ST Forum: Is there a
shortage of school teachers?
The teacher issue comes up again in a ST Forum letter. (thanks Yeu Ann)
I am one of those who have started to think that the issue lies in a group of people - Principals. In my personal experience as both as student and relief teacher, I have come across a couple of them who have left me a bad impression. As pointed out by a number of teachers, factors like public-private sector renumeration aren't all that important. On the other hand, a bad principal can be quite a strong push factor. It's a pity to lose scores of dedicated teachers because of one individual.
Bad principals come across as career people. They look more like managers than educators. Yes, principals are managers, but what I mean is that these particular ones do not feel like educators-at-heart. Their concerns lie in school image, branding, exam statistics, academic and CCA achievements, KPIs, etc. There is no sense that they care about students' well-being or the grooming of young teachers.
Personal experiences:
The principal made my class of 13-year-olds spend the entire period out in the open, under the sun, just because they were 'noisy' while excitedly lining up to go to the library. I was also given a stern warning for failing to keep the noise level down. Teachers soon learn that noise level has a higher premium than the education process.
The principal's idea of detention is to make the offending student spend the entire schoolday sitting outside the general office. Some recalcitrants spend days away from the classroom because of this. Not only are they publicly humiliated thus, but they miss days' worth of lessons. How does this reform them, pray tell!
It was evident that the technical stream students were essentially forgotten when it came to matters of education, nurture, encouragement and everything good. Only attention they get is disciplinary. What is the purpose of discipline? Is it not supposed to be loving and for reformation? Here it feels merely punitive.
Express students, on the other hand, are feted, and only so because their achievements can be splashed across banners outside the school.
Teachers in this school are uninspired. They do not find a role model in the principal. There is no respect, only fear. No one would dare be a maverick. Just do what they are supposed to do. The students really are the main motivation for them. There are wonderful dedicated teachers who love their students dearly and who are dearly loved by students - they count down to the day when they are able to request for a transfer.
When I was a student, some of the best teachers in my school transferred out when a new principal took over. We students might never know what transpired at the staff meeting where one of them supposed stormed out halfway. The issue was apparently about whether the school's performance (i.e. ranking, statistics, honours) or the student's needs were more important. It was clear as time went by that the former was more important, at least to this principal.
So, even as we wonder how to hire and retain good teachers, let us also think about the quality of the principals in whose hands we entrust the cultivation of not just our students, but also that of our teachers.
