Yes I declared. I checked my pay advice. Fair enough, I did start at 4.1k (female). I started in March and on that same year in Dec I received an increment in my base pay. The following year, in April, I received another merit increment. So in all I received two increments within a year of service. I guess my work experience is recognised, just a bit later.

Thanks for sharing. Blessed to be in my school. Many here get above C+ after promotion.

18 yrs, female,NIE grad, SEO1 (HOD), 9.8k
15 yrs, male, PGDE, SEO1 (HOD), 9.4k
16 yrs, female, Dip Ed, emplacement to degree during 8th year, GEO 4, 6k
13 yrs, female, mid-career, GEO5A, 8.5k (increment 5 to 5A was only $200)
12 yrs, male, PGDE, GEO5, 7.4k
11 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO5 (SH), 7.6k
9 yrs, female, HOD, NUS grad, GEO5, about 7k plus (she said it's below 8k)
8 yrs, male, GEO5, SH, 7.5K
8 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO 4, 6.1k
8 yrs, male, PGDE local FCH, GEO 3, 6.2k
8 yrs, male, GEO3, 5.9k
6 yrs, male, PGDE Overseas degree, GEO5 6.6k
6 yrs, male, PGDE local degree (HQ officer), GEO5 6.7k
6 yrs, male, PGDE local degree (HQ officer), GEO4 6.3k
6 yrs, female, NIE grad, GEO4 (SH new), 6k
6 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO4, 6.2k
5 yrs, female, NIE grad, GEO3, 5.1k
5 yrs, female, PGDE, GEO3, 5.1k
4 yrs, female, NIE grad, GEO3, 5.4k
4 yrs, female, mid-career, GEO3, 6.1k
4 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO4, 5.6k
4 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO4, 5.3k
3 yrs, male, PGDE, GEO3, 5.4k
3 yrs, male, PGDE, GEO3, 5.7k
1 yr, female, mid-career, GEO3, 5.9k

I'll use anonymous to reply this since it's quite sensitive.

as long as there are humans involve, things will get political, emotional, and personal, no matter how objective you want it to be. You can say it's unfair, but at the end of the day, there will be hard evidence to justify the 'poorer grade' or 'change in grade'. Your examples listed above, are all the implicit reasons, but the official explicit ones, won't be all those, because they are all subjective and personal.

Being in the ranking panel, I have seen how the justifications include

"During walkabout, saw that the classroom management was not the best, or that students disengaged etc etc."

"Other staff working together in the project team feedbacked that this person is not a good team player"

But many of these justifications, happen to all teachers on bad days, just that the panel close one eye on them. So they can then open this can of worms, for each teacher, should they wish to 'change the grade'.

You can say it's unfair, but no one is perfect, so as long as you have bad days/moments, those will be used against you, when there is a need to.

This is the unfortunate truth. I cannot say this for all schools. But quite a lot of schools are like this. As long as you are not perfect, there will be something, officially black and white, observable and "non-biased", to be used against you.

TLDR:
Nobody is perfect, even your regular A and B graders.
Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. ROs, KPs and SLs know them.

If they want to push someone to an A or a B, they will emphasise their strengths and also portray their weaknesses as things that are showing visible and steady improvement.

If they want to push someone down, they will downplay their strengths and put heavy emphasis on the negative impacts of their weaknesses.

Secondary school teacher in a neighbourhood school. Male.
Joined service in 2020. PGDE. Promoted GEO3 in 2021 and GEO4 in 2023. A and B grades. Non-scholar holding internal SH position.

People relations are so important (unfortunately). Important to have multiple people on the ranking panel advocating for you other than your RO.

18 yrs, female,NIE grad, SEO1 (HOD), 9.8k
15 yrs, male, PGDE, SEO1 (HOD), 9.4k
16 yrs, female, Dip Ed, emplacement to degree during 8th year, GEO 4, 6k
13 yrs, female, mid-career, GEO5A, 8.5k (increment 5 to 5A was only $200)
12 yrs, male, PGDE, GEO5, 7.4k
11 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO5 (SH), 7.6k
9 yrs, female, HOD, NUS grad, GEO5, about 7k plus (she said it's below 8k)
8 yrs, male, GEO5, SH, 7.5K
8 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO 4, 6.1k
8 yrs, male, PGDE local FCH, GEO 3, 6.2k
8 yrs, male, GEO3, 5.9k
6 yrs, male, PGDE Overseas degree, GEO5 6.6k
6 yrs, male, PGDE local degree (HQ officer), GEO5 6.7k
6 yrs, male, PGDE local degree (HQ officer), GEO4 6.3k
6 yrs, female, NIE grad, GEO4 (SH new), 6k
6 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO4, 6.2k
5 yrs, female, NIE grad, GEO3, 5.1k
5 yrs, female, PGDE, GEO3, 5.1k
5 yrs, male, PDGE, GEO4, 5.9k
4 yrs, female, NIE grad, GEO3, 5.4k
4 yrs, female, mid-career, GEO3, 6.1k
4 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO4, 5.6k
4 yrs, male, NIE grad, GEO4, 5.3k
3 yrs, male, PGDE, GEO3, 5.4k
3 yrs, male, PGDE, GEO3, 5.7k
1 yr, female, mid-career, GEO3, 5.9k

Added in a new statistic (male yr 5 geo4) . Was actually promoted last year to geo4 after 2 years in GEO3 and 1 year in geo2 so I can confirm that this promotion pace exists (i am fortunate enough to be recognized).

But got promoted wrong time, like what others have mentioned. Promoted during covid with lower MI AND PI, and missed out on the higher GEO3 salary revision. Wonder if anyone has consulted WITH HR for advice on this matter since it's quite silly that we are promoted for better performance but our peers are earning more than us now course of the poor timing.

There will be no recourse for this unfortunately. The standard response is that if you are a consistent good performer then you will be able to catch up. Not in those exact words la, but in essence it is like that.