Career as Teacher

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I am a GEO5 here, male, working for over 6 years since NIE, currently drawing around 7.4k base. Life is good. Can retire.

thats very fast...are u mid-career or a scholar?

If an officer applied for transfer to other places this year but failed, will the SLs and KPs (who were informed by the officer) give the officer a poorer grade than usual?

Like downgrading a B grade to C+ or from a C+ to C?

Any honest experiences with this situation?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I am a GEO5 here, male, working for over 6 years since NIE, currently drawing around 7.4k base. Life is good. Can retire.

obviously a troll. possibly cannot map out the salary over the 6 years.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yup, overall it was a positive experience, as it was a good 3-year break from teaching. I don't wanna reveal my division, but what I did at HQ was pretty different from school stuff. Despite this, I don't feel handicapped as a classroom teacher per se, because as a SH now, I'm judged by my sch-wide and lvl-wide impact. I think I brought value to my current sch in terms of my critical thinking and communication with various depts as well as SLs. Not to diss KPs who rose up through sch, but they tend to be more skillful in action management rather than visioning, aligning and communication - core skills that I picked up at HQ. I'm also lucky cos my SLs value my experiences and skills as an ex-HQ officer.

If you're a SH now, you can easily be a HOD after your HQ stint (if career progression is what you value).

Really appreciate to all who shared their HQ experiences and it really strengthen my resolve to apply for HQ posting next year as I would really like to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone. Really excited about being able to try my hands on visioning and planning which like you rightly pointed out are not exactly evident when in schools.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Really appreciate to all who shared their HQ experiences and it really strengthen my resolve to apply for HQ posting next year as I would really like to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone. Really excited about being able to try my hands on visioning and planning which like you rightly pointed out are not exactly evident when in schools.

It would be good fun! I enjoyed my time in HQ very much even though it was very challenging. Wanted to point out that strategic work exists in HQ, but it is also present in school to some degree. Further, though a lot of HQ work pieces are strategic and require long-term perspective, there are also not-so-exciting pieces of work in HQ which must still be done well - like being the secretariat for meetings, managing media queries, or managing emails late into the evening. Just wanted to paint an accurate picture.

Enter with an open mind and a humbled heart and you'll gain much!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

thats very fast...are u mid-career or a scholar?

thank u!! I am mid-career, worked for 1.5+ years in research~

Originally Posted by Unregistered

thank u!! I am mid-career, worked for 1.5+ years in research~

Assuming you are a local uni grad with BSc, male:

2 years in previous field
1 year in contract untrained phase
1 year in PGDE phase
6 years in full time teaching phase

It should have been 10-11 years since you graduated. I guess the salary figure kind of fits. It's still pretty fast though. Many people I know in your age group are still way below yours. Did you often get consecutively above average performance grades within those 6 years?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

able to share your MX grade and your YOE? are u also a scholar in your ministry?

2 years, MX12. Just a farmer.

My guess is that teachers got a lower adjustment compared with the MX scheme last year.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

2 years, MX12. Just a farmer.

My guess is that teachers got a lower adjustment compared with the MX scheme last year.

Unless we have the full details (sub grade, year-in-service, education background, prior work exp) of you and your teacher friend, we can't really make a fair or informed comparison!

EO salary scales are higher than MX. My NUS uni batchmates who have gone to other ministries have lower salaries than EOs.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

thank u!! I am mid-career, worked for 1.5+ years in research~

Possible to share your progression and perf grades over the years? Also your educational background?