Thursday, June 5, 2008 7:00
The childcare teacher – not your high-class maid
In Main Stories, Rachel Zeng, Top Story • 2,059 views • 10 Comments
Although it was with sadness that I bade farewell to the teaching industry in Shanghai in September 2006, my heart was also filled with hope and excitement of coming back home to teach.
Finding a job was not too difficult a task. There is always a demand for childcare/kindergarten teachers here. By the second week of my homecoming, I had found a job. I had done much research on the schools offering me a position and I had settled for one that sounded promising although the pay was lower than my expectations.
The curriculum had looked sound to me and the management seemed to know what they were doing. However, things did not go as smoothly. A week into the job, I was thoroughly disappointed, but I decided to persevere.
I continued to stay on for six more months until a friend of mine invited me, and I accepted, to teach at a school she had just set up. Things changed and I became a little more optimistic about the early childhood education industry here in Singapore. I am still teaching here today.
My years of experience as an early childhood education teacher has given me an understanding of the many challenges the industry faces, and has yet to address. I would like to elaborate on two important ones here.
Effective early childhood education vs the perceived role of teachers in the local context
The role of teachers in the early childhood industry is not clearly defined and depends on the management of the school they work in. This is with especial regards to teachers working in a childcare centre. In a document released by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), a childcare teacher is
One whose main job responsibility is to take charge of a particular group of children in the centre
The above definition of a childcare teacher sounds very simple, but if one were to follow a childcare teacher around for a day, one would realise that the role of a childcare teacher is far more demanding and complicated. Taking care of a class involves the following:
- Facilitating their development in all areas
- Making milk for the children
- Bathing them/making sure that they bathe properly
- Ensuring that they take their meals and drink an ample amount of water
- Being very alert for any signs of illness
- Fulfilling the requests (and demands) of the parents as best as one can
- Making sure that they bring their belongings home every day
- Preventing accidents and squabbles
-Constantly communicating with parents on the development of their children (it is a must in my opinion)
Most of the above are logical tasks for teachers to fulfil, but that is not all. Besides taking care of a class, paperwork such as lesson planning (to be done a week in advance) and evaluation, attendance taking, temperature taking, filling in the school logbook, making the relevant records in the parents’ communication book etc. need to be done. What’s more, planning of excursions, the writing of monthly newsletters for some, filling up the classroom with boards (one for each subject), decorating the school, sweeping and mopping the classrooms…it is a workload that can drive some crazy.
Inability to fulfil some of the duties (could well be non-teaching related) can earn a teacher a warning letter if she is working under management that is particular.
Are teachers everywhere educator, administrator, maid and mother all in one? The answer is no. In comparing my teacher life here with that of my life as a teacher in Shanghai, one can see the difference immediately. There, a lot of the administrative duties were done by the school administrator and there was always at least one cleaner around. Furthermore, the principals supported the teachers’ teaching approaches and methods constructively and parents were educated through this support about the different approaches in early childhood education.
Principals even took their time to sit down and discuss with us about the pros and cons of certain approaches, respecting our professional opinions even as they gave theirs. In their opinion, a teacher’s duty was to teach and to take care of the children’s mental, psychological and developmental well-being. I did not have to change a single diaper or make a single bottle of milk there because it was not perceived as a duty of a teacher; but of course, I understand that schools in every country work differently.
The Singapore context
Coming back to the local context, a teacher not only has to teach but is also responsible for many other things which seem to be never ending. But despite the multi-tasking we do and the sacrifices we make, some parents here still treat us like slaves, coming up with biting comments like
My maid from Indonesia can wash a milk bottle better than you
and
I demand worksheets, why are you telling me about a project-based approach?
Now, honestly speaking, how much time are teachers given to do what they are truly good at, that is, facilitating a child’s development through planned activities? A lot of teachers I know are dedicated enough to bring their lesson-planning work home so as to complete the weekly plans in time for submission to the school, whereas some teachers just briefly write in their book what they will be teaching without thinking much about the quality of their lessons because they have no time to do so. Who can really blame them?
