Appreciating and Supporting the Well-being of Educators in Singapore

ADJOURNMENT MOTION

The Leader of the House (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Question proposed.

Appreciating and Supporting the Well-being of Educators in Singapore

6.45 pm

Mr Abdul Samad (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, let me start my speech by wishing all our teachers "Happy Teachers' Day". In fact, a celebration in appreciation of the efforts put by our teachers should not just be tied to a single day, but we should explore a month-long celebration and more importantly, a lifelong recognition.

On this note, I would like to record my appreciation to my Primary school teachers from Mei Chin Primary School, from the cohort of 1979 to 1984, and from Yusof Ishak Secondary School, cohort 1985 to 1988. This group of teachers taught me not just academic subjects, but also moral education and values, that I hold on until today.

Of the many teachers, one that remains a strong memory is my Secondary school form teacher Mr Cherry Chacko, who taught me English and Literature. In fact, he was the one that gave me the opportunity at such a young age of 15 years old, to address the school during assembly, an opportunity and experience that I will never forget till today. Thank you, Mr Cherry Chacko.

Not forgetting all my other teachers from both Primary and Secondary school: Teachers, without your dedication and commitment to educate me with the right values, I would not be able to be where I am today, both as a principal technical officer and a union leader in the power industry.

Sir, I decided to raise this Motion arising from an incident that recently went viral of a student in St Andrew's Secondary School. I strongly believe and affirm that no student is allowed to disrespect their teacher and what more to threaten in such nature? I have a feeling that such an incident of that nature is not an isolated one or few, but there is so much more. In fact, I do hear similar stories of teachers experiencing similar disrespectful moments. At times, it is much worse when parents do the same towards their children's teachers just to defend their wrongdoings and hide beneath their "guilt-tripping behaviours".

Hence, I call on the Ministry to give guidelines or even empowerment to school principals or even the victimised teachers to report any rude or harsh incidents teachers faced to the relevant authorities, as a means of self-protection from any abusive behaviours from both parents and students.

Whilst preparing my content for this Motion, I recently reached out to my fellow union leaders from the Singapore Teachers' Union, Singapore Malay Teachers' Union, Singapore Chinese Teachers' Union and also Singapore Tamil Teachers' Union. In addition, there are many more that represent educators from early childhood to Institutes of Higher Learning. I also managed to speak to few friends and cousins who are currently teaching too.

It is to my surprise that annually, these unions received more than 1,000 cases of grievances alone, aside from feedbacks. The grievances and feedbacks range from managing students' behaviour, abusive attacks from students' parents, work appraisal, mental health and on a lighter note, career progression. The unions acknowledged that MOE had been supportive towards them in resolving conflicts and take feedbacks positively on salary scale and career progression. One recent example was the recent announcement of pay revision and increase for teachers ranging between 5% and 10%, the introduction of a new grade; and a 30-year retention scheme which hopefully can motivate our teachers to continue their careers in educating our children and students.

This announcement signifies MOE's continuous commitment to constantly monitor and review the teachers' salaries, welfare and work prospects.

Notwithstanding the above, the unions believe that MOE could do more in terms of policies to address teachers' concerns and hence, setting policies that would at least set a baseline for school practices.

Further, MOE ought to expect school leadership to support teachers more and better. I believe it is the school leadership which is the fulcrum. Collectively, school leadership plays a pivotal role in school culture, work-life harmony, workload, expectations of teachers as well as shielding teachers from abusive parents and students.

Hence, I would like to put forward three areas for MOE's consideration for more support for our teachers.

First, it is about managing students' discipline. More support must be given to teachers by school leaders, MOE and we ourselves as parents. Students must be made aware and reminded continuously that any misbehaviours, rudeness, aggressiveness, or worse, threats, will never be condoned and they must face equal-like consequences. The school leadership must support the teachers in disciplining students and stand firm when communicating with parents on disciplinary matters. While approaches to disciplining matters may differ, teachers must feel that these approaches are effective with the strong backing of school leadership. We must ensure that the dignity of teachers is maintained and that the restorative practices are also implemented to resolve conflict, repair harm and heal relationships. This is also to maintain and uphold the students' dignity and well-being.

Next is on work-life balance. Our teachers have their personal lives and family to attend to. We, as parents, need to understand that teachers need their work-life balance as much as us. Even with this, the teachers would always go beyond the call of duty. However, parents must always respect teachers' private space and time. Parents can play a role in becoming constructive and complementary partners of teachers to support the students' growth and development.

