to 1pm: Regular teaching. Teachers do not teach from 7.30am to 1pm at a stretch. They have one or two free periods in between each day.

1 pm to 3.30pm: Prepare for and conduct remedial lessons. Again, this is not an everyday affair as different subject teachers will take turns to conduct remedial lessons.

3.30pm to 5.30 pm: Take charge of co-curricular activities. Again this is usually only once a week for primary schools. For secondary schools, these are usually done by outside coaches or student leaders.

5.30 pm to 6.30pm: Key in remarks on students for mid-term report book. This is required only twice a year, during mid-term and year-end.

6.45 to 7.45pm: Travel home. He should request to teach in a school nearer home to cut travelling time.

8.30pm to 1am: Marking books, worksheets and the like. Most homework is marked by students who exchange books and worksheets, with the teacher going through the answers during class time.
An exception is for examination papers and compositions, which are marked by teachers. These are usually marked in school during the teachers' free periods. The daily routine listed by the writer did not include lunch breaks.
While a teacher's job is stressful, so are other jobs. Having to work long hours is the norm for all jobs now. At least the workload of a teacher's job is seasonal and there are times when they can relax a little, for example, during the long mid-year and year-end holidays.
So teachers, cheer up, you are not alone, all other jobs are stressful and requires us to work long hours as well.
Tan Lee Hwang (Ms)

makapaaa · May 21, 2010

May 21, 2010

Care for them if we truly care about education



WITH reference to Ms Aishah Quek's letter last Saturday ('Work-life balance? Here's one day in the life of a teacher'), the Ministry of Education (MOE) should take a hard look at what is happening in schools.
In particular, MOE should examine how overzealous principals and management are in exerting undue pressure on the average teacher.
The typical workday routine as related by Ms Aishah is sadly true although individual cases may differ.
Teachers who are likely to deny this problem exists belong to two categories.
The first are young and ambitious teachers or heads of department who are being fast-tracked for promotion to principal.
The second group comprises the middle-aged or senior teachers who are hoping to bite the bullet and just make it to the next grade so that they can increase their income and pay for their children's education and clear their mortgage before retiring.
Those who can quit are usually young and mobile without any financial commitments.
Teachers who leave commonly cite the sheer volume of paper work, including marking, and additional non-teaching responsibilities. Typical responses from principals and school management include 'learn to work smart' or 'make time for family'.
But they do not apply to the average teacher who must cope with the volume of marking for which there is no 'work smart' solution - unless the teacher resorts to unethical methods like making students mark each other's work or marking in class instead of supervising the students.
I once raised the issue of an overworked young teacher to a principal only to be told that he was not working smart.
If we really believe in helping teachers achieve a balance, we must acknowledge their unrealistic workload.
We must reduce the obsession with continual assessments and trying to complete the syllabus far ahead of schedule.
Most teachers, like most civil servants, do not discuss their problems for fear of punishment or negative consequences to their career prospects.
If we truly value our children's education, we should start by taking good care of our teachers and their needs.
James Suresh

xebay11 · May 21, 2010

makapaaa said:
May 21, 2010

A teaching life or a teacher's lot?

Stressful yes, but not unusual as jobs go



I FIND Ms Aishah Quek's diary of a teacher's day last Saturday ('Work-life balance? Here's one day in the life of a teacher') misleading in detailing the lack of a work-life balance for her husband, a teacher.
Using the same diary format as Ms Quek, I would like to explain why.

5am to 6am: Wake up and prepare for school. A lot of people, including students, take only half an hour to prepare for school or work.

Leave for school at 6am and arrive at 7am. If he needs to take one hour to reach school, Ms Quek's husband should ask for a transfer to a school nearer home.

7am to 7.30am: The 'guard duty' he does is usually done by parent volunteers or rotated among teachers, so it is not a daily affair.

7.30am to 1pm: Regular teaching. Teachers do not teach from 7.30am to 1pm at a stretch. They have one or two free periods in between each day.

1 pm to 3.30pm: Prepare for and conduct remedial lessons. Again, this is not an everyday affair as different subject teachers will take turns to conduct remedial lessons.

3.30pm to 5.30 pm: Take charge of co-curricular activities. Again this is usually only once a week for primary schools. For secondary schools, these are usually done by outside coaches or student leaders.

5.30 pm to 6.30pm: Key in remarks on students for mid-term report book. This is required only twice a year, during mid-term and year-end.

6.45 to 7.45pm: Travel home. He should request to teach in a school nearer home to cut travelling time.

