September 04, 2004

haven't been using this sub-heading for awhile...

From the papers...18

Filipino teachers or retired local teachers as teacher aides (TA) in schools. Wait, let me go back a step.

Singapore Teachers Union (STU) set up a new business wing - EduCare - to take care of educational activities and services for its teachers. I don't know why but I feel quite uncomfortable knowing that there's such thing as a 'business wing' in a teachers union. Talking about educational activities and services, shouldn't it be a matter of concern for MOE, rather than to have the teachers themselves double-up as sales-people, albeit it might be for their own benefit?

It kinda contradicts their somewhat feasible proposal to have TA for teachers, isn't it? I just imagine... free the teachers from admin stuff and whatnot from their own school, so that the extra time they have can be used to erm, run a new school in Batam? Sounds brilliant...

And ya, why outsource? Look local. Why not let the untrained teachers i.e. teachers that have not completed NIE, be TA? Far as I understand, some of them have the chance to be attached to schools to have a taste of teaching first before they go NIE. Why not be more flexible and recruit fresh grads as TAs? Many fresh grads, out of desperation and a bald bank account, often turn to teaching, anyway. So, before they send in their application to NIE, why not open the doors to them to try TA (and hopefully they will end up knowing for sure if they want to go into teaching or not)? But don't be slack about the screening process. There's a kind of people who just should not go near pupils.

And, what is the role of the TAs? To help out in admin stuff and class preparation? To take on CCA? To be a shadow teacher in a class where there are severely distracted or disruptive students? For every different role, there should be different expectations in terms of suitability.

Important also, how is EduCare going to chart out the salary structure for these TAs? From what I read, one of the reasons why EduCare is looking at oversea teachers is the lower cost involved in engaging them, vis-a-vis local ones.

My opinion is, if cost is so important, then, look at other alternatives to lessen the non-teaching workload for teachers. Like, simply, have more admin stuff (employ locals!). Personally, I think that the quality of teachers and teaching should never be compromised for cost-saving measures.

Just something that I'm wondering. Has the workload of teachers gotta do with the curriculum? If so, shouldn't STU be looking seriously at the curriculum in schools and proposing ways of bettering the curriculum rather than employ TAs? One very important and feasible way of bettering the teaching of curriculum is subject integration. I know some mainstream teachers are already doing it. Prepare more but mark much less, and subject integration is definitely more effective learning for students than teaching subjects in isolation.

Posted by 杏 cy （Jancy） at 18:07