For a lot of teachers out there, lesson planning has become a chore, something to be cleared in time to meet the deadline, the quality of which can be developed later on if and when there is time. There are many other things to attend to as well and if you want to keep your rice bowl secure, attending to everything on the list before knocking off is important.
Here I pose a question to all (teachers and school owners included). Which is more important, teaching and spending time facilitating the development of the children, or making teachers fulfil a long list of non-teaching related duties in addition to teaching-related ones?
Maybe with the speed at which technology is advancing, someone will soon develop a robot intelligent enough to observe the personalities of children and effectively teach them accordingly, as well as fulfil a list of never-ending tasks. Then this issue will probably vanish into thin air.
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In part two next week, Rachel talks about “Effective Early Childhood Education vs. Workaholic Parents”.
About the author:
Rachel Zeng is currently a teacher with a local childcare centre. Besides being involved in the early childhood industry and trying not to skin ungrateful parents alive, she paints during her free time and rants over at her blog. Photography, music, art and design, picking up new languages, people watching and playing computer games and cats excite her to no end. Other than that, she just cannot sit still!
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Related posts:
- The childcare teacher – not your high-class maid (Part 2)
- Are childcare centres exploiting govt schemes?
- Former teacher sues Association of Bloggers president and founder, Jayne Goh
- TOC Breaking News: Gay teacher deletes his “coming out” article
- Becoming a world-class university: NTU and campus media freedom
10 Comments
Roger
The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily SG: 5 Jun 2008
[...] the universe and everything – TOC: The childcare teacher – not your high-class maid – a tiny blip in the continuum: The best wide-angle lens, [...]
tunkudon
wow tks for sharing , i really dun knw that a lot of work.
lim
When parents put their kid in a childcare centre at a fee sometimes exceeding $1k or more a month (+GST), I can understand their expectations.
More importantly, I think the childcare centres could have managed such expectations a little better…. All too often, money comes first.
singapoor
this article presents the ill-treatment preschool teachers suffer in the hands of parents.
there is another form of ill-treatment quite a number of pre-school teachers suffer from – BONDS!!! many of the big pre-schools send their teachers for specialist diploma or certificate courses in child development such as kumon, montessori etc etc… these courses cost from $1000 plus to $4000 odd.
after completion the pre-school teachers face a bond of 3 years or 2 years up to 5 years. the wages of these teachers are not fantastic either. its hardly more than $1500 in the best cases. the very reason these teachers resort to accepting the school’s offer to pay for the course fees in return for 2-5 years bond is because of their inability to afford the fees. their economic impoverished state due to their low wages despite their high productivity results puts them in a vulnerable state to be exploited by those guilty pre-schools.
the first gap is the non-existance of government subsidies for these retraining. the Skills Development Fund and other government initiatives ought to subsidize fully these kinds of retraining. i mean there is so much call from politicians for re-training.so much money is set aside by politicians. they complain labor does not heed their calls. . here labor is keen to be retrained. yet public money is not going to aid these labor for retraining.
the second gap is the non-existance of labor protection. the kind of bonds these pre-schools offer their staff is criminal. 2-5 years bond for $1000 to $4000???? outrageous!!! the bonds also do not come with an increased pay package. at least that may make the whole deal fairer. instead the pay package remains the same or there are little superficial increases.
there is absolutely no basis or valid arguments for such bonds. its cruel and inhumane yet employers in Singapore feel otherwise. when i share these labor practices with foreigners they are bewildered. its unheard of. i have seen, IN THE REAL FIRST WORLD, friends nearing retirement getting funding and scholarships to do degrees where the amounts come to $30,000 to $50,000. yet the companies give that so that the employees can move into new jobs at older ages. well that is the civilized FIRST WORLD i guess. we are only FIRST WORLD by concrete and steel.
