anyone went back teaching again?

If resigned as a non graduate then going back as a SUSS degree holder, how is the emplacement going to be like?

Found this on the experiences of an ex-MOE teacher
--
The loss of a teacher

The MOE attributes teacher resignation to three top reasons - two related to family and the other a ‘desire for a change of job’ - all of which seem personal and beyond the control of the ministry. The latter reason, however, needs to be qualified. The heartening barrage of letters to the press and other forms of media paint a fuller, albeit bleaker picture that explains in greater detail ‘the desire for a job change’ (after all, which teacher would want to leave the teaching profession and/or be jobless without other reasons?), but it is no less instructive for policymakers (and school leaders, especially) to take note of these problems.

I attempt to explore the problems that have been brought up by fellow countrymen (in particular Christopher Tang, who offered the most cogent of arguments), and supplement the discussion with evidence gathered through decades-long conversations with MOE teachers/friends/brothers/sisters young and old, veteran and new. More importantly, I urge those who (and not 'that which') are involved to accept the responsibility in taking action to change that which they can change. Finally, I urge friends and family of teachers to speak up for the voiceless and continue this conversation with the Ministry.

In recent weeks, we have bemoaned the conditions that lead to teachers quitting, and the large numbers at that. Yet behind those numbers is a much larger one that underscores a pervasive problem: the majority of 33,000 who remain but are losing themselves every day, hanging precariously by a thread attached to their heartstrings like a marionette and its master.

The loss of a teacher is a tragedy of the common man. When an average, everyday person sees herself as just another cog in the machine that needs to be oiled and just perform at the expense of all she believes in - when she loses her sense of self - it is a grave day, and a reflection of what could happen to you and me. That is when the loss of a teacher occurs, and quitting the service is simply the final nail in the coffin.

The loss of a teacher starts from her inception. In NIE - our renowned teacher-training institution of educational excellence - the trainee teacher is taught and inspired by meaningful pedagogies that pursue deep learning in students. Her beliefs are shaped and honed, having learnt from other model educators. Upon graduation she seeks to inspire young wards with these wonderful pedagogies.

Then two years into the school she is posted to, the reality of how teachers are assessed by ‘performance’ - teachers’ performance, their students’ performance, and other visible performative evidence - kicks in. She realises that teaching to the test (teaching test items in order that students’ test scores improve) through worksheets and exam papers is the norm in her school because there are termly file checks, and thus tangible evidence of students’ files getting fuller. Students’ grades are also getting better, so she concludes that learning is taking place. Her reporting officer (RO) is happy at this, but encourages her to be more visible by spearheading innovative programmes, spurring her CCA students toward greater accolades, and writing research papers to share at conferences.

When it comes to the ranking exercise (a performance evaluation exercise that ranks you against other colleagues), she learns that she has received a ‘C’, which is a good grade she is told. A little disgruntled (because she has been socialised by the aforementioned norms of performance management), she asks what a ‘B’ looks like and learns that she must do so much more than just teach well. Once again, she is instructed of the performative evidence she must obtain by doing things beyond the classroom. She must be seen caring for the character development of students beyond the classroom, even though she does that in her everyday lessons. She must be seen improving herself by attending courses, sharing, and producing presentations and papers, even though she reads quite a lot of research articles at home. She must be seen contributing to the school’s and organisational development, even though she feels that is something the leaders of the school (who chose to be in the leadership track) should be more directly involved in. The operative words that resound in her mind are ‘be seen’.

