I was the guy who answered you previously. My short answer to your question - it depends on the school which you are posted, and the Principal. There are different tiers of scholarships - PSC (Teaching), Education Merit Service (EMS), Teaching Scholarship (Overseas & Local) and lastly Teaching Award. For PSC and EMS scholars, their career paths are centrally planned. So after 2 years in a school, they will be posted to HQ. Their progression is naturally faster because they are groomed to be future Principals.

For the remaining scholars, their career paths are not planned. So it really depends on the Principal. For example, I know a few local scholars who had Distinction in Practicum and also received awards while in NIE, they were given more prominent tasks when they were Beginning Teachers. One is already a SH just after 3 years, which is really fast. In their cases, it is because the Principal chose to groom them. But for most local scholars and awardees, unless you perform brilliantly, you will be like the average teacher. I was posted to a school where my peers were EMS/overseas scholars. They were placed in prominent positions e.g greater contact with School Leaders. I was lucky that my HOD allocated me a major task, so I didn't really lose out in terms of ranking. However, to be honest I'm glad I've more free time to focus on teaching instead of event planning etc. At the same time, I often wonder if I should expore alternatives when I'm young (thats why I'm in this forum). Many young teachers think like that hahah.

Oh one impt reason for why teachers study - they are tired of teaching/students/colleagues. It's a good mental break. Teaching is actually a very exhaustive job...