The final one is about reducing teachers' workload and calibrated expectations. As teaching becomes increasingly complex and there are competing demands on teachers' time, more could be done for this final area. Teachers need more time outside of classroom teaching to attend to marking, preparing for lessons and working on student guidance. To then load them with committee work, non-teaching-related duties and meetings as well as constant, non-stop WhatsApp messages from multiple chat groups is unwise and untenable. The expectations must be calibrated vis-a-vis ranking and appraisal as well as reducing non-teaching-related workload ought to be reviewed. As teachers go beyond the call of duty, it is even more vital that there is curtailing of teachers' official duties and calibration of expectations. Sir, I would now speak in Malay.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The recent incident between a student and a school teacher is quite disturbing and worrying. Throughout my experience as a student in a neighbourhood school, fights and similar incidents are common among students, be it within my school or in other schools. But we could never have imagined an era where students disrespect their teachers. This is totally unacceptable, and as parents, we should be ashamed if our children behave that way. Parents must be firm in educating our children so that they respect their teachers, instead of doing the opposite. Therefore, I would like to share this Malay quatrain, which emphasises the importance of students always showing respect to their teachers, because teachers are the providers of knowledge.

In preparing my speech, I have also engaged and obtained feedback from my union colleagues as well as my acquaintances who are teachers. It is sad and heart-breaking to hear their issues and grievances arising from the challenges of handling the discipline of school students, parental interference, encroachment of their personal hours outside school hours and many more. There are also those who have not seen any improvement in their career progression after several years. However, this was changed recently when MOE made policy revisions in relation to teachers' careers.

On this note, I appeal to all parents with school-going children to respect the teachers' personal hours and not to indiscriminately send messages, e-mails, or worse, expect a response as soon as possible.

I am sure that the challenges I mentioned have received MOE's attention and support, and at the same time, MOE should be more cognizant of teachers' contributions and not place excessive responsibility on teachers.

I appeal to MOE and school principals to think about this issue and find the best solution.

I would like to recommend that all teachers who are union members should approach your union. Similarly, to trade union representatives, you should always approach your union members who are teachers in order to listen and receive feedback about their challenges and expectations as a teacher. Above and beyond getting feedback, the ministry and school principals should accept it with an open mind and avoid punishing those teachers by marking them down in their annual appraisal.

Specially for all our esteemed teachers, I would like to share another Malay quatrain as a tribute to your service – which states that I received so much from my teachers, and those memories remain after all these years.

(In English): I am appealing to the Minister for Education to consider a special bonus to recognise our teachers for their effort in managing extraordinary workload and stresses during the pandemic while continuing to educate our students. This gesture is also similar given by MOH for all their healthcare personnel in managing the pandemic.

To the parents out there, continue educating our children to always respect their teachers and most importantly, please, parents, respect the teachers' privacy and time. Avoid sending any unnecessary messages beyond school hours, if we believe that we, as career-minded parents, need work-life balance, the teachers need that too.

In conclusion, I would like to share a quote from an American advocate in the 1800s by the name Dorothea Dix. I quote, "The duties of a teacher are neither few nor small, but they elevate the mind and they give energy to the character." On that note, every teacher matters!

Mr Speaker: Mr Patrick Tay, you have eight minutes.

6.57 pm

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (Pioneer): Speaking on behalf of all our Teachers' Unions and Education Cluster of Unions, I join hon Member Abdul Samad in welcoming the recent move by MOE to adjust salaries by between 5% and 10% for their teachers and educators.

Our teachers and educators join the profession and make it a career out of a passion to nurture and build up our young and the next generation.

Notwithstanding, this round of salary review and adjustments by MOE will help in some way to ensure their remuneration remains competitive.

One important and welcomed enhancement announced is the new GEO 5A substantive grade. This is a positive development as many teachers and educators prefer and are more passionate to do teaching as their main job and competency instead of the administrative or leadership path.

However, I opine that remuneration alone is not something which will automatically attract or retain them. There are other areas, such as career progression, learning and development opportunities as well as the work environment, be it good supervisors, supportive colleagues and understanding parents of students all play a part to attract and retain our educators.