All this while, there is a cognitive dissonance that sears through her mind. She has had quiet conversations with her colleague who just received a ‘D’ grade (which apparently means he is meeting expectations). She knows him to be a committed teacher who wants to be on the teaching track and focus on classroom teaching and learning. He cares for the students and is constantly looking for meaningful resources to engage them. He uses the baseline worksheets that the school dishes out but does not emphasise their completion because he does not agree with the philosophy of teaching to the test, and rationalises that there are a myriad of more meaningful resources out there that can deepen his students’ learning (and he uses them). He has repeatedly explained that a lot of the prescribed professional development courses the RO recommends him to go for after curriculum hours are things that he has already learnt from NIE, and therefore he feels that his time would be better spent marking and planning lessons . He oversees a low-key CCA that encourages students to take care of the school garden, but does not go all out to ensure the garden wins an award. He was also told off before for not responding to a phone message sent to him at 9pm. From these data points, the performance grade of D is given to him, despite the fact that he is a good classroom teacher and that his students are showing slow but steady improvement. Still, he is self-assured because he says that his conscience is clear and he has done all he can to help his students during his working hours after all the school’s afternoon programmes. There are other committed teachers like him who also receive ‘D’ grades, but because they are not as stoic, decide to leave the service after 5 - 7 years. We lose these teachers, and wonder if that one teacher who stays on will continue to maintain his convictions and moral compass in the face of performative pressures.

Back to our newly-minted teacher. She rationalises that she should still do what her RO suggests, because her ambition is to rise up as a leader in the leadership track. She tries to creatively integrate her NIE-learnt pedagogies into the proven teaching-to-the-test exam paper method, but as soon as she busies herself being seen doing performative tasks, there is little time to plan the lessons that she believes to be ideal. Years pass and she is now middle management. She finds that there are always more things to do that will help the school, and those things are evidently more visible and thus more rewarding than what she does in the classroom. The loss of a teacher is slowly but surely occurring.

I do not seek to moralise (or generalise) the complex experiences and choices of teachers through the sharing of these vignettes, but only to highlight the need to ask these questions:

Should teachers be penalised for not doing visible performative tasks outside the classroom? Who are the ones rewarding these performative tasks? Is this culture self-perpetuated by the individual teacher? Are the RO or school leader responsible for this culture? Or another leader higher up the bureaucracy? What would it take for a systemic change? Should we simply hope for all teachers to have stoic moral courage like our teacher sticking to his convictions? Does the evaluation system need a review?
Are standardised tests the best way to move students’ learning forward? Are 100% filechecks? Are there other ways of doing so? Is learning deep and broad? Have we researched into the use of formative assessment without semestral exams? How many weeks of actual teaching are compromised by teachers who teach toward semestral exams? Do teachers need to be evaluated by their students’ scores?
Do our teachers love their subject? Do they love the way they are teaching their subject? Do our pupils love learning? Do they even love their subject?
How do we close the gap between what beliefs and values educators espouse and what is truly enacted?
Why are the ideals of NIE with regard to pedagogies so far from the reality that is in school? How do we close that gap? Can there be an integration of pedagogies that lead to deep learning, with the ubiquitous use of worksheets and other methods that teach to the test?
Are teachers given autonomy to choose the programmes that they are involved in, or a choice of whether the school should be involved in a programme or not? How do teachers truly feel about programmes introduced by their school leaders? Do we even ask them? Do their feelings matter? Are those programmes truly meaningful? Do we evaluate the efficacy of initiatives before running them or hiring consultants? What do teachers feel take them away from lesson planning?
Does hiring new teachers or AEDs solve the problem when we lose our teachers?
When do we truly lose a teacher?

Anyone with more recent experiences to share about life after MOE? Feels like a really big step to take these days, especially given that there bit hiring as much as they used to…

Think Twice
 

just 2 cents worth as a current teacher for 7 years,

thinking of resigning this year. The workload is horrible. Wayang almost daily. new useless initiative.... KPs are lazy, non-dedicated, and only know how to dedicate work to JHs. Ranking is unfair. esp when u are " experienced" in a particular sch. basically the mistakes over the years just build up and doesn't reset each calendar year.

basically, the passion for teaching is there. but people at work make u lose the passion.


parents too... all the complains over minute things which are irrelevant. overprotective....

You are damn right on this one.
Those people have to cook up initiative after initiative, new programme after new programme, new SOPs after new SOPs so that they themselves appear relevant and have a reason for their useless existence.

Opportunities for ex MOE teachers
 

If you are an ex-MOE teacher and looking for new opportunities related to the education sector, please email [email protected]

Opportunities for ex MOE teachers
 

If you are an ex-MOE teacher and looking for new opportunities related to the education sector, please email [email protected]

Teachers have super good perks. Free leaves during school holidays. Cheap canteen food. Everyday can see school girls anyhow seat show underwear. One of the best job around.

