Yes, zero emotional intelligence. In my school, Eat with Family Day is not even mentioned nor enacted. In fact, we have monthly staff bonding day where we are forced to attend no matter how busy we are. If we can't attend, we have to email the SLs with valid reasons, attendance is tracked. What a painful staff bonding this has become. And monthly, really? We don't even enjoy them. We tried to voice this out, only to get the SLs retorted we should instead be appreciative to get this opportunity arranged for us to step away from work and spend 3 hours bonding. Thing is, the amount of work remains and deadlines don't move, they don't vanish. So we are expected to manage our time, as though we haven't been doing that. In this sense, we lost 3 hours of sleep in order to catch up with work. SLs even bragged about how we are all so well taken care of. And if I recall correctly, isn't there supposed to be a semesterly focus day, a whitespace? It seems like this too has been taken away.

Not so easy life for the FAJTs in my school. Their timetable is so packed with lessons and duties and on top of that they have to do relief. Last year an FAJT went to P to complain but nothing's changed. Turnover of FAJTs is also quite high.

As a system, nobody is brave enough to cut work. We are cutting headcount like crazy, but we are too scared to slaughter any of our sacred cows. Everything is a sacred cow and everything is tied for No. 1 on the priority list. There is no political will or management will to de-prioritise anything. Too bad for us, I guess. We want to do more and more and more, yet we have less and less and less resources as the years go on.

If many teachers under this HOD genuinely felt squeezed and used - I think the SL would take note- especially if some suggested in the feedback of wanting to raise to emcare :)

Talking about cutting headcount, is this due to smaller enrolment now? So the powers that be up the number of programmes and initiatives? We were told that in 2024, after school programmes will increase even more. The more FAJTs in the department, the more teachers have to do multiple programmes since the FAJTs leave at dismissal.

When is the next climate survey for schools? The ones conducted yearly within the school is useless because it requires login with email and we get called for coffee for unfavourable responses and may end up with more work.

Lazy to quote all the posts above...so just giving a general response based on personal observations.

The aggressive cutting of headcount is not only by drastically reducing recruitment, but also by "enticing" or "forcing" people to leave. Extremely competitive requirements for fresh grads to be shortlisted and chosen...hence in a way packaging the career to be a "golden" or "hard-to-get" opportunity. Pushing people out with overwhelming workload and "encouraging lifelong learning" with external work attachments - hence encouraging current officers to do a career switch.

Why do all these? A guess would be to get rid of the top-heavy officers at the salary ceilings or management level. Another aggressive ongoing method is to drag out the career pathways of younger officers with slow promotions through a variety of means - "grooming" for a few years before being allowed an official appointment, or "need to wait/queue for your turn".

Will KPs or SLs try to manage headcount within the school? The above mentioned points about headcount is already affecting all schools, hence it is more of a policy issue. This means that at the school level, even the hands of higher management are probably tied. Their temporary solution would be to try and hire FAJT or RT, but there is still a limit. Many schools have already hit the quota of 10 for the whole school.

Some of us have probably only witnessed changes when the situation gets extreme. Some HOD or SL will only start panicking when many people of the same department mass quit or leave. Even this emcare feedback may not work since it just gets rerouted back to higher management. It is probably more for parents' usage (i.e. complaints). So the only thing emcare does is to expose your complaint more clearly to the KPs and SLs, and depending on how your school culture is like, you may or may not be " blacklisted" somehow.

Observations of temporary stop gap measures by some schools:
1. Merge 2 challenging/low ability/chaotic classes into 1 - reduce requirement for 1 officer. Rinse and repeat across all levels. Even class sizes of near 50 for an immensely challenging group is not unheard of.
2. Long term relief by current dept officers, but not by a fixed person - meaning, for that particular lesson, there is always a different teacher coming in to teach ("spread out teaching load")
3. Last min search and ask for FAJT or RT and plonk that person to plug all gaps. By the way, not all SLs like FAJTs...for various reasons which are better left undisclosed.

Again, these are just personal observations and info gathered from others. Some may concur, some may object...but as to whether the situation is really favorable (especially for the current young officers), I think the question is rather rhetorical.

I'm intrigued by this "deterministic algorithm". Can someone please shed some light on what this algorithm about?

