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28 December 2007

PUTTING PEOPLE AT THE CENTRE OF
THE EDUCATION ENTERPRISE

MOE unveils “GROW 2.0” Package to further strengthen Teacher Development and Recognition and Philosophy for Educational Leadership

1.         The Minister for Finance and Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam underlined the importance of the people factor, when he spoke at the Ministry of Education (MOE)’s annual Principals’ Appointment Ceremony on 28 December 2007.

2.         Mr Shanmugaratnam announced a new pay and career package aimed at making the teaching profession more attractive.  He also emphasised the importance of leadership development across the teaching profession, and unveiled the Philosophy for Educational Leadership, which aims to guide school Principals and other educational leadership in discharging their important responsibilities.

I. THE GROW 2.0 PACKAGE

3.         Building on the foundation of the GROW package announced in September 2006, the GROW 2.0 Package will provide teachers with a more attractive remuneration package, more career and development opportunities and greater flexibility to balance the demands of work and family.

4.         The following are the key initiatives of the GROW 2.0 package that will be implemented in phases in 2008. 

Professional Development and Growth

5.         The teaching profession must be a learning profession, where its members continue to learn and grow.  In so doing, they also demonstrate to their students their love for learning and the importance of lifelong learning.  MOE will therefore enhance the financial support and leave schemes to enable more teachers to upgrade themselves.  MOE has developed five Professional Development Packages to support non-graduate teachers obtaining degree status and graduate teachers obtaining higher qualifications (see Table 1).

Table 1: Professional Development Packages

Note: Package A may be taken with Packages C or D.

6.         Up to 5 more teacher posts will be given to each of the 28 school clusters to support schools with teachers who are pursuing full-time postgraduate studies. 

7.         Non-graduate teachers who wish to upgrade their qualifications while continuing to teach can now take up any part-time on-campus degrees currently offered by the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and SIM University (UniSIM), instead of only 27 UniSIM part-time degrees in teaching subjects currently.  Upon completion of the course, teachers can be considered for emplacement on the graduate salary scale if they meet the other prevailing emplacement conditions. 

Recognition and Rewards

8.         MOE will be introducing a new Education Scheme of Service (2008) from 1 April 2008 to better recognise and reward good teachers.  The new scheme will be more market responsive and there will be a stronger link between pay and performance. 

9.         Officers will be placed on a salary range system with merit increments that are based on one’s performance, potential and market wage movements.  This will replace the current salary scale system with fixed annual increments.  With the revision to the salary ranges, a one-off salary increment of up to 4% will be made to the salaries of eligible officers on the new scheme.  

10.        There will be higher performance bonuses and sharper differentiation in payouts based on performance.  Good performers can receive up to 1.0 month more in performance bonus.  Very good and outstanding performers can receive 1.5 months and 2.25 months more.  Prior to the roll-out of the new scheme, a performance bonus top-up will be given in Mar 2008.  The quantum will be 1.25 months, 1.0 month and 0.5 month for outstanding, very good and good performers respectively.

11.        MOE will also enhance its long-term incentive plan – CONNECT Plan -  for teachers.  Under the current Plan, teachers receive annual deposits throughout their career and are able to draw out a proportion of the money every 3-5 years. 

12.        The total career deposits for CONNECT will be increased by about 6%.  The Plan will also be shortened from a 40-year to a 30-year plan.  Education Officers can expect higher payouts and look forward to drawing out their full CONNECT Plan deposits earlier, at the end of 30 years of service (see Annex on the revised CONNECT Plan deposits and payouts). 

13.        With the above changes, the annual package of good performing teachers will be increased by up to 12%, while that for better performers will be increased by up to 18%.  For a classroom teacher with 3 years of teaching experience on the General Education Officer (GEO) 1A1 grade, the annual pay package will increase from $52,000 to $58,000 for a good performer and from $55,000 to $65,000 for an outstanding performer.  For an experienced Principal on the Senior Education Officer (SEO) Superscale ‘H’, the annual pay package will increase from $168,000 to $193,000 for a good performer and from $185,000 to $218,000 for an outstanding performer. 

14.        Introduced in 2001, the Outstanding Contribution Award (OCA) recognises significant contributions made by individual staff and teams in schools.  The current OCA amount given to each school ranges from $3,000 to $10,000 a year, depending on the school’s staff strength. The OCA will be increased by a flat rate of $3,000 to enable schools to reward more individuals who have made value-added contributions.

Opportunities for Career Development

15.        The GROW Package provided more career options and advancement opportunities for teachers on both the teaching and leadership tracks.  Under GROW 2.0, more career advancement and development opportunities will be provided for teachers on the Senior Specialist (SST) track.  The SSTs are specialist Education Officers who play a critical role in MOE HQ, bringing research in the field to bear on educational policies and school programmes.

16.        The number of SST posts in MOE HQ will be increased from 168 to 310.  A new SST Level 5 position of Chief Specialist will be created.  The Chief Specialist will provide leadership to the SSTs, harness research from both within and outside MOE and translate key research findings into policies and school initiatives.  SST Levels 1-4 will also be redesignated to better recognise their professional status.  Table 2 shows the current and new SST designations.