To quit or not to quit
 

Hi I currently have just finished my bond and dying in school everyday. I tired to search around for other jobs but almost all require relevant experience and a degree in that relevant field. I only have a Bachelor in Education :/ Thinking of going to teach in International school or private tuition centre. Anyone in there? How's the pay like, heard that the International school angmoh teachers don't like us locals D;

Really lost here because I don't find meaning in this job anymore. Can't get anywhere unless you wayang everyday. UGH. But then again, I don't really have any other skills to go elsewhere. Help guys.

If this is your first career, i’ll encourage you to actually try a new environment like transferring to another school. You can also try out HQ stint for “office job”. You may feel negative simply because of your current school. Try out another environment first. You may feel better. Anyway, it’s open posting period now. Take the opportunity to change your environment.

Try to find other meaningful endeavour in teaching just like me. Such as watching schoolgirls panties when they anyhow seat. Or as a PE teacher seeing schoolgirls panties or Chee bye when they do excercises such as seat ups and open their legs. Such things greatly motivates me to go school and teach daily! You will never get bored!

Obviously not an educator, given your poor grammar and spelling errors. Please avoid commenting on these MOE forums. Thanks.

PE teacher no need good English.

life of a current teacher
 

i would advise those people who want to be a teacher to think twice... its one of the most difficult job. long working hours, high stress and being unappreciated. if you are unlucky and get a bad mentor who do not support you in school and backstab you, you will end up getting a D
and the kids nowadays are very different from the past..in a class, about half of the students are bad....

Dun fall into the pit
 

thought the passion will fuel your fire to be a teacher for life. After 7 years, you wonder if you made the right decision. Politics is true. Some Ps are just hopeless in dealing with it, sometimes even a part of it. I was overlooked despite working my socks off because the other was more senior and I was too young. seriously, they give lame excuses to give the position to the person they want. Becos you are young, they make you work like hell then say your runway long so give others a chance. sometimes I wonder how these people are chosen. Some teachers and KPs work very hard but the wayang ones tend to be ones promoted. best combi is wayang and hard working. my wayang skills sucks. so if u have this combi, go and teach. I used to think that trying my best to help the students get their distinctions are impt so i put in like crazy amt of time - but seems like unappreciated.


Don't let starting pay fool you. sounds high but the needle moves very slowly thereafter.

With all honesty, I regret joining the service.

From what I see, for every 10 teachers who leave, 7-8 of them are great. since it is comfortable and easy money for the some, they will forever be mediocre or less than mediocre becos they will never be fired. My advice: stay away from teaching if u believe only what they say in the moe adverts

Do not join this shithole
 

Current teacher looking to leave here. For every 10 teachers who leave. 7 of them are good teachers. Some leave because of the crazy workload, some leave because the P is lousy (met a perv P and Oscar award winner P) and some simply lost the passion because of a combi of reasons. I am going to leave because of the lies they fed me. Sometimes I wonder if the SLs should get a work attachment in the private sector.. they seem like oblivious to what is happening on the ground. They claim they know but make crazy assertions based on some crazy tale by a KP. Don't get me wrong, there are kind and wonderful KPs but they are far and few. SLs on the other hand, i don't have much good things to say about them. if u meet a genuine one, u r lucky. Actually I thought I met one genuine one before but she turned out to be horrible person behind the scenes.

Advice: The starting pay is good but that is where it ends. The politics will suck your passion dry very quickly. The ranking system may see your friends become enemies. some will not hesitate to sabo u. SLs and some KPs (because they are pressured by the Ps) will lie to make to stay. Sometimes i wonder what kind of a person you need to be in order to be a SL. The young will be taxed and they will claim that they want to stretch you when in the end, makes no diff because favouritism is highly practiced in some schools. The P is like some god in the school, surrounded by a bunch of wayangs. So if you are wayang, you will survive well in most schools unless your P is an enlightened one.