I was promoted to GEO3 immediately upon completion of PGDE. I understand this is a central decision by HR, taking into account my previous work experience (>10 years).

1. To begin teaching in a school at GEO3, does that mean I am on a "fast-track"?
2. How long will it likely take for me to be promoted to GEO4?
3. Will the promotion now depend on my work performance (ranking), or again decided by HR based on my previous work experience?

What's the point of whining about it here? Did you do anything to raise it to your SL? You say you want MOE HR to do something about it but you never do anything. If your SL indeed stressed no contact then share that one of their HoDs ignored their directive.

What do you expect to be done when it's some random person posting this online. If you really think that this is something that's truly important then put your name to it and dare to stand up for something that you believe in. Don't be just a keyboard warrior and complain about something when you don't even do any

I had stopped doing all these climate survey all these years. The SLs know who wrote what. Some SLs publicly quoted the comments during staff meetings and stared at the direction of the trs who wrote comments. Those internal survey also better not do. Some KPs made use of those comments and played politics against capable and hardworking KPs. I had seen good teachers misunderstanding their heads and got "distracted" from what a good teacher should focus on. The culture becomes toxic and the school is like a palace fight. Of course, QSE and academic results are either inconsistent or stagnant.. nothing much value addedness to the students. Discipline love love love but i feel it had gone to spoiling the students

All these ugly stances, feedback to SLs and ask for fairness also no use. The SLs just continue to side these KPs who continue to win moe awards and exploit Eat With Family Day, bragging how much she would "do" and "engage" the team. Promises that are fleeting. Just give the teachers the peace to be fully present with own family or own peace for that few occasions. Are all these so difficult? Maybe MOE HRs should put care and concern as HODs and SLs KRAs, not innovation. These leaders are only concerned about their own career progression. Selfish.

Nothing would be known if no one tried. Too many Singaporeans just whine and expect things to magically happen. Like teachers who complain that they are doing too much work to fellow teachersbut then when the KP ask for discussion on workload end up being humji and say that things are ok

I had stopped doing all these climate survey all these years. The SLs know who wrote what. Some SLs publicly quoted the comments during staff meetings and stared at the direction of the trs who wrote comments. Those internal survey also better not do. Some KPs made use of those comments and played politics against capable and hardworking KPs. I had seen good teachers misunderstanding their heads and got "distracted" from what a good teacher should focus on. The culture becomes toxic and the school is like a palace fight. Of course, QSE and academic results are either inconsistent or stagnant.. nothing much value addedness to the students. Discipline love love love but i feel it had gone to spoiling the students

All these ugly stances, feedback to SLs and ask for fairness also no use. The SLs just continue to side these KPs who continue to win moe awards and exploit Eat With Family Day, bragging how much she would "do" and "engage" the team. Promises that are fleeting. Just give the teachers the peace to be fully present with own family or own peace for that few occasions. Are all these so difficult? Maybe MOE HRs should put care and concern as HODs and SLs KRAs, not innovation. These leaders are only concerned about their own career progression.

If say cannot cope, could be interpreted as no ability or no drive. CEP review incoming.

Of course the staff had feedback via internal survey. The promises were given yet broken. Not once but many times. School communication states no whats app after 6pm. This same HOD what app after 7pm. People closing one eye and been forgiving throughout the year. The trs on the ground are understanding if it is occassional. The breaking point is really eat with family day. Why just cant let's everyone hv some peace on the last day respectfully. Well , SLs are aware and reply given is ‘will remind again"’.

Reasons these ppl at the top of foodchain can come up with these strategies is they do not need to teach, handle civics or be managers of CCA, and there can be many of them. Normal and good teachers suffer, and are forced to be FAJTs. Vicious cycle.

Soln:
* Hod should not be offloaded for CCA or civics classes, only then can they deal with the pain of dealing with parents and chaperoning students for competitions while preparing resources for teaching and being accountable for students' learning. Imagine an HoD who leechs on subordinates' teaching materials.
* VP and P should teach at least one class, then there will not be so many different meetings and student issues. Imagine knowing the P and VP are teaching your class or will pass by a corridor to your class.
* How many GEOs would aspire to be KPs if the reward is not less classroom teaching, fewer responsibilities, and having really to lead by example?

From what I'm seeing, it's mostly the younger folks who are leaving, the geo3s and geo4s.

Management is bloated, because very few leave.