In this respect, I think more can also be done to ensure the mental well-being of our educators including SPED educators and pre-school educators. In this respect, I have three suggestions.

First, educators should be given opportunities to go on sabbaticals and also gap years to go on industry attachments outside of the education service, such as the people and private sector, to recharge and refresh their knowledge and perspectives.

Second, I am aware teachers spend loads of time setting and preparing exam scripts for continual and semestral exams, including the upcoming for prelims. Can I suggest that all exam papers be set at a group or cluster level for all our mainstream levels – Primary, Secondary including college – so that time can be saved and there is greater uniformity, consistency and alignment especially such as during the pandemic, where prelim results are used as a proxy when the student is unable to undertake national exams. This will reduce disparity and take a whole load of onerous time off teachers and schools with this co-sharing of exam script preparation.

Third, speaking on behalf of Union of ITE Training Staff (UITS), Ngee Ann Polytechnic Academic Staff Union (NPASU), Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE), The Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers' Union (SMMWU) and Education Services Union (ESU), I hope that the same can also be extended to our educators in the Polytechnics, ITEs and all other educators. I am happy to share that some unionised companies in the private education sector have also done a review and given salary adjustments. We hope that the rest of the players in the private education sphere, which includes early childhood, student care, Autonomous Universities and Private Education Institutes (PEIs), will also do likewise and review their salaries to ensure that their overall salary packages remain competitive, and also to help those who need to cope with the rising cost of living. I am also aware some of the PEI trainers and lecturers are independent contractors also known as gig workers. A review of their compensation and benefits is also timely.

All these will go a long way to give an assurance to our educators that, whether they are from the public and or the private sectors, their role in educating our future generations is recognised and valued.

In fact, for student care educators specifically, their salaries are disproportionately low when compared to the deliverables and expectations on them by parents. There are minimal progression opportunities for this group of educators. I hope that we can do more to uplift the profession of this group of educators and help raise the salary and progression of these student care educators. I know our Education Services Union will be happy and willing to work together with them. In fact, ESU is already working with some companies in the student care sector on the Company Training Committee initiative and we hope that bigger players will also come on board.

Mr Speaker: Minister of State, Gan Siow Huang.

7.01 pm

The Minister of State for Education (Ms Gan Siow Huang): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank hon Members Mr Samad and Mr Patrick Tay for their heartfelt appreciation for the hard work put in by our educators. In MOE, it is often said of our teachers: "Through your hands passes the future of our nation". A teacher's responsibility is a great one, as it involves moulding students and shaping lives. MOE appreciates the significance of the work of our educators and we are committed to ensuring their well-being.

We are particularly grateful to our educators who worked tirelessly as frontliners over the past two years of COVID-19 pandemic, keeping schools open and safe. This significantly reduced the impact of school closures and disruptions on the learning and well-being of our students.

I thank Mr Samad and Mr Patrick Tay for acknowledging MOE's efforts to recognise our educators through our recent announcement of pay revision. Our Polytechnics and ITE also review the salaries of the staff periodically, to ensure that salaries remain competitive against market benchmarks and are conducting a review currently. The outcomes will be shared with their staff when the review is completed.

I thank Mr Samad for his suggestion on the special bonus for educators. While paying our educators competitively is important, building a quality teaching service goes beyond salaries.

MOE is committed to supporting the well-being and development of our educators. We encourage teachers to gain diverse experiences beyond the classroom, so that they can broaden their perspectives and benefit from personal and professional growth. We have partnered with the public and private sectors through the Teacher Work Attachment Plus (TWA+) programme, so teachers can take up short-term attachments to enhance their skills and build connections.

On the issue of students' discipline, our educators' work goes beyond just teaching in the classroom to inculcating good values and character in our students. MOE has set out guidelines for schools to formulate their own discipline policies and approaches. School Leaders take a strong stand against disrespectful behaviour towards teachers and strive to promote a safe and supportive school environment for all.

When engaging parents, our teachers accord appropriate respect and courtesy, and the same is expected of parents in their interactions with our teachers. When parents use abusive words or threaten teachers, School Leaders will communicate a firm stand against such behaviour. In extreme situations where the teachers feel threatened or harassed, or their safety is being compromised, the school may take further action, including calling the Police for assistance and using legal protection for our teachers, to protect them against further harassment.

