Career as Teacher

Originally Posted by Unregistered

u mean u joined teaching expecting to be paid well??? the private sector makes profits. of course the pay can be much higher

While we don't expect to make loads of money compared to private sector, but based on conversations with friends from other parts of public service, teacher salaries and career progression seems lower and slower. People with the same number of years in service would be already be at a higher paygrade and therefore higher salary band, compared to EOs, where the slower promotion and miniscule pay increments result in others overtaking us after around 5 years.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

curious, which industry did u jump to? did u have to sacrifice any time or opportunity cost?

Quit and joined another ministry. Definitely more worklife balance, and don't have to work after office hours. Pay is in fact slightly higher. Think HR had to bump up my pay in order not to have so much of a gap with current colleagues' pay.

Able to share how long did u spend in MOE before switching over? What were some issues u faced when making the switch? Thanks so much!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

While we don't expect to make loads of money compared to private sector, but based on conversations with friends from other parts of public service, teacher salaries and career progression seems lower and slower. People with the same number of years in service would be already be at a higher paygrade and therefore higher salary band, compared to EOs, where the slower promotion and miniscule pay increments result in others overtaking us after around 5 years.



Quit and joined another ministry. Definitely more worklife balance, and don't have to work after office hours. Pay is in fact slightly higher. Think HR had to bump up my pay in order not to have so much of a gap with current colleagues' pay.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

While we don't expect to make loads of money compared to private sector, but based on conversations with friends from other parts of public service, teacher salaries and career progression seems lower and slower. People with the same number of years in service would be already be at a higher paygrade and therefore higher salary band, compared to EOs, where the slower promotion and miniscule pay increments result in others overtaking us after around 5 years.

Quit and joined another ministry. Definitely more worklife balance, and don't have to work after office hours. Pay is in fact slightly higher. Think HR had to bump up my pay in order not to have so much of a gap with current colleagues' pay.

Jumping to another ministry, even to a generic scheme (e.g. MXO), will expose a large progression gap with same-age peers, which gets wider and wider the more years you have been in the Education service.

It is even more shocking (in a good way) if you manage to get into a different specialised scheme.

im quite bumped abt not moving up to geo 4 despite being in service since 2015/2016
2015 pgde
2016 promoted to geo 3
2017 3 C+ (boss say it will be default c+ bc just gt promoted)
2018 3 C+
2019 3 C+ ML
2020 3 C+ ML (boss say it will be default c+)
2021 3 C+
2022 3 B (why nt promoted here?!)
2023 3 C

im ok nt to take up KP position, but nt moving up the ranks is like...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

im quite bumped abt not moving up to geo 4 despite being in service since 2015/2016
2015 pgde
2016 promoted to geo 3
2017 3 C+ (boss say it will be default c+ bc just gt promoted)
2018 3 C+
2019 3 C+ ML
2020 3 C+ ML (boss say it will be default c+)
2021 3 C+
2022 3 B (why nt promoted here?!)
2023 3 C

im ok nt to take up KP position, but nt moving up the ranks is like...

ya some ppl moved to geo4 at 2020 alr

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Jumping to another ministry, even to a generic scheme (e.g. MXO), will expose a large progression gap with same-age peers, which gets wider and wider the more years you have been in the Education service.

It is even more shocking (in a good way) if you manage to get into a different specialised scheme.

so u mean its better to jump?

will eo be able to go back to moe shld they feel that the ministry they jumped to is unsuitable?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

so u mean its better to jump?

will eo be able to go back to moe shld they feel that the ministry they jumped to is unsuitable?

1. If you are happy to explore other areas of work and/or if you want salary progression that is more in line with the majority of the public service, yes.

2. Generally speaking, it is insanely competitive to apply to enter/re-enter the Education scheme of service. I would say chances are extremely slim at the moment unless you are teaching niche subjects and/or in Pri sch. Short answer: not easy

Originally Posted by Unregistered

1. If you are happy to explore other areas of work and/or if you want salary progression that is more in line with the majority of the public service, yes.

2. Generally speaking, it is insanely competitive to apply to enter/re-enter the Education scheme of service. I would say chances are extremely slim at the moment unless you are teaching niche subjects and/or in Pri sch. Short answer: not easy

thank you for replying.

firstly, how do I know if my salary is more in line with the majority of the public service?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

1. If you are happy to explore other areas of work and/or if you want salary progression that is more in line with the majority of the public service, yes.

2. Generally speaking, it is insanely competitive to apply to enter/re-enter the Education scheme of service. I would say chances are extremely slim at the moment unless you are teaching niche subjects and/or in Pri sch. Short answer: not easy

hi, is it normal to be stuck at geo 3 for 7-8 years?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

im quite bumped abt not moving up to geo 4 despite being in service since 2015/2016
2015 pgde
2016 promoted to geo 3
2017 3 C+ (boss say it will be default c+ bc just gt promoted)
2018 3 C+
2019 3 C+ ML
2020 3 C+ ML (boss say it will be default c+)
2021 3 C+
2022 3 B (why nt promoted here?!)
2023 3 C

im ok nt to take up KP position, but nt moving up the ranks is like...

I'm not agreeing with what HR is doing, but the reasoning given to you will be because you don't take up KP position and/or don't work above the geo3 subgrade expectation, that's why you are not promoted.

Any teacher who has worked in a school before including myself knows this is not true lah. With so many years of exp, your work is probably already similar in impact to any geo5 in the same school. But what to do?