Annual reporting of teaching information is rigged, since there is a cap on the number of hours we can report.

Colleagues, please max out the number of hours you declare while filling in the form

To add on to this solution list:
HODs' books and files MUST be checked, just like how the Subject and Level Heads' books and files are checked. Even if their books and files are not checked, the SLs MUST be curious and ask their HODs in how they lead their trs in teaching practices. Not fairy airy stuff too.. really sound PCK to build rigour and understanding in students. Ask your HODs to show samples of their students' work or Dep PD slides. Nowadays, HODs check trs' books and files but no feedback was given. Yet, the HOD can be given MOE awards. Does it mean when one is on leadership role, the teaching is of lowest priority? One parent shared that her child lost interest and confidence in the subject which was taught by the HOD, resulting in a drop in results. As teachers, who can we feedback to?

SLs shoukd remind their HODs not be biased. Senior Teachers should not be HODs pets. STs should drive pedagogy and assessments in school throughout the year, and not busybody with programmes. Think about how to uplift the bottom and share hpw should the enhanced 21cc should be enacted in classrooms. Role model how to build in rigour in teaching since there is only one final year exam. Cluster sharing is just one-time and the lesson plan and resources are not even shared in dep drive. HODs should encourage their STs to open the classrooms more regularly.

To ask the VP and P to teach the class seems unreasonable. They hv their work to do as well....

I feel that HODs should not just "give" themselves only small classes like foundation and pullout classes all the time. In my school context, the "bottom" classes are not taught by HODs or STs. The frustration among trs is because it is always that few trs who always teach the "bottom". Once these trs decided to leave the sch or take npl, this is where other trs have to be loaded more. And honestly, if there is less trs, rethink instead of having pullout classes, why not level up the trs' competency in etech or STP? I seriously dont think pullout is the only solution too.

Why not? You want to do less work but u still want good performance grade AND a promotion. What world are u living in?

Not the original poster but I believe they were responding to this:

"Like teachers who complain that they are doing too much work to fellow teachersbut then when the KP ask for discussion on workload end up being humji and say that things are ok"

I think it is fair to feel (and complain among friends/colleagues) that there is way too much work, but also choose to suck it up and not ask ROs for less work, because they want good performance grades and to keep their CEP.

The overwork is an objective fact of working in MOE. It is truth, not an opinion. You can't finish all your work in a 44 hour work week... or 60 for that matter. It's just not possible unless you're intentionally shortchanging your students.

MMs
 

Honestly to the TS complaining abt his award winning HOD and SLs, do yourself a favour and post out. No point ranting here, not all schools are like that. Anyway it already sounds like u have some prejudice against ur HOD.

On those who want to check your HOD or SL, and think that their work is easy and light and just leeching on your work, go and step up, tell ur P u want to do it also, problem solved! You can be hod too and enjoy an easy life :)

No seriously, I think while there are some idling leaders out there, many are also actually working v hard. You just don’t see their work. These kinds comments about want P to teach, MMs to do same work as them are v childish, and reflects teachers narrow mindedness. You try export these kind of thinking to private sector and ask the CEP to do data entry. Likely ur the kinda of teacher that is precisely making ur RO having to spend a lot of time to manage u, that’s why he or she need to offload. 😅

exactly. I agree. just post out instead of come here and kpkb. take control of your own life and career.

MMs have a lot of work behind the scenes. i have seen slack ones but there are way more hardworking KPs than slack ones. SLs included too.

in fact there is a lot of falsehoods and nonsense mentioned here. tried to debunk... but even after I helped asked the relevant people and dept to clarify the question, still got people here insist they r correct by basing their info on trend data and urban legends. forget it and i rest my case.

called. HR friend said where got 3 years? unless u D grade.

precisely. there are other factors at play here.

the poor RO - worked hard for your perf grade and still get maligned.

your school's HODs and STs all so jialat? SLs not aware of all these things you mentioned?

how many years have you been in school?

Agree with this. It's the mentality of "in the only one who's working hard. Everyone else is a slacker." having been in HQ and now as a KP, I realised how wrong I was back when I thought that KPs had an easier life with no CCA or form class.

