It's not always abt the money.
Sometimes it is abt stability and purpose in life.

I don't see what's the problem with getting $7700 at 40. It's not rich for sure, but it is a stable income with every year more or less guaranteed 2-3 months bonus (even if hit ceiling cannot increase much in the future). This is more than enough for a family of 4 with HDB and Jap car.

The problem with many people here is lots of fantasy about earning big money, dreaming of living the high life and no concrete achievements. I don't think a SVP/MD of some international bank is going to hang around here to chit chat anyway.

at least ppl dare to dream with ambition, better than just living a sad life as a sandwich class forever

No problem with dreaming and being ambitious. But good to be realistic too.

Please post responsibly.

I think there are at least two ways that your salary could still go up. The government has been making salary adjustments to civil servants' pay once every few years. This could continue. You could also be promoted to senior teacher on the teaching track. This is to recognize that not all good teachers want to take up management / admin positions, and to reward teachers who have gained specialist or expert knowledge in their fields. But I suppose senior teachers will need to take on larger responsibilities, maybe mentor the younger teachers.

Many private sector jobs also max out one's pay by age 40. Or worse, get replaced by younger and/or cheaper staff esp during recession. I am in banking and have seen my peers being retrenched during the 2008 financial crisis. Few years later, their bank started aggressively re-hiring. It's like this. Easy come easy go. So it's depends on if u value stability when u hit 40 and beyond.

Actually it's more of the sector rather than just rank.

Mass banking sales- basic abt 3.5-3.8k mthly, commission abt 2k-3k mthly (averaged out)
Premier/Priorty banking sales- basic about 5k-5.8k mthly, commission abt 3k (averaged out)
Private banking sales- basic about 10k-12k mthly for AVP, about 15k-18k for VP. Annual bonus ranges quite widely.

Yes it's true that a AVP or AD can take back annual package of more than 200k. But this is more true for performers.

Above info is based on my current experience in banking sales (15yrs now). But it's not fulfilling in many ways. So everyone makes your own choices.

And btw, while I posted the above info, I must also tell u that there have been many colleagues who left throughout the years. Either due to burnt out, or asked to go due to poor sales. Some just go merry-go-round to various banks every few years. But one can no longer do such things easily. Clients are more savvy now and harder for RM to move them to new bank. Personally, I'm planning to move out of the industry...into teaching 😀

Back when I was in teaching,together with wife we make about $100k annually each. Yes there is nothing to shout about as some forummers here say but it was sufficient for us. We have one child,stay in a 3 rm HDB flat and drives a used 1.5L Jap car. Overseas travels were restricted mainly to Malaysia. At very most once every few years go HK. Personally I envy the top high flying bankers such as my secondary school classmates earning in excess of a million dollars annually but that is life I guess. Mediocre sandwiched life yes but teaching was fulfilling in certain ways. Life is short and fragile so we r quietly contented over the years.

(Teaching Bond

Tuition fees for all PGDE trainee teachers are fully paid by the Ministry of Education. While undergoing training at NIE, trainee teachers will receive a MONTHLY SALARY and year-end bonus.)



i saw this on MOE website for PGDE. may i know how much is the monthly salary that we will be receiving while undergoing PGDE training @ NTU / NIE? thanks.

I think u are your wife are very sensible! Your combined income is definitely not small either and yet u both are frugal which is good. Don't envy the bankers, did u ask them if they are happy? Do they have the time and/or energy to enjoy their 'riches'? Most of my peers and myself included are mentally stressed up such that even over weekend, we worry abt our targets and don't actually enjoy ourselves fully. Even on holidays. No perfect job in the world so good to know what makes u happy and contented.

Teacher need to work smart. You should learn to unlock your true value by giving tuition during weekends (to students whom do not come from your school). I was making in excess of 130k a year in my early 30s, through a combination of full time teaching and adhoc tuition. I do not compromise my quality for both cases, i just trade-off my personal entertainment time to earn that extra bucks at the same time helping weaker students to gain confidence and do better in their studies. have since switched to full-time tuition and making close to $200k pa. nothing close to bankers, but I am quite fine with it.

Just had my year work review done this week.
I am a female grad (1st class hons) and finished my PGDE in 2013, and the following are my performance grades.
Had an across the board promotion in 2015.

2013: GEO 1.1 : Perf Grade C
2014: GEO 1.1: Perf Grade B
2015: GEO 1A1: Perf Grade C+

Does anyone knows if these results are typical of a teacher? I haven't been asking around my peers or colleagues as these may be quite sensitive..

Average lor. C+ is average and its normal to have some years a bit lower or a bit higher, its ok if u just wanna teach, get a normal increase every year and retire as senior teacher.

If ur thinking of cheonging the management track like becoming subject or level head then you need to buck up.

1268
 

Grade C is supposed average for teachers if you don't screw up. It's also hard to go beyond C+ unless you are given some specific duties or high profile posts in the school. Its sad but teaching is seriously less valued than your performance in other areas (unless you come up with some teaching program that can be applied to every class rather than your own students). You need to volunteer for duties or aim to be in the CCA/Comms which are more highly valued (harder work but better rewards). From experience I have realised that if the principal values you highly, its easier to get a better grade. (although you still might have to take up position to earn it. Hey its better than taking up the position and still not being recognised right.)

