Goodbye Teacher, Hello Problems

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TODAY • Wednesday • July 11, 2007

isay GOODBYE TEACHER, HELLO PROBLEMS HO KONG LOON

WHEN I was in Secondary Two some 40 years ago, my class had no less than four changes of mathematics teachers. One of them, with a minimal grasp of English, taught us for only two weeks and we made no sense at all of what he said most times. Because we could not understand the lessons, the entire class refused to pay any attention and I lost interest in mathematics permanently. It was a criminal waste, because I had done pretty well in the subject up to that point in time. Soon enough, that teacher left and was replaced by another. Recently, a parent wrote to the press to highlight her concern that one of her sons had two changes of teachers within a year. This is certainly unsettling not only for her child but also for the other children in the class. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this problem is a relatively serious one, affecting not just a few schools, and especially secondary schools. A critical factor of teacher-pupil bonding is continuity. With an average enrolment of about 40 students per class, it takes all the skills, experience, diligence and patience of a teacher, not only to get to know each pupil reasonably well, but also to do a competent job of educating them. With the departure of a teacher (regardless of the reason), the relief or adjunct teacher is duty-bound to familiarise herself with the pupils’ names, academic abilities, character traits and more. How long would her tenure be, before her place is in turn taken over by a fresh graduate from the National Institute of Education (NIE)? Thereafter, the inexperienced teacher graduate has to replicate the entire process of getting to know her charges, and vice versa. The impact of the ramifications these disruptions have on the pupils — disorientation, confusion and loss of

interest — could lead to potential behavioural difficulties. It is neither possible nor practical for a senior teacher to do much to hand-hold a stand-in teacher or a fresh NIE teacher graduate — given that the senior would be weighed down by her own heavilyladen teaching menu and numerous tasks beyond the classroom. Parents are unaware of these disruptions if their children do not breathe a word about the said changes. I truly understand the dilemma all concerned parents face regarding this issue. Schools’ painstaking endeavours to manage their manpower deployment each year to minimise disruptions to continuity are severely constrained in many ways — maternity leave, upgrading courses, sabbaticals, illnesses, resignations, retirements, deaths and so on. The Ministry of Education could smoothen out the wrinkles in the following ways: 1) The NIE intake of trainee teachers could be adjusted such that they graduate at the year’s end. 2) Adjunct teachers could be contracted on a yearly basis, and paid an attractive salary to secure their invaluable services over a long tenure rather than a brief one. 3) Approve sabbaticals or upgrading courses only if they do not disrupt the teachers’ professional duties and responTODAY FILE PHOTO sibilities. 4) Make the staffing quota per school more generous. Finally, some wise counsel is necessary to do something about the topdown rigidity that some overly enthusiastic principals adopt in their management style. I know of one principal who said: “The culture in my school is that no one leaves before 7pm.” How utterly senseless, rigid and ludicrous to instill a sense of guilt or unease about leaving work earlier in order to attend to familial responsibilities, social commitments or just to romance, relax or let the hair down after sunset. Would the improving Singapore economy and the buoyant employment market catalyse a migratory movement from the classroom to the boardroom or elsewhere? Your guess is as good as mine. The writer is a retired teacher. What’s your view? Email us at [email protected]