Career as Teacher

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just a minor correction here - plenty of non-MOE staff get arrowed to do election duties.

And many from other ministries also successfully siam

During polling day, half the POs were teachers. But teachers don't make up half of public service.

Furthermore last year held polling day on day for teachers' day luncheons/dinners

Totally cannot siam.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hmm… do you have stats, or is this just based on deduction? (I don't know the answer myself, just wanted to know if this is confirmed.)

On their own, I feel the above two reasons aren't particularly strong reasons to activate teachers in particular:
1) Officers tend to be assigned to polling stations near their registered address (regardless of where they work); there's no real need to activate more teachers just because schools are election venues.

2) Polling Day is a public holiday; there's no real advantage to activating teachers over other officers.

I will admit that I feel I've seen many teachers deployed as election officers; but this has been anecdotal on my part. Is there anything that confirms this observation?

Simple reason. Teachers have no annual leave.

Cannot make plans to travel overseas on a weekday.

Polling days are usually on Fridays.

Other than those on maternity leave, teachers also cannot use excuses such as they are on essential government duties, on standby etc to escape from election duties.

On paper, the original duty list reflects a good representation of officers from various ministries.

Have went through many polling days where actual day turnout of officers, is totally different from the original duty list.

There are also many officers activated at the very last minute, a couple I met were activated two days before polling day. They had not attended any training nor were they even on the original reserve list. They were the reserves of the reserves of the reserves (no mistake here).

The original rostered officers and reserves all keng and siamed election duty. Eld had to go down the list to find other officers, who also last minute keng.

Some poor fellow who is available, will kena the last minute arrows

And a lot of such people, are teachers.

Don't believe? Go and do election duty, go and ask around.

anyone can confirm if fhq email invitation has been sent out?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

anyone can confirm if fhq email invitation has been sent out?

can confirm. sent out last dec

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Because the toxic work culture in MOE is built upon a warped appraisal system.

If you ask officers from other ministries, their appraisal is mainly based on their core work. For example, economists mainly spend their time on analyzing economic trends, engineers mainly focus on technical operations, policy planners focusing on planning work. Maybe contribute a bit in committee work, like organising annual staff dinner or departmental outings.

Otherwise got professional officers to handle corporate roles.

Meanwhile school officers wear too many additional hats, to the point that emphasis in teaching is outshone.

Epms becomes a list of what additional stuff an officer has done.

Double hatting as:
procurement officers (handles sourcing, AORS, quotes, raising gebiz, evaluate tenders, awarding tenders)
Coach (certain sports and clubs, the teachers are the main instructors)
Counsellor to student (teacher counsellor)
Counsellor to colleagues (wellness ambassador)
Communications (need to produce school publications, manage school websites, handle school social media accounts)
Researchers (need to plan and conduct education research)
AV support (need to do AV duties for small events such as school meetings, to large events such as school celebrations)
Tech support (administrator to perform reset of various student accounts)
Secondment (arrowed to do seab exam duty, eld election duty)
First aider (expected to deliver first aid in event of emergency)

No such nonsense in other govt roles.

Manpower is sufficient if teachers are expected to focus mainly on teaching and appraised accordingly.

Manpower will always be insufficient if teachers are piled on more and more non-core work, work that makes the school and SLs look good, at the expense of officers' health and family time.

This is one of the most insightful posts I have seen in a while

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This is one of the most insightful posts I have seen in a while

Well, ever considered managing marking load by assigning minimal homework, and asking students to self-mark their work by going through in class. This can reduce the amount of take-home work teachers need to do.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Well, ever considered managing marking load by assigning minimal homework, and asking students to self-mark their work by going through in class. This can reduce the amount of take-home work teachers need to do.

Some students.. actually, many students, would still require teachers to continually scrutinise the accuracy of the self-marking and also to provide customised feedback on each student's learning after the self-marking.

If you've ever done file checks or book checks, whether as a teacher of the class, or as the RO/IP HOD of that teacher, you'll know exactly why the marking load never really goes away. Sure, teachers may go through fewer red pens, but the work is still there. And for good reason: students need time to grow into competent self-directed learners. During this process, and until the student reaches a high level of SDL competence, teachers are still important in providing close guidance.

What is the typical FLP timeline? Anyone can share roughly when these individuals are contacted to join?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi again, I’m the one who replied going for FLP. You may not have realized it yet, but the FLP is a 10-year programme. That’s the runway and timespan the Ministry is prepared to groom you to become a leader in Education. The course itself is 2 weeks long, which you will be officially excused from school. Post-course, you will be given the relevant opportunities throughout your career for exposure to different parts of MOE (e.g., HQ posting, staffing of POH’s visits, etc) as well as the Civil Service at large. You will also receive an allowance annually during your time in FLP. This is to account for the additional stretch portfolio you will be given.

I am assuming that you are currently still a relatively young EO in service, who has clearly shown a lot of potential to be a future leader. I will strongly suggest that you speak with your school Principal to find out more about the programme. As this is a very rare opportunity only given to a very selected small group each year, most of your colleagues in school would not know or even heard of FLP.

Hope this helps! And all the best!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

What is the typical FLP timeline? Anyone can share roughly when these individuals are contacted to join?

Some scholars are emplaced immediately upon entry to trained service. Others will be notified typically at the turn of the financial year, i.e. April.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hmm… do you have stats, or is this just based on deduction? (I don't know the answer myself, just wanted to know if this is confirmed.)

On their own, I feel the above two reasons aren't particularly strong reasons to activate teachers in particular:
1) Officers tend to be assigned to polling stations near their registered address (regardless of where they work); there's no real need to activate more teachers just because schools are election venues.

2) Polling Day is a public holiday; there's no real advantage to activating teachers over other officers.

I will admit that I feel I've seen many teachers deployed as election officers; but this has been anecdotal on my part. Is there anything that confirms this observation?

Not the original poster but anecdotally, I've done 3 elections and each time, three quarters or more of my polling station would be staffed by teachers.