Hi,

I empathize with what you are going through as I am also in the same predicament. Have changed environment once but somehow due to my lack of carrying balls skills, I have always managed to step on others' toes. After which, whatever I did became useless. They gave me a lot of projects to do but made sure I had to do everything alone and then blamed it on me for not showing team spirit and good interpersonal skills. Basically once you have been blacklisted by those in favor, they will try ways and means to make life difficult for you and they will most likely succeed as they will have the support of the upper management.

It feels like although we always teach kids not to be bullies, the adults in the school exhibit the exact same behaviour and nothing is done to stop them. It is always easier for the upper management to side with the "popular" and vocal ones rather than the quiet ones like us.

In all my years in MOE (more than 10 years), I have always had a good relationship with the students and parents. It has always been the colleagues who make me feel demoralised and discouraged. So don't worry, you are not alone. What is your plan after leaving MOE?

This is so sad. MOE doesn't deserve you. Your passion is to teach; your passion isn't MOE. You can still fulfil your passion elsewhere!

Have you tried changing schools? If you find that regardless of the school you went and the situations remained the same, it might be your approach that needs changing, esp when you mentioned that you always stepped on their toes.

If you can build good rapport with students and parents, I don't see why that cannot be done with your colleagues, unless past experience has resulted in certain level of biasness. While being wayang may help one score some brownie points, it does not cover up the mistakes that he/ she makes. Applying the same analogy, not knowing how to carry balls doesn't erase one's contributions towards the school, unless the mistakes are serious in nature, for eg safety or they comprimise T&L. I have teachers who are excellent story tellers and they put themselves in the limelight, but sadly, their actions often point south.

While some points you raised are true, I have seen JHs who moved out of C-, D grades. The ranking panel comprises the SLs and KPs, and I am sure that if you have achievements to back you up, it is hard to pull you down just because of their prejudice. I don't know what you meant by people (non-kps) giving you lots of work but making sure that you work alone as that isn't the norm with working comms around. Target setting at the startof the year should have lay out what needs to be done for you so sometimes all one needs is learning to speak up.

I have encountered teachers who went around telling people that they had numerous porrfolios, and they slogged all day long etc but I see them spending hours at the pantry gossiping and making a mess iof things while they continue to feel good about how almighty they are. So when not given an appraisal they desire, this group of people feel unjust and start to have lots of self-pity.

I believe you are still in the service. Don't lose passion and continue to do what's right. At the same time, look for opportunities if there are and maybe a change of environment might shed new light on things that you have been through.

happier
 

I'm so much happier after leaving service. The days in sch left me so so drained, and I fell ill very often. I had no time for my family and even when I met friends, I didn't feel happy.

It has been almost 3 years since I left sch, and I haven't regretted my decision.

Only thing I miss, is the fixed, certain, secured paycheck every month. Oh, and bonus.

Well, can't have everything in life I guess.

Sigh… I've been thinking of leaving, but the paycheck is also a big deal - I'm the primary breadwinner in the family. Especially now with the bad economy…

happier
 

yes the pay...and have to be honest...not easy to look for a job...esp if the only job we had to date is being a teacher...

and it's a big paycut….more so taking into account the bonuses..

butttttt...i'm much happier now...less tired...healthier...and my family is happier too..things money can't buy

Sounds nice... =)

Would you consider FAJT assignments? Or will those only bring back all the downsides of the job anyway...

happier
 

unless u're those that can just go to sch...do ur thing....and leave...i'm guessing it'll be back to square one...

so nope. I won't.

sad potato
 

Hi. I’ve been thinking of leaving too. I’ve only taught for a year and I’m bonded for 7 years... I’d rather have a 9 to 5 office job than being a teacher. Like what others said, it sucks you dry. It’s emotionally and physically draining..

Honestly whats stopping me from quitting is the liquidated damage that I have to pay back if I choose to quit.. It’s close to 200k and obviously I don’t have that kind of money with me.

Does anyone know any bond breakers? Or if it’s possible to waive the liquidated damage?

Why is ur bond so long

I know a few bond breakers but they broke it very very early and only pay a few thousand

Likely to be overseas scholar hence the long bond otherwise will just be a 4-year NIE or local scholar bond.

