Press Releases
More Manpower Resources for Schools
To enhance the manpower resources for schools, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will provide a typical school at the primary, secondary and junior college/centralised institute (JC/CI) levels with 4, 3 and 2 more teacher posts1 respectively from 2011. Over and above these additional posts, schools will be provided with more teachers in tandem with the roll-out of new initiatives/programmes, such as more Physical Education (PE) teachers to support the increase in PE curriculum time.
Beyond the standard provisions, there will be new provisions to further support professional development and work-life measures. MOE has set aside about 4 additional posts per school to cover for teachers on long-term Professional Development Leave and for those on the part-time teaching scheme.
Currently, each primary and secondary school is supported with additional 12 Adjunct Teacher (AJT)2 posts. In view of the feedback from JCs that they will also benefit from similar resources, MOE will increase the AJT posts at the JC level from the current 2 to 12.
The number of Key Personnel (KP) posts 3 in schools will also be increased to provide a stronger middle-management team for effective implementation of the various initiatives like recommendations from the Primary/Secondary Education Review and Implementation Committee (PERI/SERI).
There will be an additional 1,500 KP posts provided for schools. On average, this will translate into an increase of about 3, 6 and 4 KP posts for a typical primary school, secondary school and JC/CI respectively. For teachers, this will mean better career development opportunities.
Since 2004, MOE has been resourcing schools with more teachers, Allied Educators and Executive Administrative Staff. Going forward, with the announced enhancements, schools will have even more manpower to tap on to cover for teachers on professional development leave or the part-time teaching scheme. Table 1 provides an overview of the different types of manpower resources and the timeframe for making these resources available to a typical school.
| Type of Manpower Resources | 2004 | 2010 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teachers | Classroom teachers | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 10 additional teacher posts | Yes | |||
| Additional 4 posts to support teachers on part-time teaching scheme and long term professional development leave | Yes* | |||
| Additional 2-3 PE teachers to support the increased PE curriculum time | Yes* | |||
| More posts to be allocated in tandem with the implementation of new initiatives/programmes | Yes* | |||
| 12 Adjunct Teachers | Yes | Yes* | ||
| Allied Educators | 1-2 Allied Educators (Counselling) | Yes | Yes | |
| 6 Allied Educators (Teaching & Learning) | Yes | Yes | ||
| Allied Educator (Learning and Behavioral Support)4 | Yes | Yes | ||
| Executive & Administrative Staff | Vice-Principal (Administration) | Yes | Yes | |
| Co-Curricular Programme Executive | Yes | Yes | ||
| Other Executive & Administrative Staff | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
The Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) has improved by about 20% at the primary level and about 11% at the Sec/JC level since 2004. Over the next 5 years, we project a further improvement in Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTRs) and Pupil-Educator Ratios5 (PERs) as shown in Table 2.
| Level | PTR (% improvement compared to 2004) | PER | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 2009 | End 2015 (Projected) | End 2009 | End 2015 (Projected) | |
| Pri | 24:1 | 20:1 | 15:1 | 19:1 | 14:1 |
| Sec/JC | 18:1 | 16:1 | 13:1 | 15:1 | 12:1 |
Footnote
- The actual distribution of additional teachers will vary from school to school based on differences in enrolment. ↵
- AJTs are former trained teachers who have retired/resigned from teaching service. ↵
- “Key Personnel” refer to Heads of Department, Subject Heads and Level Heads. ↵
- Based on school needs. ↵
- PER is the ratio of the pupils to educators (EOs and AEDs) in our schools. ↵