8.30pm to 1am: Marking books, worksheets and the like. Most homework is marked by students who exchange books and worksheets, with the teacher going through the answers during class time.
An exception is for examination papers and compositions, which are marked by teachers. These are usually marked in school during the teachers' free periods. The daily routine listed by the writer did not include lunch breaks.
While a teacher's job is stressful, so are other jobs. Having to work long hours is the norm for all jobs now. At least the workload of a teacher's job is seasonal and there are times when they can relax a little, for example, during the long mid-year and year-end holidays.
So teachers, cheer up, you are not alone, all other jobs are stressful and requires us to work long hours as well.
Tan Lee Hwang (Ms)

Actually true. But for civil service jobs, teaching is one of the most stressful, but that means all other civil service jobs are really slack.

cocobobo · May 21, 2010

i think a breakdown of IMH treatments by profession would put this doubt to rest.

xebay11 · May 22, 2010

If you notice, many of the 2010 Ms Singapore participants are teachers, meaning they have lots of free time, as they need to go for many briefings and rehearsals etc. etc.

xebay11 · May 22, 2010

cocobobo said:
i think a breakdown of IMH treatments by profession would put this doubt to rest.

Not really, many teachers thought that this being a "govt job" expected an easy job, so while the job turned out stressful they freak out. I am not saying teaching is not stressfull, but many coporate world jobs are equally or even more stressfull, in terms of work and responsibility.

myo539 · May 22, 2010

xebay11 said:
Not really, many teachers thought that this being a "govt job" expected an easy job, so while the job turned out stressful they freak out. I am not saying teaching is not stressfull, but many coporate world jobs are equally or even more stressfull, in terms of work and responsibility.

People working in banks, hospitals, shops & offices come home empty-handed - or with shopping bags. Teachers come home with their pupil's exercise books to mark.

And then they have to prepare for next day's work. No wonder so many of them remain unmarried! Or if they are married, they soon leave the profession.

It's good to compare their workload with that of other countries eg China, Japan, Australia and Britain. Any great differences?

redlightmeansgo · May 22, 2010

teachers in thailand get paid a couple of hundreds, even very senior ones, and I doubt the principal gets more than $2000, at best.

But then again, they dun have to contend with the rubbish that pervades the system here: GCE, CCA, Ranking, come on bring on all the fucking acronyms :oIo:

xebay11 · May 22, 2010

myo539 said:
People working in banks, hospitals, shops & offices come home empty-handed - or with shopping bags. Teachers come home with their pupil's exercise books to mark.

Huh which bank are you working at? Most bankers, engineers and office workers come home with their lap tops and BB duh?

boring · May 22, 2010

redlightmeansgo said:
teachers in thailand get paid a couple of hundreds, even very senior ones, and I doubt the principal gets more than $2000, at best.

But then again, they dun have to contend with the rubbish that pervades the system here: GCE, CCA, Ranking, come on bring on all the fucking acronyms :oIo:

u r right. in tis shit place that r always a lot of unnecessary rubbish to add on to the core duty. knn, fuck the branding system!!!

cleareyes · May 22, 2010

After reading this letter, I realised that many people do not know enough about teachers or, do not know enough teachers from different schools. In general, every school and every teacher has their own set of problems, some better, others worse. But yet, i found this writer making things way too easy and does not seem to understand the scheme of many things.

Lets do a breakdown

makapaaa said:
5am to 6am: Wake up and prepare for school. A lot of people, including students, take only half an hour to prepare for school or work.

Its true that individually, one just need around half an hour to prepare oneself everyday before stepping out to work. But we are now talking about a responsible father. he is not just preparing himself for work, he has to prepare his kids too for school.

The writer obviously did not see this or had ignored this possible fact.

makapaaa said:
Leave for school at 6am and arrive at 7am. If he needs to take one hour to reach school, Ms Quek's husband should ask for a transfer to a school nearer home.

Even if the husband can get a transfer to a school nearer to their home, it does not mean there would be a cut down on travelling time to and from school distance. The original writer did not state whether the school is near the home or not, but assuming they are close by, are people aware that morning peak hour jam in Jurong west can cause traffic travelling to stretch to almost an hour for a trip which usually be just 15 minutes?

makapaaa said:
7am to 7.30am: The 'guard duty' he does is usually done by parent volunteers or rotated among teachers, so it is not a daily affair.

Not every school has enough parent volunteers. and if this male teacher is the DM, I dun think his post could be just taken over by any teacher.

makapaaa said:
7.30am to 1pm: Regular teaching. Teachers do not teach from 7.30am to 1pm at a stretch. They have one or two free periods in between each day.

The writer obviously have not done any teaching or know no one who is a teacher. Even if there are free periods, how much rest can a teacher get? 30 mins for talking non-stop for 2 hours is not much of a rest considering the mental enegry that has been burned out.

makapaaa said:
1 pm to 3.30pm: Prepare for and conduct remedial lessons. Again, this is not an everyday affair as different subject teachers will take turns to conduct remedial lessons.

makapaaa said:
3.30pm to 5.30 pm: Take charge of co-curricular activities. Again this is usually only once a week for primary schools. For secondary schools, these are usually done by outside coaches or student leaders.

