Career as Teacher

Originally Posted by Unregistered

After reading the previous 2 pages here, I have some advice/information for the younger ones (<35 years old). These are also purely based on my observations over the last 15-20 years, so please feel free to disagree or add on.

There was a period of time where we were LACKING teachers (sounds totally incredulous in our current climate haha) and recruitment numbers were crazy high. Hence the bar was much much lower and it was quite easy to get hired. I even heard from a HR personnel that a lump sum was paid to attract new hires. It was also assumed that this large group of new hires had less impressive portfolios. This group of people are probably mostly Gen X, or even boomers (for mid career hires).

Fast forward to this current period - from 2015 onwards, many of the above-mentioned group are currently KPs, STs or GEO5s. For those 15-20 years, this group enjoyed good annual increments, adjustments every 3-4 years and fast promotions (once every 2 to 3 years). In fact, new KP positions were created not only to handle new forms of workload, but also to create positions for this group of people to progress. A KP said that even the ST track quickly became overdeveloped and saturated.

As for the GEO5s who did not make it to KPship or STship, they hit their salary ceilings very early. Many do not bother about increments or performance grades anymore, because there is hardly any point to it since they have reached their ceilings. They will never resign either, because their age and skillset are no longer attractive to other employers. Staying on to just do minimal work is the ideal retirement route. Hence, the trend of them rejecting extra workload began.

Where do these extra workload go to? Newly hired GEO2s and 3s. Hence, the bar for good performance and promotion started rising. If you want to progress faster, you have to shoulder more workload from the school and your RO.

What to do now that there are too many GEO5s and higher? System has become too top heavy. Promotion rates decrease. Annual increments decrease to slow down people from hitting the ceiling too quickly (in 2020, the reason for this was COVID. But as of today, it seems to be silently made permanent).

What to do now that student population is falling and schools are merging? Slash recruitment, raise the bar for new hires. If you wish to resign, no one will dissuade you and it is processed much more quickly (unlike in the past).

At this point, you realise that many issues regarding performance, promotions or workload is no longer just a school-wide (localised) phenomenon, but have evolved to become system-wide.

How do many exhausted GEO2s and 3s respond? Reject extra workload as well. Quiet quit. Resign and look for jobs with better work-life balance. There is a reason why statistically, the turnover rate for younger officers is much higher. Regardless of age and stage of life, your mental and physical health matters. Not only for yourself, but for your loved ones too.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you what to do and I'm not trying to blame any particular group of people here. But situations like COVID, cost cutting, rolling out of many new education policies within a short period, tech boom, quiet quitting, work-life balance and sudden inflation have all clashed between the ministry, the older group of officers and the younger group. A 3 way tug of war, each vying for their own self-interests...But assuming nothing changes and these continue, it's rather obvious who will lose out eventually by staying in the system...

To the younger officers, it can only be bad timing and bad luck. Take care of yourselves

Yes, you nailed it. I think most of the smarter young officers also know the reason for this. But it is also understandable for them to feel indignant because while it has become much, much more difficult to be hired as a teacher, or to receive a teaching(-related) scholarship today compared to 10-15 years ago, the average career prospects and relative salary growth prospects (if you consider the %s) are in fact at their all-time low.

More exclusive job, yet worse prospects once you get through the door. Reason? Born later.

Hello all, thank you for sharing insights into the compensation of MOE teachers. Am an aspiring teacher here but after reading all the threads, I am certainly thinking twice. Could I request some insights on the following:

What is the ceiling salary that a mediocre/average teacher is expected to attain in his/her career? Assuming non-HOD but maybe at max a Level Head or something.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hello all, thank you for sharing insights into the compensation of MOE teachers. Am an aspiring teacher here but after reading all the threads, I am certainly thinking twice. Could I request some insights on the following:

What is the ceiling salary that a mediocre/average teacher is expected to attain in his/her career? Assuming non-HOD but maybe at max a Level Head or something.

At current salary ranges, a Level Head will max out at just over 10k. An average teacher, assuming he/she does not hit GEO5A but stays at GEO5, will max out a little over 8k. The ceilings are likely to increase in the future; you will experience several service-wide salary adjustments during your career. Whether they will keep proper pace with inflation remains to be seen

The problem is: the salary ceiling takes FOREVER to reach. You will have to stand the test of time in your early years drawing very low salaries compared to your senior colleagues, who may well be doing a lot less work than you. If you can live and climb through this phase and stay long enough to reach the higher salary points, you'll be fine.

Hi, may I know when do they usually give the OCA payout?Same time as Dec pay or later? Thank you.

Hi there, slightly unrelated but i'm midway through my BSc programme in NIE. Am wondering what the pay difference is between 1st/2nd upper and the next tier. Not that I intend to skive but Was just curious to know. (Might give me a bit of motivation to push on harder. HAHA)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi there, slightly unrelated but i'm midway through my BSc programme in NIE. Am wondering what the pay difference is between 1st/2nd upper and the next tier. Not that I intend to skive but Was just curious to know. (Might give me a bit of motivation to push on harder. HAHA)

No difference in salary between first and second upper.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi there, slightly unrelated but i'm midway through my BSc programme in NIE. Am wondering what the pay difference is between 1st/2nd upper and the next tier. Not that I intend to skive but Was just curious to know. (Might give me a bit of motivation to push on harder. HAHA)

At most, $200-$300 difference between that and next tier depending on gender / NS. Might affect CEP, though decent performance in first few years would even things out.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

At current salary ranges, a Level Head will max out at just over 10k. An average teacher, assuming he/she does not hit GEO5A but stays at GEO5, will max out a little over 8k. The ceilings are likely to increase in the future; you will experience several service-wide salary adjustments during your career. Whether they will keep proper pace with inflation remains to be seen

The problem is: the salary ceiling takes FOREVER to reach. You will have to stand the test of time in your early years drawing very low salaries compared to your senior colleagues, who may well be doing a lot less work than you. If you can live and climb through this phase and stay long enough to reach the higher salary points, you'll be fine.

More rosy if you consider bonuses (MY, EOY, PB). GEO5 could max out at $10k+ gross (incl. bonuses averaged across 12 months. Not to forget salary revisions at least once a decade.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

More rosy if you consider bonuses (MY, EOY, PB). GEO5 could max out at $10k+ gross (incl. bonuses averaged across 12 months. Not to forget salary revisions at least once a decade.

Thanks for sharing. How many years would it typically take for an average teacher to reach GEO5 and max out at the pay ceiling as you have quoted?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Thanks for sharing. How many years would it typically take for an average teacher to reach GEO5 and max out at the pay ceiling as you have quoted?

In the past (pre-2015) it would take around 10 years of service for the average teacher because it was possible for graduates to hit GEO1A3 (GEO5 equivalent) within 5-6 years.

Today, it's hard to say. Promotions have slowed down dramatically and merit increments have also been shaved thin. A good number of average performing ~10 YOE teachers who joined in the early 2010s are still stuck at GEO4 and still have a long way to go before they can smell the ceiling. Even those who were newly promoted to GEO5 are still sitting around the high 6k to low 7k region, with some way to go before they reach the ceiling (increments get smaller the closer you are to the ceiling, too). tl;dr an estimate for the average teacher will be around 15 years.

A middle manager (such as a SH/LH/HOD) will take a shorter time as they will be likely be promoted faster. The merit increments at the SEO grades are also much higher. Depending on how early the officer is appointed to a management position, they may also take between 10-15 years to hit the ceiling if they sit on that appointment and do not chase further advancement (such as school leadership, or management positions in HQ).