Because the goalposts have shifted. In the past, "just being a warm body" could entail just floating around and doing the bare minimum, leaving school at 2pm everyday and burdening your department colleagues, committee members and team mates by not contributing to shared work. You're implying that we condone this.. we're absolutely not condoning this behaviour. You're missing the point.

Nowadays, with all these go-getters and tryhards burning their nights, weekends and holidays, it seems like people who do not want to do so are no longer recognised as well, regardless of their potential, abilities and impact of their contributions during the reasonable work hours and job scopes that they take up.

It is one thing to recognise high levels of efficiency, output, innovation and impact WITHIN reasonable working hours/schedules. It is another to glorify people who spend most of their waking hours working, and consequently condemning those who prefer reasonable balance. It is no different from grade inflation at national exams, or shifting of bell curves because of market spoilers.

GEO3 is an entry level, junior subgrade. Read the KRAs to understand why this is so.

If someone is GEO3 after 8 years, it communicates to them that their contributions are not much more valuable and impactful than that of a third year Beginning Teacher. It communicates to them that they are still entry-level despite spending a decade in service.

This is like the straight A student who puts his peers down by telling them they deserve their shitty grades because they didn't burn the midnight oil regularly and therefore they do not deserve opportunities in life.

The point here is: why normalise burning the midnight oil? Why is burning the midnight oil now the basic requirement for someone to chase their aspirations?

Hope this analogy helps to get it through your thick skull.

Don't be angry, some people are really married to their jobs and see no problem with the lack of work-life balance. Work-life balance is "baloney" anyway, right?

That's the sad thing about Singapore working culture and management mindsets. If you don't sell your entire soul to your job, you don't deserve to advance in your career at all. If you care about work-life balance, then some people would assume that you don't care about your job, you don't care about your students and colleagues, and you don't care about the organisation.

Taking care of yourself and taking care of your job/career should not be mutually exclusive, but some people are actively trying to make it so. We have one fine example in this thread who has been heavily brainwashed by top civil servants who "can't detach themselves from their GoMAX devices" and seem to have half heads of white hair and wrinkles on their faces even in their mid-40s. I wonder why.

we're all quite surprised at the fact that you're surprised haha

how did u receive the fhq offer? :) are u a scholar? :)

And many do tender.

Which is why almost every school has a shortage now

Headcount is reduced, but work is not cut and instead redistributed among increasingly overworked staff, and exacerbating resignations and movements in the next posting cycle.

Because GEO at the end of the day, is STILL a timescale grade.

GEO5s or 5A, at the end of the day, based on job description, are still ordinary classroom teachers. They are at this rank, because they have experience, and are fully capable of performing the work of an ORDINARY teacher independently without requiring additional guidance from anyone else.

GEO3 is basically for people who completed their BTship. In other words, they still have a lot of basic stuff such as workflow, T&L stuff, and administrative procedures yo learn. GEO4 is somewhere in between.

Unless someone has a serious attitude problem, it is unlikely for anyone to take so long to acquire all the knowledge expected of a GEO3.

8 years to learn the basics? Seriously?

looks like some management and HR giving lame reasons to drag someone's promotion for 8 years or more..
reasons we can give is that salary has increment in relation to inflation
are u familiar of the term blacklisted

Teachers have been "quiet quitting" even before that term existed. That is probably the only solution to the ever increasing workload.

How do teachers get shortlisted for FHQ?
What are the requirements?