In the past I had one motto for my teaching career. "MEME" Minimum effort Maximum Exposure. Sad but teaching is sometimes like the army. Super Wayang kind. If you look like you are doing alot (which you may or may not be doing), you get rewarded for it even if others might be doing more without being noticed. The whole performance grading is so subjective that I've given up thinking about it. Life is never fair and harping on it only makes one feel miserable. I teach because I like interacting and guiding students so I figured anything else is a bonus.

is it true that the perf grade of the year of promotion will usually be a C?

oh would that mean that i should aim for at least a B every year?

Has anyone been shortlisted for the PGDE interview (Oct/Nov interview slots) for secondary school yet?

If you are aiming to become HOD or VP in the future then you need consistent B- to B+ with the occasional A- performance.

Generally it is almost impossible to get this sort of rating unless you take up a lot of additional projects with increased visibility or have prominent nation wide achievements in building up some sort of CCA. In short, be prepared for lots of OT and weekend burns.

Teaching alone is probably going to get you mostly C/C+ with an occasional B- or B and that is only if you are really good.

Before you get all pumped up wanting to be superscale principal, I advise you to consider whether the long hours and playing politics are worth it. There are many people who burn countless weekends and midnights and all they could get in the end was just a subject head or HOD whose pay is only slightly higher than an experienced senior teacher.

Hi there. I applied in the same application window as you, and I hadn't hear anything yet. How about you?

Teaching so competitive one ah?

Nope, have not heard anything yet. Starting to get a bit worried as 20Nov is drawing near. All the best and hope we get called soon!

Actually in many sec Sachs, turnover is so high that almost every teacher who wants to be a SH can be one sooner or later

I am thinking of doing a mid career switch to teaching, but it sounds like some really tough job where almost anyone can get burnt out. Its strange because some of my friends seem to be enjoying every teaching day. But looking at the high turnover rate, it does make one worry abt making the switch, since its rather hard to "switch out" after fulfilling the bond.

GEO scale for degree holders
 

Hi guys, I have just received the letter of contract from MOE for an untrained teaching stint for Music(Pri) before I go into NIE. However, I am placed on the GEO 2 scale. As I understand, shouldn't degree holders be on the GEO 1 scale? Or are all untrained teachers placed on GEO 2 by default before they go NIE?

just no molest students will do

GEO2 to GEO1
 

hey. Same here.
How come degree holder will be place in GEO 1?
If have been place in GEO2, is there any chance to become GEO 1 after training?

Lol, you made a mistake. The salary scale, which was implemented in Oct, is in an ascending order. So GEO 1 > GEO 2 > GEO 3 etc. Diploma holders and non-recognized degree holders are recruited as GEO 1.

If you're a degree holder, you'll be recruited as GEO 2 (Untrained). After you complete your NIE training, you will be GEO 2 and your pay will be slightly raised.

But this is what I found on MOE website
"You will receive a monthly salary while undergoing NIE training. Your tuition fee at NIE will be fully borne by MOE. Upon successful completion of NIE training, you will be deployed to teach in our schools to serve a 3-year teaching bond (for Dip Ed-trained candidates). The salaries for GEO 2 officers are as follows:" Hmmm it seems that GEO 1 is for degree holder.

And also, I don't see anyone here applying for math/physics/Chem/bio(Sec). Not even in other forums. I guess it's true that they don't have vacancy in sec for math/sci. And hence either no one apply or no one was shortlisted for interview

LOL, you copied and pasted outdated info. This is the more recent one la:

://.moe.gov.sg/careers/teach/career-info/salary/geo/

In the past degree holders are on GEO 1 while the rest are on GEO 2. Now MOE has merged the two tracks.

Don't believe, your problem lor.

Due to the cut in teacher recruitment numbers, are there going to be less places for graduates?

561
 

Nope, it depends on teaching subjects. PE, art & music (at primary level), and humanities subjects always require more teachers.

Hi all,

I'm so happy to have found this thread.

I've been in IT line for the past decade. I have some questions about switching to teaching as a career. Hope you guys can shed some light.

1) What are the challenges usually faced by teachers?
2) What motivates the teachers to push on?
3) I have very little teaching experience. Will MOE even consider me?
4) How do teachers plan their holiday? Any difference from 9-6 jobs?

TQ so much!!

Kevin

Challenges faced by teachers:
- High workload especially in your beginning years it takes time to gain competency.
- Probably will spend many weekends lesson planning in the first few years.
- That's why they have a three year bond.

Motivation:
- Your desire to help students succeed, and the joy of seeing them progress (esp. if bad kids turn good).

Teaching experience:
- Yes. But now it is more competitive to enter because of the lower recruitment numbers.
- You should be comfortable with public speaking and be ready to simulate teaching in front of the interviewers.
- Most likely you will be offered contract teaching for both MOE and yourself to gauge your suitability for teaching before entering NIE.

Holiday:
- Every school has its own policy, but about half of each holiday period tends to be protected time. In this sense, the number of days on leave per year is pretty high compared to the wider civil service.
- Downside is you can't choose when to take leave. Leave during school term is a nono. Tickets tend to be more expensive during school holidays too.

After the Interview
 

Anyone went for PGDE interview in November and still waiting for response?
The status at careers@gov is still "In Process". What's going on? I thought there will be a response whether we are offered or not?

Does MOE update the status at careers@gov?

I tried clicking on the link from moe webpage to apply for a teaching post. It did not load properly. I then googled for the page and was directed to a jobsdb page, which showed no open position!!

I also chanced upon this page.
Ministry of Education, Singapore: Teaching as a Career

Does it mean that we can only apply during the 3 application windows?

From what I've read, you can apply any time, but it will be processed in the next application window.

what is the annual increment for moe teacher like? isit same as pte sector like 8-9% every year????