I think we can put CCA and remedial lessons togather.. Its possible that you might not have the same thing everyday after regular school hours. But its happening everyday that you have something to fill in for at least 2 hours after regular school hours and at times, teachers dont even have tiime for lunch.

and not every school have the resources to get outside coaches.

A responsible teacher will never allow a student leader to take over what is suppose to be done by a teacher.

makapaaa said:
5.30 pm to 6.30pm: Key in remarks on students for mid-term report book. This is required only twice a year, during mid-term and year-end.

True, this part is only done 2 to 4 or some schools, 6 times a year. But I have come across a few rare schools that has CAs every month. How do you think those teacher will feel when they saw the above remark?

makapaaa said:
6.45 to 7.45pm: Travel home. He should request to teach in a school nearer home to cut travelling time.

Again, refering to the comment above, This time, in reverse if the evening peak hour jam is a killer of that area.

makapaaa said:
8.30pm to 1am: Marking books, worksheets and the like. Most homework is marked by students who exchange books and worksheets, with the teacher going through the answers during class time.

I do not think a responsible teacher would do what this Ms Tan have suggested.

makapaaa said:
An exception is for examination papers and compositions, which are marked by teachers. These are usually marked in school during the teachers' free periods. The daily routine listed by the writer did not include lunch breaks.

Try marking 40 sets of essays every week for one single class. A teacher usually would teach up to 3 classes. So 40 x 3 = 120. Try marking 120 sets of essays and worksheets and correcting every grammar and spelling and vobal mistakes.

The horror is unspeakable.

makapaaa said:
While a teacher's job is stressful, so are other jobs. Having to work long hours is the norm for all jobs now. At least the workload of a teacher's job is seasonal and there are times when they can relax a little, for example, during the long mid-year and year-end holidays.
So teachers, cheer up, you are not alone, all other jobs are stressful and requires us to work long hours as well.
Tan Lee Hwang (Ms)

So Ms Tan, would you like to be a teacher and see if you could cope with the same level of stress as you have dissed off? I do not think so. Teachers do not get as much leave as alot of people think they do. The job itself is not an easy job and the amount of rest time that they have are something alot of us would not able to get.

Some people are just another frog in the well.

UltimaOnline · May 22, 2010

UltimaOnline · May 22, 2010

Amongst the many insightful posts in the 55+ pages of comments, here is one that is particularly revealing :

Lanlan on May 17, 2010 at 9:48 am

I used to know 2 guys, one’s a lawyer and the other a banker. Both complained of hectic work life in the private sector, joined teaching eventually, wanted to do something meaningful in life and for a ‘more relaxed’ job. Both however quit teaching in less than 3 years, citing that working in private sector is much less stressful than teaching in Singapore.

saratogas · May 22, 2010

Care for them if we truly care about education
don't pay them well, they teach wrong thing. Example: gahment don't take care of us...

Received_by_Kings · May 22, 2010

xebay11 said:
If you notice, many of the 2010 Ms Singapore participants are teachers, meaning they have lots of free time, as they need to go for many briefings and rehearsals etc. etc.

Not really. From the way I see it it looks like they also have dreams like everyone else. They are just hoping to find their one lucky break and be free from the working world or maybe the stresses of their occupations. There's no harm trying really.

First Singapore, the the Universe. Right ladies?

Received_by_Kings · May 22, 2010

UltimaOnline said:
Amongst the many insightful posts in the 55+ pages of comments, here is one that is particularly revealing :

Lanlan on May 17, 2010 at 9:48 am

I used to know 2 guys, one’s a lawyer and the other a banker. Both complained of hectic work life in the private sector, joined teaching eventually, wanted to do something meaningful in life and for a ‘more relaxed’ job. Both however quit teaching in less than 3 years, citing that working in private sector is much less stressful than teaching in Singapore.

Goes to show it ain't easy teaching in Singapore schools, with the kids of today getting more and more naughty, complicated and defiant with parents refusing to assume any role or responsibility in their upbringing.

Received_by_Kings · May 22, 2010

Now come to think of it I feel a bit bad for I was actually also quite rebellious towards some of them in my younger days. Primarily because I hated my school, the system and what they did to me.

Another Callous Wee Shu Min?

makapaaa

Alfrescian (Inf)

makapaaa

Alfrescian (Inf)

xebay11

Alfrescian

cocobobo

Alfrescian

xebay11

Alfrescian

xebay11

Alfrescian

myo539

Alfrescian

redlightmeansgo

Guest

xebay11

Alfrescian

boring

Alfrescian

cleareyes

Alfrescian

UltimaOnline

Alfrescian (InfP)

UltimaOnline

Alfrescian (InfP)

saratogas

Alfrescian

Received_by_Kings

Alfrescian

Received_by_Kings

Alfrescian

Received_by_Kings

Alfrescian

Similar threads