Perky... but....

MOE is trying to increase the perks that teachers get. including a plan to give teachers money to spend on things, almost anything, that can somehow increase their ability to teach. this includes PDAs, watching plays, etc. this is in addition to some other scheme that mimicks the SAVERS scheme that SAF officers get (but the amount of money pales in comparison to the SAVERS scheme). all these are attempts to make the teaching profession more attractive as a career option.

however, i think that offering money will not attract people into the profession. because people become teachers not for the money. similarly, many don't become teachers not because the money isn't good.

i believe that people who want to become teachers want to do so because they want to teach. they want to educate. they want to see people develop with their guidance.

this means that someone who wants to teach would have to enjoy interacting with the students. this person would need to have the time and emotional capacity to interact with students.

unfortunately, given the workload, the mad rush to cover the syllabus, the paper work, the many meetings that teachers have now, a lot of teachers do not have time to spend with their students outside of the classroom. and even if they do, a lot of teachers are so drained that they do not have the emotional capacity to do so. and this really kill the passion to teach, making teaching, as a profession, very unattractive. this is compounded when what the teachers do don't get recognised, which happens very often.

i have been lucky. i teach in a place where i get ample opportunities to get to know my students, to interact with them, to have fun with them and as such, develop a love for them. it helps that my efforts, however small they are, are recognised (i have great bosses). i know many other teachers who are not so fortunate, for whom teaching is just a job. and for these people, the pay will never be enough.

my recommendation to the Ministry is therefore:

1. really reduce the number of teaching hours per week. recent initiatives have not entirely worked because the freed up time has been taken up for meetings. so teachers end up having to do more, not less. i.e. teachers still don't have the time to recharge physically, emotionally and mentally.
2. reduce the class sizes so that teachers can really get to know their students better and hence help the students develop holistically
3. give teachers the authority to teach. students and parents are not customers. they aren't always right. we should not have to pander to them. they should respect us and our authority. only then can teachers truly have pride in our profession.

i think this would really help the education system the most. we have put in so much developing the hardware. it is time to develop the software and the heartware.