3 reasons why I resigned during my Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) Trainee Teacher compulsory teaching stint period?

I saw an advertisement similar to the above and recalled what I wanted to be when young. I wanted to be a primary school teacher after seeing how my school teacher changed my life with her kindness and advice about life. This post is for all trainee teachers and those who aspire to be teachers. I am a simple 1.5m small size typical Chinese girl who wanted to teach English and Maths for life after graduating from a local university. I will tell you my 3 reasons why I quit below.

First, I was told to take over classes from a full time teacher who had gone on hospitalisation leave. The first 3 weeks of my stint at the school, I was sent to different classes as co-teacher to see how full time teachers conduct their classes and I was sent as a relief teacher to many classes to get "experience". The experience was good in my view as I learned how different levels behave with relief teachers. In short, all of them will test you but we need to be firm but the worst is P6 foundation classes aka "student who cannot make it in one class finally". Please do not make the same mistake as me of not calling the teacher who is in the class or even calling the school general office for help. My relief class which was said to be the worst class had 2 students run out, almost all students sitting with their friends and chatting like it was kopitiam. One even had the courage to take her hp and play a game but a teacher walked past the class and saw the commotion in my relief class. He was my saviour or can say knight in shining armour who came into class and said I will give 5 seconds if not you all will be staying back today. The class turned into an obedient mode and he said loudly to call him if any students created any problems. The students stayed the same way until my 1 hour of relief class ended. I went to his desk to thank him for his help. To my shock, he was also a trainee teacher but he started in December so he knew all the problems in the school unlike me in February. He simply advised me to be chill and call him for help if needed. He even joked that people are scared of Indians so as to chill me down. Thus I, being Chinese, need to be scared of him if not appunene will catch me. Apart from that, He advised me to be firm at all times to students and act like an old bird teacher. Hopefully he is single and I see again one day in my future.

Second reason, Special needs students who are in mainstream primary school as their parents do not want to send them to Special needs school or insufficient places in Special needs school. The worst are parents who do not do justice by giving their children a checkup with the fear of people calling them dumb/retarded without knowing that students in the better classes call them that on a daily basis. They do not know that their child can do better with a teacher well trained in handling/teaching special needs students. Anw it is their loss, these students will grow up to create more problems for others then ending up in jail or as grab drivers.

Another linked point of contentment will be lack of special needs school. We all know that students with special needs in Singapore have increased by a lot thanks to awareness and late marriages ( some deny it but data will never lie. Most of special needs students have old parents or are poor leading poor nutrition from start).

Common la Singapore government, instead of paying so much to your ministers, change an old school building into Special need school fast. Hire people who are willing to teach this special needs kids and train them well. I know it is easier said then done but many teachers are quiting due to this student creating so much nuisance in their classes. As teachers , we cannot even touch them with force, make them stand for long hours or even call them stupid directly.

Last but not least, the trainings given by MOE and job application processing time taken by MOE as well. I understand that it will take time to clear a person background checking but how will it be 3 months and another 4 months to give an update on offer outcome. So many people are waiting for the MOE job offer email daily as they need to give notice to their current workplace before joining the teaching line. In case, you do not know, just check the Singapore forums. Please note for mid career changers, your salary will be lesser than $5000 until the bonds starts and they will make it very clear on the contract to either take or leave it to the face so choose wisely.

Next part is the interesting part, MOE learned that many teachers quit once they start teaching thus implement this compulsory teaching training stint so people like me can quit before signing the bond thus preventing me from paying the penalty if I broke the bond later onwards. 3 days of "training" at academy of teachers, 1 follow up meeting at the MOE teacher gallery and 2 follow up meeting with your group along with the trainer (former principal) to check on everyone's progress. Normally before the last follow up already, few of them will quit as they are into teaching at school for like 2 months and realise that it is not their piece of cake. The reality is that the training is nothing compared to teaching where shit hits the fan in every direction. We need to make decisions fast and correctly in order to get things done in class time but I realised that I am not the one. The salary is low (3.6k) and I was at school from 7am to 5.30pm most of them where the remedial ends at 4pm and marking of papers will be until 5.30pm. Btw it was said they would co-teach remedial in the briefing slides but it was me teaching alone for around 6 months or more.

Then I need to wake up at 5.30am the next morning, to start the same old routine. The best part is that I was told that the full time teacher workload was worse with parent teacher meetings and organising events so I should be happy. These are things which are told during the teacher interview or training as well. But we did almost the same job for 80% of the pay. Well done to save costs MOE.

Anw the reason why I made this post is that I wanted teacher aspirants to know the reality and be ready in case they choose the path of being noble and teaching the students. I am HR manager now working from 9am to 6pm only with only 2 bosses to report and not 35 parents along with RO, Senior colleagues and Principals. All the best and keep on rocking on. Parents please know the struggles, teachers are going through and do not add to it unless needed. Please know that we also have a family and our own children who need us as well. Last but not least, thanks so much to all the teachers who work so hard to ensure classes keep going on no matter what !