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Originally Posted by Unregistered

Is it possible to do PGDE without bond if I can fund the tuition fees myself?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Is it possible to do PGDE without bond if I can fund the tuition fees myself?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Meh. Everyone knows that SLs are idiots. It's the GEO3 officer that's the most knowledgeable on the education system in Singapore. You must not be a teacher

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Is it possible to do PGDE without bond if I can fund the tuition fees myself?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

this is old news. where have been all this while? it was a valid concern on what that tagline actually means. even school leaders have expressed their disagreement. you’re a new citizen?

s://sg.news.yahoo.com/jurong-west-secondary-vice-principal-takes-issue-with-%E2%80%98every-school-is-a-good-school--ideal-103224519.html#:~:text=Yahoo%20Newsroom-,Jurong%20West%20Secondary%20vice%2Dprincipal%20ta kes%20issue%20with%20'every%20school,is%20a%20good %20school'%20ideal&text=%22How%20many%20of%20our%2 0leaders,to%20buy%20(it).%22

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi been reading this forum with interest and curiosity.
Allow me to introduce myself. Teacher for the last 24 years. Did my tour as a classroom teacher and later on HOD. Currently am on medical leave due to illness and will return to service when I am well

I have been hearing some of the pain points of my fellow colleagues, here are some
- Grade promotions and annual increments. Why am I not promoted?
- HODs bore the brunt of teachers wrath when things go south.
- My HOD cannot teach. How can be HOD? Fit to lead me when I teach so much better!
- Toxic school culture
- Teacher burnt out

I do not have all the answers to these pain points because at some point, these feelings of yours is real and painful to you But what I can offer is to share with you my story and also hopefully helping you to realize everything happens in a multiverse way and our thoughts usually only surround our needs and there are many verses out there too.

Promotion, I too was young once and was fixated on this. Took it very hard when it didn’t come my way. I am a farmer too, btw. In my later years as I aged, I also realized I am no longer as swashbuckling like before, I don’t yearn for promotion anymore, I just want lesser load and even asked for demotion so I can do less for less pay. No such thing. You can only explore other schemes or decline your promotion when it is first offered. I am sure no one will decline a promotion. Promotion is a combination of many factors and essentially is also about your maturity as a teacher, educator and team player to your organization. Think less of yourself and more of others might improve the situation.

HODs are sai kang warriors of the school They have to lead and guide department to achieve curriculum shifts and the big ideas of education. It is a thankless job to be honest. Requires supervision, data and report writing to keep up to date with implementaion challenges. At the same time need to manage the morale of the department. Too dominating and you kill the spirit. Too docile and your charges will think they can do a better job than you. I always compare HOD to managing a football team. The star striker cannot expect the coach to score goals for the team like him, they are different roles and responsibilities.

Essentially, leadership is a thankless job When the teachers hit out, a mature HOD will also know the teacher is in pain and stress. Most important of a HOD is to maintain professionalism within the ranks and keep morale high by leading from example.
HODs cannot teach. I find this argument flawed. It takes year of practice to perfect our teaching craft and HODs are also not exempted from this. All EOs are in this for the long haul to be effective classroom teachers. Students are the best barometer so there will always be measurable outcomes if one wants to go all the way. HOD or not.

Toxic school culture is a curious thing to me. Of the schools that I have taught, I have not came across a toxic school where undermining others is the name of the game. If you find yourself in one, perhaps for your well being, consider open or closed posting. If it happens again, you might want to reflect is it because of your beliefs and personality?

Teacher burnout is real and exacerbated by COVID. I am also at my wits end to think of ways on how to lighten teaching load. Have tried to encourage colleagues to automate feedback for MCQs and worksheets but old habits are hard to change, some staffs choose the traditional way and I see them stressed out as they can’t keep up. The tech is there but they are not evolving. So I guess we wait till the camel break then guide again. Sometimes in leadership, you can only lead so much, the rest is up to the EOs. It takes guile and patience to lead experienced teachers.
Another thing I came across is learned helplessness. EOs falling into this state choosing to be happy in their predicament. These are people choices and you can’t do much till they want to do something for themselves. For such cases, the EPMS benchmark us to a standard of excellence and professionalism. We live by the sword & we die by the sword.

Finally I would like to say teaching like nurses is a thankless job. We do it because we like to be the engaging story teller that demonstrates craft and wizardry with our content to our students and be the best role model for them. If we have dark thoughts in us they will be manifested and we must be careful with ourselves as we are also the amplifiers of deed and speech to them. Blessings.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Not everyone who is burned out dealing with students who are unmotivated despite endless encouragements, wants students who are high progress. It’s just human to feel that burnout when even students with potential are burning out from commitments like cca and other non-IP things. It’s sadder when fellow educators judge others instead of supporting one another, by taking moral high ground and criticise them like how you did.

I have zero problem teaching low progress learners who are keen to make a difference to their life but still constantly fail in exam or WA. There have always been challenging family backgrounds in ANY era. But some kids these days are just waiting to be spoonfed and ready to blame their current and past teachers for their failings instead of looking inwards at how they can do better. Kids 10 years ago are more willing to reflect on themselves and push on despite setbacks.

I can teach the content, but i cannot replace their parents for taking that resilience out of them. Coming from challenging background does not equate to being challenging kids to teach. Poor learning attitude can be a combination of external factors that teachers cannot easily influence. Show me you have made that difference to 50 unmotivated kids in a year and we’ll talk.