Personally, I left teaching in 2015 when I was close to 30 after teaching for close to 6 years. I enjoyed teaching at my Alma Mater and the main reason I left was because while teaching certainly has its challenges, it got less challenging after awhile. I was also curious about the private sector then. So taking a leap of faith, I resigned and decided to do a unrelated Masters to help myself transit into my new career. I'm grateful to my SLs who tried to dissuade me from leaving, giving me the option to go on no-pay leave and even mentioned that if I change my mind within 6 months, they'll request to Ministry to take me back.

Like what many have shared, one must be willing to take a pay cut and also be willing to start from the bottom. I took a 20% pay cut and was in a contract role before eventually being converted to a permanent role. In terms of salary, I would say I'm now probably slightly above the salary I would be drawing if I didn't leave service.

Do I miss teaching? Although I love what I'm doing now, I certainly do miss teaching because it is one of the most meaningful careers one can get. I work in the CBD now and I bump into my students there once a while. No amount of words can describe the pride and satisfaction I gain to see how much my students have come along and knowing that I've been part of that journey is just indescribable. I guess the mindset as to why you join service is important; sometimes a lot of what teachers perceive to be "admin" work are actually necessary to help develop the whole child. We don't only teach the subject that's being assigned to us but we are educators and we owe a duty of care to our students. Politics honestly is everywhere and I would say the politics in teaching is mild compared to the cutthroat private sector.

Is it impossible to do something else apart from private tutoring? Definitely not but it does come with sacrifices and a lot of determination. All the best!

Are you a diploma holder for O level scheme who crossed over to University.

Cos o level scheme is bonded for 5 years. Then you cross over to uni add another couple of yes. Es.

Total 7 years but seriously if you were not in it for teaching, you shouldn't have taken it up.

They broke it very very early when they started their training at nie.

yes, one broke it within the first few weeks of nie training. Another one changed his mind after signing the scholarship and havent enter nie

There will always be bond breakers at different stages of their bond period.

One thing for sure is MOE will not waive the LD, and if you ask anyone on the street whether your LD should be waived, they will say no. Your paid training (and education?) and full salary during the training period was funded with taxpayer money on mutual agreement that you will give your full contribution to the nation's education for the agreed period of time. As a taxpayer myself who curses at the amount I have to pay every year, I strongly feel you should keep to your end of the deal whichever option you choose.

You are an adult and nobody can stop you if you insist to break your bond. There are thousands of eager beavers who want to join MOE as a teacher anyway; just look at the other thread.

MOE will not waive your LD, but you will be allowed to work out a repayment schedule via installments.

Hi,

After u leave the service, how hard is it to join back as a (flexi/contract) Adjunct teacher?

I was a teacher for 3.5years before taking the leap of faith and quit end of last year, after securing a job in the private sector (took a 20% pay cut). I agree you that my overall work-life balance is better, I'm happier, and I have more time to myself (after work it is really time for myself, and I need to worry about worksheets to be marked etc). It was the best decision I made in my adulthood but I do miss teaching and I miss my students, as well as the bonuses.

However, I'm not ruling out the possibility that I will return to the service in the future. I am wondering if any one here quit and returned to becoming a MOE teacher again? How would MOE gauge your experience outside? Would there be a pay raise upon reentering the service or do you restart with the pay you got when you left the service?

Operations Manager Adjunct
 

Have anyone been contacted for the role of Operations Manager (Adjunct) that was recent, probably, June 2020 period?

Not too difficult as flexi - but for contract, the school must REALLY want you, since you'll take up a slot in their teacher quota.

I'm curious about the inverse direction - how does one exit teaching in MOE? What types of jobs would welcome my (relatively limited?) skillset? Especially in today's job market… seems rather difficult.

Sell insurance, sell properties.

Private tutor, tuition centre tutor.

Tech tools for teachets
 

Would technology tools such as those that can automatically grade assessments help to reduce the teacher's workload, and improve the teacher's effectiveness?

Global Online
 

Basically go into global online - for personal development and useful income - info at [email protected]