What I meant to say was that with more application based questions in maths, more of such instances of questions having 2 possible answers may occur in the future. Currently, you see more of such things happening for Languages and Science then for Maths.

From my child’s experience till date, in some instances, certain answers were “more correct” then others, as the intent of the teacher was to stress the usage of a particular technique taught in that topic.

Perhaps, some educators may want to share their comments on this matter, for all to learn from.

And to TOC, thanks for replying to my email.

Regards.

Thank you SecureChain for replying my questions and doubts! It is a relief to know this!

Dr. Syed Alwi, you make me blush! keke Thank you so much for sharing your views too; the world need more sincere PhD minds like yours! :D

Vadhog, I am more than willing to give teachers smiles and a hug provided they don’t misunderstand. XD Teachers are one group of under-valued under-estimated under-appreciated people. If digital design were avail back then I would have printed digital awards for my teachers. (Mrs. Tan of Ghim Moh Secondary, Mrs Lau and Mrs Chew of Henry Park Primary – they were all great educators to me! Sigh…I miss being a student somehow!!)

Lunch time! Nasi padang anyone?

I am glad that you all seem to like my proposal. Its really a copy of the American system. I learnt a lot while I did my PhD in America.

I have taught in many places before – and that is why I am so concerned about the Education System. Besides – I have 3 children to worry about !

Kelly – your enthusiasm is a great encouragement for me. Thanks.

Actually, I’ve been trying to get teachers to speak out – and speak to TOC about their trials and tribulations. I know their working environment isn’t as great as it’s made out to be, from what I hear from my teacher-friends. In fact, I have seen for myself what they go through.

But they have a certain fear of speaking out – mainly because, they tell me, they are bounded by Govt rules (explicit or otherwise) of civil servants having to seek permission before they do. Even giving interviews require them to seek permission.

I would love to have a section on TOC specially for education as I feel it is one of the most important issues S’pore is facing. If you would like to help us make this a reality, please do drop us a note at theonlinecitizen@gmail.com

Also, any educator or teacher out there who wish to contribute articles, or be interviewed by TOC, or is willing to speak to TOC, please do drop us an email as well. All information will be held in the strictest confidence.

Not sure about the Autonomous School / CCA / Consent Form thingy. But if you are talking about cancelling classes without informing parents, then that is probably a boo-boo on the part of the school. So long as it is not a trend, I suggest not loosing too much sleep over it.

With the kind of stress and operational issues teachers / schools have to handle on a daily basis, to me, it is no longer a case of “will the ball be dropped” but more like “when will it happen”! Think Ministry of Home Affairs and their overworked officers, think escape terrorist, unchecked passport, etc….and you get worried! I certainly hope it does not have to take a stressed out teacher having a mental breakdown in class and harming our kids, before something is done.

That is why I am KEENLY following what will come out of this “NEW OBSERVATION” that more teachers are needed. Hope REAL help is given to teachers this time, before something happens in class!!

As to questions having more than 1 answer, VERY OFTEN! Which is why I mentioned if exams are all about keywords and the “spirit and intent” of a child’s answer counts for nuts if keywords are not used. However, I do think such incidences are more prevalent in Languages and Science subject, less so for maths. But this may change since more application based questions will be set as time goes by.

It is nice to see educators joining in this discussion. After the spate of forum letters from teachers / spouses about their plight, there was complete silence. I was beginning to wonder if there was a directive to teachers that they are not to voice their grouses, either directly or via relatives, through public channels. BTW, is there such a directive?

Teachers leaving the profession IS a real problem. It is happening in my daughter’s school as well. But like what vadhog mentioned, most teachers are not seeking for highest pay possible, fair pay is enough. JUST LET THEM TEACH!

As a parent of 2 young kids, you already sometimes feel like “outsourcing” them to whoever wants them. Multiply that by 30 / 40 kids and doing the same day-in day-out, it is not difficult to visualize the stress involved. And when you then add on wayang duties like collecting data / attending meetings for People Developer Awards, School Best Practices Awards, Cherish Award, Green Audit Award, etc, how many can tahan!