MOE HR works closely with the teachers' unions to support the well-being of our educators. We have quarterly dialogues to discuss matters such as capacity building, mental well-being support and grievance handling. The unions also provide an additional source of feedback on ground issues and highlight specific cases of educators who require stronger support.

Managing our educators' workload is an important area of focus in MOE. We have reduced administrative work by strengthening centralised services and leveraging technology, such as Parents Gateway and Student Learning Space, to streamline processes and teaching resources. We will consider other ways to create capacity for our educators, including Mr Patrick Tay's suggestion for common exam papers to be set across schools.

To create capacity for educators, our schools are also resourced with additional staff. Every school has a team of Allied Educators who perform various functions, such as counselling and working with students with special educational needs. All schools have a School Administration Team that performs administrative and operational functions. Schools are given additional posts and funding which they can use flexibly to meet their needs by hiring more staff to help with administrative roles. MOE also provides funding for schools to engage vendors to help with event planning and conducting after-school enrichment activities and camps, though teachers will still need to exercise oversight and provide the duty of care for their students.

To support work-life harmony for educators, our schools and education institutions have introduced more flexible work arrangements for educators where feasible, while maintaining the duty of care towards students. This includes holding virtual or hybrid parent-teacher meetings and staff meetings. Educators who require greater flexibility in working hours can also apply for part-time teaching arrangements.

During school holidays, all schools provide Protected Vacation Time for educators. This ensures that educators have time to rest and recharge.

An enabling school environment built on a culture of trust and support is key to our educators' well-being. School Leaders and supervisors proactively check in with their officers regularly. Educators are encouraged to share their concerns with their supervisors and leaders, or with the Superintendent overseeing their school. In addition, they can tap on other channels for support, such as their school's Wellness Ambassadors, MOE's in-house professional counselling services and the 24/7 whole-of-Government Counselling Hotline for public officers.

Schools' Staff Well-Being Committees have been provided with more resources to enhance staff well-being, such as additional funds and in-house curated resources. Educators can also take part in well-being workshops and talks.

Beyond these measures, parents play a significant role in supporting educators' well-being. I would like to seek the support of parents to work with us to establish positive partnerships and set appropriate expectations on the educators' responsibilities. For example, parents could respect educators' personal time by minimising non-critical communication with them outside work hours. Give schools and educators some time to respond to your queries and feedback. Work together with the educators to support your children's learning and complement the learning with what can be done at home. These guidelines on school-home partnership were published by MOE in 2019 and are available online.

We have started a good movement with the Parent Support Groups (PSGs) in our schools as we continue to strengthen our partnership with parents. I am grateful for how our PSGs are forging ahead in complementing our schools' efforts in doing more for our students and fellow parents.

For example, Fuhua Primary School's PSG, led by Mdm Tse Ka Po and her team, has been carrying out various initiatives for their parent community. There is Junior Gems One Ninety (JnrGEMS1:90), a parent buddy programme that connects senior parents to incoming Primary 1 parents to share experiences. There is also a chat group, ConnectGEMS, for parents to support one another on class-based issues. Both platforms are facilitated by PSG EXCO members who send reminders on school matters as well as share information on volunteering opportunities. This PSG initiative sets a constructive tone in every class's parent chat group and relieves educators from responding to questions that are frequently asked by parents.

We can all support our educators by showing appreciation for them. I am heartened by the outpouring of appreciation and gratitude to our educators on our Thank You 'Cher portal during Teachers' Day this month. There have been over 20,000 messages received from students, parents and alumni. Let me share a heartfelt message from a parent to Mdm Khairunnisa of St. Hilda's Primary School: "Thank you for going above and beyond, everytime. For looking out and cheering our children every day, celebrating small achievements and assuring that every win is an accomplishment. We are grateful and very blessed to have you as our Form Teacher."

We would like to thank everyone for encouraging our educators with your words of appreciation. These heart-warming messages show how much our educators are valued.

Mr Speaker, our educators are the pillars of our education system. MOE is committed to ensuring that they continue to be well-supported and their workload remains manageable. We care for their well-being and will continue to work with all stakeholders, including School Leaders, parents and the community, to support them. Indeed, every teacher matters.

I thank Mr Samad and Mr Patrick Tay for your support and concern for the well-being of our dedicated educators. When our educators are well supported, they will be able to bring out the best in our children, the future of our nation.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Adjourned accordingly at 7.12 pm.