S'pore teachers highest paid in world

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#1
seems to be the best job in town, can enjoy school holidays and cheap student rate healthy food at the no crowd school canteen as well. the hardworking can moonlight as private tutor?


By Jacquelyn Cheok Sunday, Oct 06, 2013 SINGAPORE - Singaporean teachers are the highest paid among 21 countries according to a study, earning an average annual salary of US$45,755, ahead of the United States' US$44,917 and South Korea's US$43,874.But respondents in Singapore felt that local teachers were overpaid by about $5,000 annually - almost 14 per cent higher than what they perceived to be fair.This was in contrast to most of the other countries surveyed for the Varkey GEMS Foundation 2013 Global Teacher Status Index, in which they assessed actual wages to be below perceived fair wages.In fact, respondents from 95 per cent of the surveyed countries thought teachers were earning less than what they ought to.In the Teacher Status Index - which measures cultural, political and socio- economic factors, such as general attitudes towards the education system and perception of teachers in each country - Singapore was ranked seventh, surpassing the US (No 9), the United Kingdom (No 10) and Finland (No 13).China topped the rankings, followed by Greece, Turkey and then South Korea.Singapore came in third with regard to confidence and trust in the national education system.Finland took top position, followed by Switzerland. - See more at: http://www.edvantage.com.sg/content/spor...VISM6.dpuf

In terms of trust in teachers to deliver a good education, Singapore tied with Portugal at No 6.Finland and Brazil topped the table, while Israel and Japan were at the bottom. Four in five respondents in Singapore said they would encourage their children to become teachers - making the Republic the fifth-ranked country to view teaching as a profession their children should aspire to. China topped the rankings.China is also the only country where respondents likened the social status of teachers to that of doctors, as shown by a question that seeks to determine the social standing of teachers. In two-thirds of the countries polled, including Singapore, teachers were regarded as similar to social workers, while respondents in the US, Brazil, France and Turkey mostly likened teachers to librarians, among other graduate- level jobs."Singapore's pay sits teachers very highly," said Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey GEMS Foundation. "But what our results show is that this does not necessarily mean teachers are highly respected," he added.While this may be true for most countries surveyed, it is not the case for Singapore as some 45 per cent of respondents believe students have respect for teachers here. - See more at: http://www.edvantage.com.sg/content/spor...87Ljr.dpuf
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#2
I am sure most of the civil servants in singapore are among the highest paid in the world.

Frankly, have no problem with it.

.....but where are the KPIs?

How can we support our world class salaries of the "servants" in long term ?
Do we continue to pump up GDP via "foreign talent"?
What happened after the property boom?
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#3
(06-10-2013, 10:35 PM)camelking Wrote: I am sure most of the civil servants in singapore are among the highest paid in the world.

Frankly, have no problem with it.

.....but where are the KPIs?

How can we support our world class salaries of the "servants" in long term ?
Do we continue to pump up GDP via "foreign talent"?
What happened after the property boom?

KPI, simple, PLSE n O Level scores of students under charge
This is ultimate, quantifiable, outcome based KPI for teacher's effectiveness. But is it the right approach?
You can count on the greed of man for the next recession to happen.
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#4
Confirmed. Knows a few that drives big cars and owns multi condos.

Knows of another that spend more than 10k on a bicycle.

Double income civil servants lifestyle very comfortable.
"... but quitting while you're ahead is not the same as quitting." - Quote from the movie American Gangster
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#5
Anyway, we need to take a step back and not be mislead by the "highest paid" title mentioned in the article. It's not a million dollar salary, just 46k per year, and people say it should be 14% cheaper? How did they come up with numbers like that?

(06-10-2013, 11:21 PM)opmi Wrote: Confirmed. Knows a few that drives big cars and owns multi condos.

Knows of another that spend more than 10k on a bicycle.

Double income civil servants lifestyle very comfortable.

I know an ex colleague, had the condos and multiple cars... but he did a mid career switch and took a pay cut, 3 years at NIE, to go into teaching.
You can count on the greed of man for the next recession to happen.
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#6
The money derived from the FTs is enuff to pay them high-high salary. Which is wat happening. We become the support pillars, so that riches can come park funds, money, n stay in peace. But the question is, do we build the infrastrature, policies w the FT priority in mind? Are we heading the right direction?

(06-10-2013, 10:35 PM)camelking Wrote: I am sure most of the civil servants in singapore are among the highest paid in the world.

Frankly, have no problem with it.

.....but where are the KPIs?

How can we support our world class salaries of the "servants" in long term ?
Do we continue to pump up GDP via "foreign talent"?
What happened after the property boom?
Reply
#7
(06-10-2013, 11:26 PM)LionFlyer Wrote: Anyway, we need to take a step back and not be mislead by the "highest paid" title mentioned in the article. It's not a million dollar salary, just 46k per year, and people say it should be 14% cheaper? How did they come up with numbers like that?

I know an ex colleague, had the condos and multiple cars... but he did a mid career switch and took a pay cut, 3 years at NIE, to go into teaching.
usd46k is the reportedly average figure - the top end side could be really big..plus these have not taken into account the savings from cheaper school canteen, free parking and close proximity from school to house and the extra undeclared moonlighting from private tutoring
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#8
No doubt about it. Civil servants are well taken care of, teachers included.

The pay can be 'high' because not many are 'qualified', and even fewer are interested in the job. If a teaching career is as demanded as an investment banking career amongst our local uni grads, perhaps because they are all altruistic, loving, and caring people, you can be sure the govt wouldn't have to pay them as much as they presently are.

The ministry employs teachers in the range of 2k to 3k, annually. Yet, classroom teacher-student ratio has hardly changed since when we were students, or ever. The attrition rate should tell us something about what some of these 'quitters' think of their remuneration.

In exchange for the 'high' salary, there is much that is expected of them. Many of these we would have frequently heard from friends, family, or the media. So with regards to whether their pay is fair or not, I believe market forces influences their pay more than anything else.
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#9
The MOE expenditure for FY2012 was around 10.5 billion while our GDP FY12 was 342 billion. Therefore, Singapore is only spending around 3% of the GDP for education.
By world standard, this is not excessive at all. In fact, I think there is room for growth if NIE is going to fight for teaching talents.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS

By quality, Singapore education is still ahead of many countries.

Looking at the workload and the frequent unpleasant interactions of students and parents, I am NOT envy of their job and their remuneration.

Anyway, it is not difficult to be a teacher. The NIE door is wide opened for most Singaporeans with a degree.
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#10
I think we can do away with "KPIs" like PSLE score and O'level grades.

Too much attention on statistics like this cause people to lose focus on what is important in education, like character building, social development, helping the student find direction and purpose in life etc. etc.
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