Same scenario in my school. HOD talk only, can show or suggest nothing concrete but want to see this and that in the teachers' lessons. How to execute those, HOD cannot respond. Same with book checks. If HODs know what they want to see, why not role model, show or share examples of their own work, invite some peers to observe how to enact this and that and not just say "You're doing it wrong. I can do this and that in my classroom", show it!

Very ridiculous demands. It clearly shows the lack of understanding of the roles of the SHs, HODs and SLs. Granted that there might be some KPs who take a back seat, but I'm sure that this blanket rule is unjust. This is given that some MMs have to invest a lot of time either leading or attending meetings after meetings that other non-appointment holders do not need to attend. Moreover, I've seen MMs who are great at their pedagogical leadership, doing way more resources and taking challenging classes across the two schools I've been posted to.

Also, for SHs, some schools DO NOT even offload them in either teaching, CCA or FT-ship due to manpower constraints. Some HODs are even loaded with FT-ship.

If your school is the 'anomaly' here where you believe that everything is bad, I suggest that you'd either submit a formal complaint (gathering evidence on why KPs are not doing as much as non-appointment holders or their substantive grade, and/or other breach of protocol), or if you know this would not work, apply for open/close posting immediately on your next opportunity.

Sulking and complaining over issues won't make a difference without concrete action.

Thanks! But I’m wondering if by going post-grad, it will “close the door”? Or just delay?

I do appreciate your inputs on clarifying in the value of post-grad in career progression - that it is not of much help in terms of progression.

KPs and SLs are able to give feedback n AFGs during epms sessions, lesson obs, AARs and book checks, but become defensive when feedback given during internal staff surveys and school climate surveys. so much for fairness? shouldn't civil service practice 360 degree feedback to help improve organisation problems and remove blind spots in leadership?

probably only delay a little...doors dont close just because you take a bit longer haha

i know someone who did post grad...still had HQ opportunities and progressing very quickly now

Based on what I've observed, the FHQ opportunity will not wait for you to finish your postgrad studies.. unfortunately you can't have your cake and eat it too, in this case.

Though I'm not in HR so I'd be happy to stand corrected on this

If you get awarded the PGS, you'll be given a HQ stint anyway (assuming you have no HQ experience). That said, it's highly competitive.

If offered FHQ, I'd also recommend taking that up first - nothing stopping you from applying for postgrad opportunities during the HQ stint!

Meet with RO to talk about world load = immediate CEP review? What kind of fear mongering is this? CEP changes likely goes outside the school to be approved. What makes you think some RO has so much say to do all this.

Nowhere did it say that it's an immediate CEP review, nowhere did it say that the RO has the individual power to lower your CEP.

However, in a highly competitive school where many young go-getters are vying for career advancement, you can bet that if any of them express to their ROs or any member(s) of the panel that they cannot take the heat, they are going to be sidelined over the next few RnP cycles.

Don't forget nowadays most of the new intakes are scholars. Most of them come with certain levels of motivation to progress in their career.

Again, 1 conversation with RO = sidelined over the next few RnP cycles? People shouldn't be afraid to have honest conversations with your RO. This kind of advice perpetuates fear which is unhelpful.
Nowadays most new intakes are scholars? If everyone is a scholar, then no one is a scholar.

When everyone in the intake is a scholar, the one who falls behind the rest, will get less priority for opportunities.

Demand and supply applies here. When many people are fighting for the limited quotas, any sort of mistake is a good reason for decision makers to exclude them from the competition.

Don't give others a good reason to eliminate you from the race.

Not fear mongering. Just common sense.

Think of how teachers choose the head prefects or student council chairperson.

The process is not so different after all

It is precisely because everyone has the mental frame and attitude of a scholar that the competition to stand out from one's peers is so cut-throat. Everyone works extremely hard. The first one to show weakness will lag behind their peers.

In an ideal situation, everyone who is tired and overworked (actually, just everyone) says something about the workload, and this leads to systemic change. Unfortunately you can't avoid market spoilers who are willing to make crushing sacrifices for career advancement, and if the rest of the pack want to keep up, they have to show that they can keep up.

Shouldn't be afraid is correct, in an ideal world.

But are you in touch with what actually happens on the ground? Maybe your own school does this well: kudos to you and your colleagues. It's not the same everywhere though.

Perhaps the saddest part about this whole thing is that if you want to ascend to a position with enough power to change this stupid culture, you have to first succeed and thrive in this system.