Career as Teacher

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You will start from the lowest paygrade like any fresh hires.

However for midcareers, your pay would most likely be at the upper limit of the oay bracket. They will try to accelerate your progression, to try close the gap between you and officers in your age group.

Hey thanks for your reply. When you say lowest paygrade, does it mean the entry level which is stated in the website (e.g Dip in Ed - max $2695, PGDE - max $4015)? If so, for mid career switchers, a paycut is definitely possible?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi, can anyone advise on the possible salary if one were to do a mid career switch (from education related industry) for the untrained teaching position? Is it kept strictly to the range stated on MOE website? Or would they also consider our last drawn? Thanks in advance for your help!

Mid career switch here. I don't know if my experience with MOE is still relevant.

I did the switch in 2008 (the luckier batches before 2015). I took almost a 2k pay cut to join MOE because of of NIE. From 4.5 k then, I had to draw 2.3 or so during NIE training. Initially, I wanted to reject the job, citing pay cut as the main reason. Then one HR executive called me and assured me that the ministry would match my pay asap.

I bit the bullet and went through the training. Upon graduation, they converted my scheme to GEO 3 (whereas the rest would be GEO 2) immediately. My salary was revised to 4.7k, which was very close to the last drawn. Within 2 years, I was promoted to GEO 4 (but I was stuck at GEO 4 for a long time). I have a colleague who worked for 15 years before switching. She hit GEO 5 in 7 years. There will be accelerated promotion if your performance is good. It depends on your career. A good conversion (after talking to different sources) was 2 years of irrelevant working experience would be considered to be 1 year of teaching experience. At that time, I was considered to have 4 years of teaching experience because I worked for 8 years in other industries.

General consensus amongst the mid-career switchers: the ministry definitely tries to match your last drawn pay asap. But once they match it (and give you a little more), the progression would be as per other teachers.

I am quite happy in MOE because I could not take the volatility in my previous industry (finance-related). I prefer to have a stable income. The overall package is not great but it is not shabby either, when I compare it to my peers in the 40s who are either drawing a lot more than I do, or having issues seeking jobs because they have been asked to leave the institutions.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Mid career switch here. I don't know if my experience with MOE is still relevant.

I did the switch in 2008 (the luckier batches before 2015). I took almost a 2k pay cut to join MOE because of of NIE. From 4.5 k then, I had to draw 2.3 or so during NIE training. Initially, I wanted to reject the job, citing pay cut as the main reason. Then one HR executive called me and assured me that the ministry would match my pay asap.

I bit the bullet and went through the training. Upon graduation, they converted my scheme to GEO 3 (whereas the rest would be GEO 2) immediately. My salary was revised to 4.7k, which was very close to the last drawn. Within 2 years, I was promoted to GEO 4 (but I was stuck at GEO 4 for a long time). I have a colleague who worked for 15 years before switching. She hit GEO 5 in 7 years. There will be accelerated promotion if your performance is good. It depends on your career. A good conversion (after talking to different sources) was 2 years of irrelevant working experience would be considered to be 1 year of teaching experience. At that time, I was considered to have 4 years of teaching experience because I worked for 8 years in other industries.

General consensus amongst the mid-career switchers: the ministry definitely tries to match your last drawn pay asap. But once they match it (and give you a little more), the progression would be as per other teachers.

I am quite happy in MOE because I could not take the volatility in my previous industry (finance-related). I prefer to have a stable income. The overall package is not great but it is not shabby either, when I compare it to my peers in the 40s who are either drawing a lot more than I do, or having issues seeking jobs because they have been asked to leave the institutions.

Hey, I certainly appreciate you taking the time to reply. This is helpful.

Wow, 2k paycut is no joke and it will be painful. I am unsure if, like you, I can bite the bullet and just chiong. My experiences so far have been in the private education industry. Though it is essentially still teaching, I doubt it may be regarded as relevant experience and I will be considered as untrained if I do enter the fraternity.

I am hoping if they do offer, I hope they can go as close as possible to my current drawn.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hey, I certainly appreciate you taking the time to reply. This is helpful.

Wow, 2k paycut is no joke and it will be painful. I am unsure if, like you, I can bite the bullet and just chiong. My experiences so far have been in the private education industry. Though it is essentially still teaching, I doubt it may be regarded as relevant experience and I will be considered as untrained if I do enter the fraternity.

I am hoping if they do offer, I hope they can go as close as possible to my current drawn.

If you wish to have a more accurate comparison, you can provide your number of years of experience in private education and your qualification here. Then any MOE teacher here can let you know if your pay range is near to that of officers of a similar age/years of experience. With that, you will know if it's really worth it to do the mid-career switch.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hey thanks for your reply. When you say lowest paygrade, does it mean the entry level which is stated in the website (e.g Dip in Ed - max $2695, PGDE - max $4015)? If so, for mid career switchers, a paycut is definitely possible?

Yes. Entry level.

A paycut is not just possible. It is guaranteed.

A person cannot be a trained teacher without going through NIE.

As long as the person is not a trained teacher, you cannot be placed on a higher paygrade.

Non-degree holders start at GEO1, and degree-holder at GEO2.

Pay for trainees cannot exceed the pay ceilings of these paygrades.

Hello, am a fresh A-level graduate here who has scored very well and am considering majoring in CS but also chemistry as I enjoy the subject and also have quite a passion in teaching. I want to ask whether is it still possible to pursue PGDE to teach chemistry at a secondary/JC level (As a mid-career change) if I decide to major in CS now?

Also, I want to ask if yall would chase the money in a well-paying field like CS now or pursue your passion (i.e teaching i assume? ) if you were given a chance to start over again? I know its quite a loaded question so you can not answer this if you don't want to. As a bit of background, I come from a poorer family but was born smart and ended up in an elite JC. I got surrounded by ppl with lots of $$ so I have questions about how much would yall value $$ hehe.

Hello, am a fresh A-level graduate here who has scored very well and am considering majoring in CS but also chemistry as I enjoy the subject and also have quite a passion in teaching. I want to ask whether is it still possible to pursue PGDE to teach chemistry at a secondary/JC level (As a mid-career change) if I decide to major in CS now?

Also, I want to ask if yall would chase the money in a well-paying field like CS now or pursue your passion (i.e teaching i assume? ) if you were given a chance to start over again? I know its quite a loaded question so you can not answer this if you don't want to. As a bit of background, I come from a poorer family but was born smart and ended up in an elite JC. I got surrounded by ppl with lots of $$ so I have questions about how much would yall value $$ hehe.

is there any consequence to get a C-? will there be PB for C- too?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes. Entry level.

A paycut is not just possible. It is guaranteed.

A person cannot be a trained teacher without going through NIE.

As long as the person is not a trained teacher, you cannot be placed on a higher paygrade.

Non-degree holders start at GEO1, and degree-holder at GEO2.

Pay for trainees cannot exceed the pay ceilings of these paygrades.

Thanks, it does makes sense. I went through NIE training and am a trained teacher for Special Education. If I were to apply with MOE, will these experiences be taken into consideration? I know I might be pushing it since sped ed and gen ed are two different areas of expertise. Haha.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

is there any consequence to get a C-? will there be PB for C- too?

usually, won't be considered for promotion for 3 years.

there will be PB of about 0.5 months. MI is less too.
SLs will say C- is not an adverse grade, you are still young etc etc