News

S’pore Teachers Work Longer Hours Than Average But Are Passionate About Their Job

2019-06-21 , 6:00 am

A wise man once said, “if you enjoy what you work as, you’ll never have to work for a day in your life.”

Okay, granted, it’s still tough work, and no matter how much you enjoy it, you’re bound to get tired and stressed occasionally, but you know what I mean. I can totally relate.

It’s all due to the passion you have for your job, I guess.

Take for example, teaching. It’s a profession that many take on just because of the sheer passion they have in nurturing the kids of today that will become the future generations of tomorrow.

Despite the long hours that have to be put in for it isn’t just a 9 to 6 job, that passion still keeps many of them going.

Singaporean Teachers Work Longer Than Average

According to the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) that was done in 2018, lower secondary school teachers in Singapore worked a total of 46 hours per week on average, including hours spent outside of school.

This is higher than the average amount of hours that teachers in other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries worked, which is 39 hours.

The survey, which was done among about 3,300 teachers and their principals from 157 public schools and 12 randomly selected private schools, placed Singaporean teachers seventh on the list of hardest working educators in the survey of 48 education systems.

If that seems very long, it’s actually an improved situation from the last time the survey was done in 2013, where teachers here worked 48 hours per week on average.

Admin Work Reduced

One of the main reasons for this drop is that teachers now have to do less administrative work, said the Ministry of Education (MOE). As compared to spending 5.3 hours a week on those tasks in 2013, they spend 3.8 hours per week now, but it’s still higher than the OECD average of 2.7 hours a week.

MOE said that the significant drop in the amount of time spent on administrative work was something they are working on. For example, attendance marking can now be done via an app, effectively helping teachers to save time. Now, parents can even electronically give consent regarding school excursions etc. on an app as well, so teachers don’t have to collect the physical forms and chase after students who always forget to sign their forms.

Less Time On Marking

Believe it or not, teachers only spent 18 out of the 46 hours on actually teaching. Other than that, they spend time on co-curricular activities, marking, lesson planning and preparation.

“When it comes to marking, teachers are able to use an online platform that shows their students’ learning gaps. That will save time because what is important is for our teachers to be able to look at the gaps and address them,” said MOE.

On average, 7.5 hours were spent on marking in a week, as compared to 8.7 hours in 2013. The OECD average is 4.2 hours.

For all that comparison to the OECD average, MOE said there won’t be a “correct number” when asked if they were going to try to fit to the average number.

“The question we will often be asked is ‘what is the right calibration’? I think the answer must be what we think we need to do for our students to make sure they are ready for the future. What number is the correct number? Nobody will be able to tell,” a spokesperson said.

Instead, he said there are much more important factors than just the number of hours. MOE is currently focusing on making sure of teachers’ wellbeing and ensuring that they are passionate about helping students as much as possible.

Passion Levels High

Looks like the children of Singapore are in good hands, for 98% of teachers showed their passion through the survey, indicating that they became teachers because the job allows them to influence the development of young people. Teaching was also the first career choice of about 70% of them.

MOE said that teachers were also found to be constantly improving on their skills and enhancing their teaching practices, so much so that OECD singled out Singapore as a country where “continuous professional development is ingrained in a school’s shared vision of professional learning.”

SkillsFuture, anyone?

More Special Needs Training Needed

In 2013, 15% of teachers in the survey gave feedback that they wanted there to be more training for teachers on dealing with students with special educational needs. The number jumped to 20% in 2018, with teachers getting increasingly concerned.

“This reflects the desire of our teachers to equip themselves with the necessary skills and competencies to better cater to the increasingly diverse learning needs of students, as our schools become more inclusive,” said MOE.

More and more teachers have been going through professional development for teaching special needs students, with the number jumping from 23% in 2013 to 35% in 2018. All schools have a team of teachers who are able to do so.

They have also been using special teaching practices that encourage deeper learning.

Qualitative feedback helps greatly in helping students improve on their mistakes, and teachers were found to have provided written feedback and not just a mark more in recent years. From 72% in 2013, 77% of teachers now do so, compared to the OECD average of 58%.

“Being lifelong learners ourselves is what will put teachers in the best position to help students become future-ready and more importantly, want to keep learning throughout life too. The survey findings have also provided us with valuable insights into areas that we can work on, as we continue to support teachers in the important work that we do,” said Director-General of Education Wong Siew Hoong.

He added that MOE feels heartened that teachers are showing their passion in nurturing students to their fullest potential.

Aww, it’s truly nice to see that most teachers just want the best for us and work hard in guiding and educating us, no matter how much you thought your teacher hated their job. After all, it’s not easy dealing with a bunch of kids, so these teachers really deserve some respect!