tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109681525590028536.post8579719596222044656..comments2024-02-17T01:11:34.207+08:00Comments on Of Kids and Education: Education is not a businessmonlimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17397210688200284987noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109681525590028536.post-87569314171060695582010-03-16T10:03:00.284+08:002010-03-16T10:03:00.284+08:00Cindy: I always wished there were more teachers li...Cindy: I always wished there were more teachers like you here, who understand the real call behind the teaching profession.<br /><br />Eunice: You wouldn't believe some of the ludicrous stories I've heard... clearly some teachers need to consider a career change!<br /><br />MY: Yes, I think there are small steps being made, hopefully they will all make a difference. I still think the biggest change needs to be in the mentality towards education as a whole, but that will take a while.monlimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17397210688200284987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109681525590028536.post-73688309304106117302010-03-16T08:55:56.396+08:002010-03-16T08:55:56.396+08:00I see that MOE is really doing something to improv...I see that MOE is really doing something to improve the system e.g. getting people to be allied educators to assist the teachers' already heavy workload of teaching, admin and counseling...Really hope this is a good change..http://www.moe.edu.sg/careers/allied-educators/<br /><br />~ myAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109681525590028536.post-82756009094535497462010-03-15T23:59:36.292+08:002010-03-15T23:59:36.292+08:00Eh? You are kidding right? About the children writ...Eh? You are kidding right? About the children writing apology notes to teacher? Gawd! <br /><br />To totally agree with you that schools are run like businesses. That's why the poor children suffer. SIgh....eunicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03947588319632443357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109681525590028536.post-62134704096734068882010-03-15T21:17:02.616+08:002010-03-15T21:17:02.616+08:00Totally agree!
What's the measure:
teaching ...Totally agree! <br /><br />What's the measure:<br />teaching a child with learning disabilities to succeed or teaching a child with above average intelligence to ace exams? <br /><br />It doesn't take us long to figure out where the true educators are found.<br /><br /> Lilian, bless you for coming up with a better set of KPIs.bACk in GERMANYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14398896655016654428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109681525590028536.post-24772051741775621252010-03-15T16:40:17.351+08:002010-03-15T16:40:17.351+08:00Lilian: EXACTLY! In the university too, it was so ...Lilian: EXACTLY! In the university too, it was so obvious, everyone was putting in KPIs that they knew they could easily achieve so their performance appraisals wouldn't be adversely affected but it was such a farce cos those KPIs were not measuring areas critical to the job.<br /><br />The trouble is so many of these critical areas are simply not measurable in quantitative terms. So they become considered unimportant and are sidelined when in truth, all the intangible things you mentioned are key to the value of education.monlimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17397210688200284987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109681525590028536.post-1638271590494613322010-03-15T16:15:34.711+08:002010-03-15T16:15:34.711+08:00Fantastic post! I can feel your frustration in ev...Fantastic post! I can feel your frustration in every sentence. <br /><br />I remember in my old company, we had to implement Balanced Scorecard. Now, this always happens, some top honcho goes for an executive MBA, picks the latest management theory and then returns and decides to implement it. Balanced Scorecard is great in theory, you measure what's important and set your KPIs according. Unfortunately, what happens is people take the easy way out and propose KPIs that are easy to measure, and don't measure what's important. "Not everything that matters is measurable and not everything that is measurable matters." <br /><br />What gets measured (number of medals, gold awards, distinctions) gets done! <br /><br />So what happens to the other intangible things that don't get measured? Children's empathy for the less able; passion for learning; excitement in going to school everyday; real (not forced) teamwork; humility; inspired teaching that is remembered for a lifetime; kind words from teachers; kindness to fellow students; even some tangible measures such as number of burnt-out teachers (indicated by number of teachers quitting the service each year); amount of sleep a child gets each night. Let's find a way to measure these instead so that they get done! <br /><br />Reward our teachers for teaching/educating, then maybe more teachers who are truly passionate about this vocation will join the service.Lilianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10157427086383621265noreply@blogger.com