In your next lifetime, run for parliament. Then get selected to be in the cabinet. That way, when things go wrong you can …blame it on everyone else …..it’s very important that you do not take responsibility for anything as a member of the cabinet. And the salary is most definitely more than what you’re earning now (that is unless you have won the lotto several times over)
Jane
I totally agree with rachel. In addition to the work load, little pay, Early childhood teachers now are required to be trained with a minimal 3 O level credits and 5 in time to come.
Recognising this as an effort to bring the standard of early childhood in Singapore, we also have to measure it against living. With a 5 O level credits, one can easily find a 9-5 job, no take home preperation, no headaches after work job at 1.4k per month.
But without professional training, which comes with a bond, with that O levels credit, with that work load, and many preperation work to be done after working hours, one’s beginning pay is i would say not more than 1.2k per month.
Who would choose this line then?
Whats more when you tell people this job includes a maid’s job, a nanny’s job, a nurses’s work, cleaners responsibility and sometimes even a cooK’s job?
When you open the papers on the classified, how many preschools are looking for QUALIFIED teachers?
And Roger also compares the job of a kindergarten teacher to a child care teacher, i don’t think they differ alot, kindergarten teachers also clears poo and dirty things whenever that happens. BTW each term, a kindergarten teacher will have at least 50 sets of port folio to prepare in addition to the lesson plan work before each term ends. Each day a kindergarten teacher teaches at least 2-4 classes running back to back. This is actually a very fast paced job and even trained teachers cannot handle, less not the untrained.
If you think a preschool teachers only teaches “ABC”, “123″ and nursery rhymes, think twice. If you think being a preschool teacher is the way out because you’ve not done very well in your O levels, think twice too.
COme into this job with the mindset of children as our future. LOVE them as your own, Teach them like how you want your child to learn. If you have that, I welcome you in this line. I guess all principals will agree with me… its not a “easy way out” field like pple think it was
lim
Its not just the childcare teachers but the registered nurses. Due to the low pay, a lot of centres face HR issues. Differing centres also have differing teacher standards.
Jasmisha
Hi Rachel,
I’m overwhelmed to have read your journal as a childcare teacher and glad to have noted that you are indeed very supportive and understanding to have taken an extra mile to justify for preschool educators.
I indeed want to salute to your boldness, support, understanding and achievements that you had earned for yourself. Hope that you could continue to support us.
Merry Christmas & Blessed New Year!
stygiophobia
Ditto Ditto Ditto! Well said everyone. I work in a school that requires you to do art everyday, newsletters every week, excursions every term, class performance for the parents every term, celebration planning for every festival and special day and detailed portfolios for every child for every developmental area. Imagine planning for all of the above, let alone preparing for them. On top of this, all the teachers are bonded for a year and if we leave within 6 months of our contract we have to pay 3 times our salary. There is no probationary period for us to excape if we find the work load overwhelming.
On top of all this, our notice period for resignation is a whooping 3 months. And if we want to do our practicum with the school, we’ll be bonded for another 6 months.
If the parents don’t trouble us so much, the school makes it difficult for us.
Now you may wonder, what’s the salary of these teachers, teacher assistants – $800, teachers – $1500, Principals – $ 2000.
Kudos to you for persevering. It is indeed a sad thing that the average child-care teacher is treated thus. This is a tripartite responsibility among the government agency, parents and owners of Child-care Centres. Perhaps you may want to work in a Kindergarten instead where the line is more clearly drawn.
I did a dissertation on a comparative study between Childcare Centre and Kindergarten some years back. I have also taught quite a number of ChildCare Supervisors and Kindergarten principals before. I believe the expectations of parents and the government agency is quite aligned. So I do not think things will change in the near term. Unless and until our government agency start to recognise the importance of early childhood education and its role in the development of the child, parents will take an even longer time to realise it.
That said, I think some discerning parents are recognising this and that is the reason why highend Childcare Centres are doing remarkably well. Perhaps a stint in these centres will be more fulfilling for you but even then do not expect the pay to be above your expectation. Sadly, only certain jobs in Singapore are paid highly, and Childcare teachers do not belong to this category.