17.        To enable SSTs to develop deep expertise in their area of specialisation, MOE will set aside $1.5 million annually to support the research projects by SSTs.  We will also allow SSTs to devote up to 20% of their time to research-related work like presentation of papers at conferences, attachments at the National Institute of Education and other research organisations, attachments to clusters to conduct school-based research and completion of doctoral research.  SSTs can look forward to opportunities for research attachments at NIE.  A new milestone training programme will also be developed for SSTs who demonstrate the potential to assume a Lead Specialist position and higher.

18.        In line with the Civil Service’s move to introduce service-wide re-employment policies by 2010, MOE will take the lead to provide further re-employment opportunities for Education Officers beyond the age of 62.  A re-employment framework will be piloted from Jun 2008 over the next two years.

19.        All Education Officers above 62 years old who are physically fit to work and have good performance will be offered re-employment as Contract Adjunct Teachers up to age 65.  In addition, school middle managers and officers holding equivalent positions in MOE HQ may also be offered to continue in their existing jobs subject to availability and individual needs of the schools.  School leaders and senior officers will be offered work on a project or contract basis. 

20.        MOE will put in place a systematic process to help officers make plans in good time for their retirement. This includes providing a comprehensive list of jobs and assignments for officers to consider, job matching and retirement planning seminars.  We will learn useful lessons from the 2-year pilot and review the re-employment framework for Education Officers in 2010, in time to roll-out a revised plan, in tandem with the roll-out of the Civil Service-wide re-employment framework.

21.        To develop, recognise and retain teachers with the potential to assume key leaderships in the Education Service, MOE will introduce a “Future Leaders Programme ” (FLP).  Officers on the FLP will have opportunities for challenging assignments and projects.
 
Well-Being for Our Teachers

22.        The part-time teaching scheme (PTTS) currently applies to confirmed classroom teachers who are married with children under 12 years of age or those aged 55 years old and above.  The PTTS will now be extended to Heads of Departments, Subject Heads, Level Heads and Senior Teachers in schools.

23.        To provide further support to schools with part-time teachers, up to 5 more teacher posts will now be provided to each school cluster.  The additional posts will be over and above the existing manpower grants given to schools to buy services to fill the remaining load of teachers on the PTTS, and the 5 additional posts to support schools with teachers on full-time postgraduate studies mentioned earlier. 

24.        MOE will also enhance the no-pay leave policies for childcare.  Currently, only female teachers can apply for no-pay childcare leave up to the child’s 3rd birthday.  In support of the Government’s pro-family policies, both male and female teachers can now apply for no-pay childcare leave up to the child’s 4th birthday.  Teachers can now accompany their spouses who are sent on overseas posting or training for up to four years on no-pay leave, instead of the current three years.

Summary

25. The initiatives under the GROW 2.0 Package are summarised below.

Background

26.        In September 2006, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that it will be spending $250m over three years with the introduction of the GROW package, for the professional and personal Growth of Education Officers, through better Recognition, Opportunities, and seeing to their W ell-being. The package had created more opportunities for teachers to develop and strengthen their core competencies, provided more career options and choices, and gave greater recognition to the everyday work of teachers.

II. THE PHILOSOPHY FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

27.        Quality leadership, at all levels, has been a key strength in the success of the Singapore education system.  Quality school leadership is a strategic leverage point, in the wake of faster change, greater diversity and complexity, and the increased degree of autonomy and flexibility enjoyed by our schools.

28.        It is therefore timely for a document setting out the philosophy for educational leadership, to bring to sharper focus the collective values of the fraternity of school leaders, so that our schools continue to excel and do their best for their learners, the community and Singapore.

29.        The document, entitled “Anchored in Values and Purpose”, represents the culmination of the work led by the Educational Leadership Development Centre in MOE, in consultation with the community of school leaders. The Document reflects what MOE and schools collectively stand for, presenting a unity in core beliefs even as we celebrate diversity across schools.

Guiding Principles

30. The Philosophy Document comprises four Guiding Principles:

Principle 1
Educational Leadership is anchored in Values and Purpose.  This is the lead principle as it underscores the development of our leadership efforts towards values-based leadership.  This belief underlies the purpose of Principalship: to lead schools to provide our children with a well-rounded education. 

Principle 2
Educational Leadership inspires all towards a Shared Vision. The Principal set clear directions and ensures that the vision is focused on student learning and development.

Principle 3
Educational Leadership is committed to Growing People. The Principal values all staff as individuals and professionals and looks into their development and growth by building their capacity. 

Principle 4
Educational Leadership Leads and Manages Change.  The Principal is prepared for future changes and always remains innovative and improvement-driven.  His leadership builds on the past, learns from the present and prepares for the future.

Background - Developing the Philosophy

31.        The Philosophy Document was developed through a rigorous process with input from Principals, MOE Divisions and best practice studies of international and local institutions. Leadership stories, anecdotes, observations and ideas were then distilled into beliefs and principles that best represented the collective values of the Principal fraternity in Singapore.

ANNEX

REVISIONS TO CONNECT PLAN

Current Payouts

New Payouts