Tired Teachers

From: http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_526768.html

Work-life balance? Here's one day in the life of a teacher

I AM often told how the Ministry of Education is easing teachers' workload, but I see little evidence of it.

My husband has been teaching in a neighbourhood school for several years. Despite the mantra of work-life balance, I see little of it in the lives of teachers. Here is a typical weekday routine for my husband:

5am: Wake up and prepare for school.

6am: Leave for school.

7am: Arrive at school and perform morning duty (in a sense, 'guard duty').

7.30am to 1pm: Regular teaching duties (including extra games for students who need more exercise during recess, which is part of the Holistic Health Framework that replaced the Trim and Fit scheme).

1 pm to 1.30pm: Prepare for remedial lessons.

1.30pm to 3.30pm: Conduct remedial lessons (my husband's school believes that to improve students' results, remedial lessons must be conducted daily).

3.30pm to 5.30pm: Be present for the co-curricular activities he is in charge of.

5.30pm to 6.30pm: Administrative work like keying in remarks on students for the mid-term report book).

6.30pm to 6.45pm: Pack 36 books and piles of worksheets to take home and mark.

6.45pm to 7.45pm: Travel home.

7.45pm to 8.30pm: Eat dinner and rest.

8.30pm to 1am: Continue with administrative work, such as marking books and worksheets, reviewing examination papers, and preparing programmes for the June school camp and Youth Olympic Games activities.

Weekends are hardly restful. I often ask him if the endless work is because he is singled out. That is not so, he tells me. His colleagues face the same punishing workload.

As I am writing this letter at 10am, my husband has developed a fever. But he is unable to seek medical attention as there is an oral examination in the afternoon.

I understand there is a need to be accountable to students' parents. But in this case, who is answerable to a teacher's family if anything happens to the teacher?

Aishah Quek (Ms)

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Is this a serious issue that the government has to look into? Or just a random grumbling from a discontented citizen?

There are many arguments on both sides of the issue. Some agree that teachers are definitely overworked, with comparable salary but longer working hours than other professions. While others argue that there are many other jobs which have similar situation and this does not give teachers the exclusive right to complain about their workload.

As we grow up, we'll realise that being a teacher is not as simple as what we observe from a student point of view. But how different is this occupation from the rest? If we say being a teacher is stressful, and he/she has to endure long working hours, we can easily pick another profession and say the same thing too.

Let's take a look at some arguments raised and see if you agree with them:

From: http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2767149

- Teachers have school holidays. This is when the slack period comes in. They don't have to work to the full hour during this time and can even leave earlier. Which other jobs have this privilege?
- But they still have to report to school for meetings, lesson planning, CCA activities and tons of other administration work. Moreover teachers have no annual leave.

- Guard duty, remedial, keying in report books, CCA are not daily affairs. The schedule is just exaggerated.
- The workload very much depends on the principal. If you have a wayang principal who wants everything to be done swee swee, expect to have a tough time ahead.

- Teachers are often stressed by the principal to produce good results for the school. Other than academics, they have to deal with discipline matters too. Children nowadays are getting harder to teach. If they don't listen, you can't punish them too.
- Most teachers have no passion for the job. They stay on because of the money. Furthermore their jobs are appreciated by special occasions like Teachers' Day. Have you ever heard of Doctors' Day? Engineers' Day? Teachers should feel more thankful for their job.

Quite a few arguments are based on hearsay from friends and relatives, which may differ greatly. While there is "I know a friend who is a teacher, and he/she is not that busy like what the letter stated.", there is also "I know someone who has the same experience; he/she often burns weekends on marking."

It may be easy to judge, but not easy to generalize. Whatever the case, without experiencing it first hand, we shouldn't hold a simplistic view on the matter.