Career as Teacher

I don't think it disadvantages you as far as qualifications go, but I do think it limits your understanding of the full nature of the job (as an MOE teacher).

If you're willing to provide an (throwaway?) email address on this (highly anonymous) forum 😂, I could probably help refer you to a colleague… EL teachers, even relief ones, are pretty highly in demand!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

icame from an international school and did ib instead of going down the mainstream education path. i’m quite afraid this might disadvantage me, but i do think EL skills are transferable, no matter the curriculum.

thank you, again!

To the seniors and experienced people here...When declaring investments, which ones need to be declared specifically?

What's an unlisted business?

Does STI ETF count?

What about overseas ETFs? US? China?

Buying through brokers? Banks? Roboadvisors?

Think there's a document that details it. But pretty much everything you've listed doesn't need to be declared (publicly traded shares etc.)

Unlisted businesses would be like private businesses that are not listed on a stock exchange, e.g. if you have a stake in a family business.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

To the seniors and experienced people here...When declaring investments, which ones need to be declared specifically?

What's an unlisted business?

Does STI ETF count?

What about overseas ETFs? US? China?

Buying through brokers? Banks? Roboadvisors?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

To the seniors and experienced people here...When declaring investments, which ones need to be declared specifically?

What's an unlisted business?

Does STI ETF count?

What about overseas ETFs? US? China?

Buying through brokers? Banks? Roboadvisors?

You only need to declare any holdings in private companies. If you buy and own anything public listed, anything that is traded on stock markets, you don't need to declare those.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

hello, everyone! just asking for some career advice.

i am currently a local law undergraduate who has secured a training contract and will be called to bar if i pass my part b bar exam safely. i will probably be getting a second upper. however, i feel like law is not my calling.

i’ve gone through several teaching experiences in my school life, giving tuition, teaching school kids about the law, and teaching underprivileged kids in developing countries on charity trips. i enjoy teaching and wish to enter moe to teach english/GP.

is there any advice to a newbie making a career switch like this into teaching? how does the career compare to law? i hope to achieve a bit more work-life balance and stability in teaching. how were the interviews and pgde in general, in terms of intensity and difficulty? also, is there a glut of teachers right now, much like in law?

thank you in advance!

It's great you have a desire to teach, and that is a vital starting point for anyone considering teaching I think. But what most people looking at teaching from the other side of the school fence don't see is the enormous amount of responsibilities that come with it. On any given day, you may find yourself juggling any or all of the following tasks: discipline issues in your form class, CCA planning and execution, committee work (most teachers are in 2 committees), department duties (English teacher? Have fun planning/executing/ conducting oral exams), ad-hoc projects, setting and vetting of exam papers, marking marking marking marking marking, professional learning team projects (every department has one of these).. and other administrative duties.

And if you thought that was all, remember, you still need to plan and run highly engaging lessons for multiple classes on a daily basis for your students.. while paying attention to individual student needs and wellbeing

It is doable, but it won't be easy at all. But very rewarding work though.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes the language skills are transferable. What could be challenging is build strong teacher-student relationships and understanding the background of students dissimilar to the teacher. While you should be getting more sleep as a teacher, remember that working hours start earlier but don't necessarily end earlier. On CCA days, not unimaginable for a teacher to be in school for 12 hours (6am-6pm) with just a few breaks in between to catch a breather. To be honest, time-for-money wise, the lawyer route probably makes more sense given that you're already halfway there.

I completely understand where you're coming from, it takes a certain level of empathy and putting oneself in the students' shoes to effectively guide them. I do think that the relief teaching scheme might be a good way for me to get a feel of how things are run in MOE schools; will definitely try that out once COVID lets up.

12-hour days do sound much better than whatever law has going for it, but it is a good consideration I'll keep in mind. The time-for-money clock starts ticking maybe three years into legal practice, but the legal market is so terrifyingly bad and the competition is extremely stiff, and I honestly see myself being eliminated too soon in the game, especially when my head/ passion is not entirely in it. Thank you again for all the pointers! Really helped me look at this alternative career path in a panoramic way.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I don't think it disadvantages you as far as qualifications go, but I do think it limits your understanding of the full nature of the job (as an MOE teacher).

If you're willing to provide an (throwaway?) email address on this (highly anonymous) forum 😂, I could probably help refer you to a colleague… EL teachers, even relief ones, are pretty highly in demand!

Yes, I completely understand! There might be a barrier to understanding what students under the MOE system go through in their education.

Thank you so much for the offer! I'd definitely take you up on this. I created a throwaway email address: [email protected]. I'd really appreciate if you could refer me to a colleague so I can gain better understanding on a career as a teacher 😊 it's great to know EL teachers are in demand!

i got C grade and during review, my RO say she can push me for internal SH appointment (if im interested), so that can secure better ranking in the future. Is it worth to take it since internal appointments are "fake"?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It's great you have a desire to teach, and that is a vital starting point for anyone considering teaching I think. But what most people looking at teaching from the other side of the school fence don't see is the enormous amount of responsibilities that come with it. On any given day, you may find yourself juggling any or all of the following tasks: discipline issues in your form class, CCA planning and execution, committee work (most teachers are in 2 committees), department duties (English teacher? Have fun planning/executing/ conducting oral exams), ad-hoc projects, setting and vetting of exam papers, marking marking marking marking marking, professional learning team projects (every department has one of these).. and other administrative duties.

And if you thought that was all, remember, you still need to plan and run highly engaging lessons for multiple classes on a daily basis for your students.. while paying attention to individual student needs and wellbeing

It is doable, but it won't be easy at all. But very rewarding work though.

Thank you for this insightful answer! Wow, I didn't know that teachers have such a heavy load on their shoulders, makes me respect mine even more 😊 A lot of work sounds administrative in nature, definitely something I expected to come with the job, and this list you provided does sound like a challenge to juggle. Oral exams were a nightmare not just for the students, but for the teachers too, huh? 🥴

This was a great picture you painted about the multi-faceted professional life of a teacher. I definitely realise it isn't a bed of roses, and that the role of an educator comes with a set of many struggles, too.

There is one thing I am curious about, though. Does promotion to HOD or higher-level positions stem from a teacher's ability to balance many fringe projects on his/ her plate? Since engagement and quality of teaching might be hard to directly quantify, I have this doubt about how one climbs up the career ladder in education.

Does Honour class play a part in CEP? Always had an impression it only affects starting pay.

Joined in 2015, 2nd lower but with NS, got GEO4 this year. Part of the school's internal COVID task force for HBL, social distancing etc since 2020. Also part of school NE committee. So I am involved when it comes to NDP concert, civil defence day, that sort of stuff.. Gotten C, B, B for the past 3 years.


My colleague, non scholar, female, but 1st class, joined in 2016, got GEO4 last year. She claimed she had B only once and it was not recent and gotten C- last year. In fact, she doesn't even have any committee assignments last year, so even she herself was surprised about the promotion.

Feeling about salty about it, considering I served NS. I am wondering if it's because of the difference in Honours that had an impact on her promotion time frame and CEP or she's just a lucky chap?