Following the recent article posted by The Straits Times on educators that have left the teaching force due to culminating stress levels, it is believed that Singapore has much to learn pertaining to its “World Class Education”. True, the students in Singapore show results at the end of the day, but at what cost for these educators?
The real reason behind this article I believe is to highlight to the general public about the woes of an educator in Singapore. Many times, parents do not understand that teaching in itself is a profession that requires long hours and a certain expertise that is extremely draining on a human being. Of course, we understand that many educators are finding it harder to teach in Singapore because of the demands that it has on their physical and mental wellbeing, along with other aspects of their life. So how exactly can Singapore continue to improve its education standards while protecting the interest of its educators, especially in the public sectors?
Well from the complaints and dissents that past educators have cited in the article, there is a rather clear cut way of improving the current situation for teachers in Singapore. That is to improve their work-life balance as well as shorten their working hours required. The fact that Singapore enforces a rather stringent foundation and education pathway to textbook style learning requires teachers to be present for classes at all times and adopt the same schedule as their students.
So what really is the problem here? To really cut down on the long working hours that the teacher's experience, a change in syllabus directed towards self-learning should be emphasized on, especially in older students at the secondary and tertiary level. This could easily reduce the working hours of teachers down to a comfortable level instead of a full-on 12-hour work shift. Additionally, schools should enforce the rule that teachers are not obligated to stay back after their working hours and protect the teachers’ privacy from parents. It is absurd to think that parents are entitled to call teachers up as and when they like just because they have access to their personal mobile numbers. Teachers on their part should also practice discretion when giving their numbers to the class – they can’t have it both ways.
Support and reward has always been an important part of the extrinsic motivation for corporate workers, much less the teachers. In Singapore, the only time teachers are shown acknowledgment would be perhaps only during teachers’ day and maybe a once a year annual dinner at most. More has to be done for the educators of our future generation or the risk of them leaving for other areas of holistic development will further increase in the next few years. The very worst thing that we want is a shift in the industry towards tuition where one would be able to find a proper teacher instead of from their school.