Career as Teacher

Relentless cutting of headcount

Actual FY2023 - 31,202
Estimated FY2024 - 30,968
Revised FY2024 - 30,703
Estimated FY2025 - 30,460

s://.mof.gov.sg/singaporebudget/revenue-and-expenditure/revenue-expenditure-estimates

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Relentless cutting of headcount

Actual FY2023 - 31,202
Estimated FY2024 - 30,968
Revised FY2024 - 30,703
Estimated FY2025 - 30,460

s://.mof.gov.sg/singaporebudget/revenue-and-expenditure/revenue-expenditure-estimates

Cut head count nvm. Don't keep adding more work lah. Less people but do more work means there is a multiplier effect leh.

hi everyone, i am wondering if anyone can give me some advice. i have been a GEO3 since 2019 so this is my 6th year. i understand that they are slowing down on promotions but most of my batchmates have already gone up to GEO4. the only reason why my promotion is slow is possibly because my previous school had many rising teachers and idk if it works this way but perhaps their promotion means mine had to take a longer time. on top of that i was on maternity leave twice within these 6 years.

anyway, long story short, as much as i do feel quite sian about my slow progression my issue is not quite with the promotion because i think i should be expecting one this year (am covering a kp position currently and not intending to expand my family further). my issue is with the fact that from 2022 till now my salary has only gone up by 100+. no idea why it did not hit me sooner but the realisation of it today made me feel like crap. i am sure people out there are getting a raise every year while mine for the last 3 years has been stagnant???

now opportunities are coming my way like i said i am covering a position in my new sch and i have high hopes on a promotion this year but is this slow progression even normal? i must say i am very discouraged and right now i am thinking if i should just quit teaching before i get too old to do anything else. definitely do not want to be stuck in this profession if my pay is going to go up $100 every 3 years. it's really so, so pathetic.

of course i can ride it out and see where i can go in the next 2-3 years... but right now i just feel really horrible.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

hi everyone, i am wondering if anyone can give me some advice. i have been a GEO3 since 2019 so this is my 6th year. i understand that they are slowing down on promotions but most of my batchmates have already gone up to GEO4. the only reason why my promotion is slow is possibly because my previous school had many rising teachers and idk if it works this way but perhaps their promotion means mine had to take a longer time. on top of that i was on maternity leave twice within these 6 years.

anyway, long story short, as much as i do feel quite sian about my slow progression my issue is not quite with the promotion because i think i should be expecting one this year (am covering a kp position currently and not intending to expand my family further). my issue is with the fact that from 2022 till now my salary has only gone up by 100+. no idea why it did not hit me sooner but the realisation of it today made me feel like crap. i am sure people out there are getting a raise every year while mine for the last 3 years has been stagnant???

now opportunities are coming my way like i said i am covering a position in my new sch and i have high hopes on a promotion this year but is this slow progression even normal? i must say i am very discouraged and right now i am thinking if i should just quit teaching before i get too old to do anything else. definitely do not want to be stuck in this profession if my pay is going to go up $100 every 3 years. it's really so, so pathetic.

of course i can ride it out and see where i can go in the next 2-3 years... but right now i just feel really horrible.

you hit the GEO3 salary ceiling already. That's why you are not getting increments anymore. Salary can't increase further unless you get promoted, or the ceiling increases through a service-wide salary revision.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

you hit the GEO3 salary ceiling already. That's why you are not getting increments anymore. Salary can't increase further unless you get promoted, or the ceiling increases through a service-wide salary revision.

Nope I haven’t hit the ceiling. I’m only getting $5k+ and I believe my range can be up to $6k+

And so this is something I don't understand about salary ceiling. I know of people stuck at a grade for 10 years and obviously at ceiling. It is just demoralising. It is okay is the annual increment is less as you get stuck in that grade longer. But to have a ceiling is just demoralising.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

And so this is something I don't understand about salary ceiling. I know of people stuck at a grade for 10 years and obviously at ceiling. It is just demoralising. It is okay is the annual increment is less as you get stuck in that grade longer. But to have a ceiling is just demoralising.

Right? I’m not trying to sound greedy or ungrateful but I really feel like for the work that we do, we are underpaid. And I do not understand why the govt would think it is ok to pay us like this. Understand this isn’t a job for money, and I absolutely love teaching, but we have mouths to feed and bills to pay too. And our workload (esp mine this year with covering load) is heavy I must say. So it is really really demoralising to not see any increase after all these years.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

hi everyone, i am wondering if anyone can give me some advice. i have been a GEO3 since 2019 so this is my 6th year. i understand that they are slowing down on promotions but most of my batchmates have already gone up to GEO4. the only reason why my promotion is slow is possibly because my previous school had many rising teachers and idk if it works this way but perhaps their promotion means mine had to take a longer time. on top of that i was on maternity leave twice within these 6 years.

anyway, long story short, as much as i do feel quite sian about my slow progression my issue is not quite with the promotion because i think i should be expecting one this year (am covering a kp position currently and not intending to expand my family further). my issue is with the fact that from 2022 till now my salary has only gone up by 100+. no idea why it did not hit me sooner but the realisation of it today made me feel like crap. i am sure people out there are getting a raise every year while mine for the last 3 years has been stagnant???

now opportunities are coming my way like i said i am covering a position in my new sch and i have high hopes on a promotion this year but is this slow progression even normal? i must say i am very discouraged and right now i am thinking if i should just quit teaching before i get too old to do anything else. definitely do not want to be stuck in this profession if my pay is going to go up $100 every 3 years. it's really so, so pathetic.

of course i can ride it out and see where i can go in the next 2-3 years... but right now i just feel really horrible.

When did you join the service?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Right? I’m not trying to sound greedy or ungrateful but I really feel like for the work that we do, we are underpaid. And I do not understand why the govt would think it is ok to pay us like this. Understand this isn’t a job for money, and I absolutely love teaching, but we have mouths to feed and bills to pay too. And our workload (esp mine this year with covering load) is heavy I must say. So it is really really demoralising to not see any increase after all these years.

It is their way of forcing people to quit, so that they can meet and exceed their KPI of cutting down 'excess' teachers and reduce headcounts

If you look at the budget and expenditure statements for the past few years, the revised number has been lower than the estimated number. Meaning they managed to cut more people in the past year than they had estimated for. Someone's getting excellent performance grade for exceeding kpi in headcount reduction.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Right? I’m not trying to sound greedy or ungrateful but I really feel like for the work that we do, we are underpaid. And I do not understand why the govt would think it is ok to pay us like this. Understand this isn’t a job for money, and I absolutely love teaching, but we have mouths to feed and bills to pay too. And our workload (esp mine this year with covering load) is heavy I must say. So it is really really demoralising to not see any increase after all these years.

Agree with teachers on lower subgrades being underpaid.

Many people inside and outside of the system rave about how teachers in Singapore get paid very well, but they're only referring to the GEO5 and above. In the past, it didn't take very long to hit GEO5 (GEO1A3) by just meeting expectations and doing a decent or better job in class everyday. So it is still perceived that it doesn't take long to hit a high salary if you just go to school and do your job.

Unfortunately these days you have good performers (consistent C grade) stuck at GEO3 for as long as 9 years, or GEO4 in their mid-40s. By that time, they're all doing the same job as the GEO5s. They are no longer BTs or people who need to be offloaded to give them time and space to adjust. They're experienced teachers carrying the full load, and maybe even more because they are "young".