Impact of Recent Education Reforms on Teachers' Workload

98 Ms Elysa Chen asked the Minister for Education (a) what assessment has been done on the impact of recent educational reforms, such as subject-based banding and digital device initiatives, on teachers’ workload; and (b) how schools are being supported to adapt to these changes.

Mr Desmond Lee: The Ministry of Education (MOE) closely monitors teachers' workload as part of our commitment to teachers' well-being and to ensure that initiatives can be implemented sustainably. This is done through regular surveys and engagement sessions with our teachers and school leaders. Overall, the average weekly work hours reported by teachers have remained stable over the past five years.

MOE provides holistic support to schools when implementing new initiatives. This includes implementation guidelines, appropriate training, such as through workshops and briefings, and the necessary tools and resources. Teachers are also supported through platforms for collaboration and sharing of good practices. For the “Transforming Education through Technology” Masterplan 2030 implementation as an example, each school is provided with consultancy and professional development support. We also provided schools with EdTech resources such as centrally deployed artificial intelligence tools to support lesson planning and marking.

In addition, schools are given flexibility on implementation timelines where appropriate. For example, schools could decide on when to come onboard the Masterplan 2030 over a period of four years. For Full Subject-Based Banding, lessons learned from pilot schools enable MOE to better support schools closely with useful resources and good practices for each phase of schools. Such flexibility and phasing in allow schools to consider issues such as teacher readiness and reduces the amount of change management.