But having said that, I do have to admit that there are some of us parents who are just outright ridiculously unreasonable! Yes, we are also a push factor for this flight of teachers.

But I would probably say that some of this is due to just plain old communication breakdown. As mentioned previously, some issues are just beyond the schools and are a “side effect” of MOE policies. However, how many of us parents are “enlightened” enough to see such a big picture? And when teachers are unable (or is it not allowed) to say so, what happens? They have to bear with the brickbats till they decide to call it a day …. Sigh…. It is so unfair to see good ones leave through no fault of theirs…..

Perhaps TOC may like to set up a section, for educators to share the kind of issues they face with parents. I do believe the exchanges will serve as a great education, for both sides to understand each other’s anguishes over a child’s education.

Heck, if TOC is able to do so, might as well go all the way and set up another section, for educators to share the types of wayang duties they have to bear from MOE / Principals / etc. Changes may occur faster, before an alternative voice is found via the formal channel ….. :-)

My apologies to all…..this posting does seem to have digressed from the main topic.

if i could speak on behalf of all teachers, i think we just like to be LEFT ALONE to do what we come in to do in the first place – TEACH. allow TEACHERS to decide what is best for OUR children. do away with all the fanciful policies and never-ending reviews to please our “stakeholders” at the expense of moulding our next generation.

dropping the ambiguious ranking of teachers and, if i am not wrong, principals, would be a good start. this will force moe officials to display REAL LEADERSHIP rather than use ranking to THREATEN teachers to submit to crappy policies.

These teachers are HARD TO COME BY and are the ones who deserve to be rewarded/compensated in some way. Awards? Monetary compensation? What else?

>>>Quoted bySotong: Education is not complete if it does not build up the character of the students and imparts moral values so that the student can be trained to be a man of character.

Very true!

These that you mentioned:

Academic Exams 50 % to 60 %
CCA 30 % to 40 %
Portfolios 20 % to 30 %…….
Introduce electives and subject options like music, drama & dance, sports science and so on to develop the strength in some kids

….sounds GREAT! In fact it’s very close to how American educational system is like. Employers would not want to employ someone who is excellent in academic subjects but stingy on contributing (shown in CCA activities participated).

Another thing I wanna ask to Dr. Syed Alwi, Dennis, SecureChain, Singapoor and other readers – do AUTONOMOUS schools have the right to conduct/cancel CCA sessions without school consent forms? What in your opinion, MAKES an autonomous school if it’s still under the umbrella of MOE? Do parents find exam questions ambigious that it may merit 2 answers instead of one (example in the case of Maths)? Thank you in advance if you find it in your time and heart to shed some light again.

When you always deny the root of the problem,yoiu can never solve the problem.
I really wonder why they always deny the problem,when the problem is so clear for all to see…..is it they cannot accept criticism???

Kevin

Are they really capable of making changes?Or just warming seats?
I can tell you….when my 8 month old baby turns 6-7 next time,we still won’t see much changes.
Its all a watse of time……

Kevin

The problem begins at the PSLE where kids are streamed into the Express, Normal Academic and Normal Technical categories. Mobility is limited. Once you enter a particulat stream – you are stereotyped. Labelled.

Will a Normal Tech soccer star be viewed just as talented as an Express stream maths prodigy ? Thats the question I pose….

The current system does NOT take CCA & Portfolios as part of the overall grade as I have proposed. And banding is minimal.

What I am proposing is a major shift in policy ! I say again -

Academic Exams 50 % to 60 %
CCA 30 % to 40 %
Portfolios 20 % to 30 %
Introduce banding on a large scale
Stop streaming into Normal or Express streams
Introduce electives and subject options like music, drama & dance, sports science and so on to develop the strength in some kids