Removal of Punitive Implications for Teachers Receiving Lower Grades Under Performance Management System of Stacked Ranking
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns whether the Ministry of Education would remove punitive implications for teachers receiving lower performance grades under the stacked ranking system. Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing responded that MOE utilizes relative ranking to differentiate remuneration, where lower performance leads to reduced bonuses while higher performance is recognized with better grades. He highlighted that all teachers continue to receive professional development and supervisory guidance regardless of their grade to improve their pedagogical effectiveness. However, teachers who fail to improve over time despite developmental support are assessed for their suitability to remain in the Education Service. The Minister added that the system evolves through feedback and union consultation to ensure a high-quality teaching force while supporting weaker performers.
Transcript
42 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry will remove the punitive implications for teachers who receive lower grades under the performance management system of stacked ranking; and (b) if not, why not.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: MOE, like the rest of the Civil Service, adopts a system of relative ranking from which officers can be identified for recognition and development appropriately. Those who perform their jobs well are given better performance grades and bonuses to recognise the good work that they have done. At the other end, officers who have difficulty meeting the minimum requirements of their roles are given lower performance grades and also lower or no performance bonuses. Indeed, the private sector also practices differentiated renumeration based on performance.
Regardless of performance grade, all teachers have access to the relevant in-service training programmes, such as courses to improve on their content mastery and pedagogy, which they need to carry out their professional duties. Through such professional development, we continually seek to enhance teachers' effectiveness in teaching, as this has significant impact on students' learning.
We identify weaker-performing teachers so that their supervisors can guide them on their areas for improvements and help them with their professional growth and development. However, those who fail to improve in their performance over time despite the developmental support are assessed for their suitability to remain in the Education Service.
We will continue to evolve the system based on feedback and also in close consultation with the teachers' unions to support the weaker performers, while ensuring that we maintain a high-quality teaching force that can better guide our students in their growing years.