Reply to Adjournment Motion: Building A Sustainable Educator Workforce For The Next Phase Of Education Reform, by SPS Syed Harun

1.Mr Speaker, I thank Dr Wan Rizal and Mr David Hoe for raising this important issue, which matters deeply to my Ministry and our educators.

Educators are at the heart of our education system

2.A strong teaching profession underpins a quality education system. Good outcomes depend on skilled and dedicated educators who nurture, inspire and bring out the best in every student.

3.Our educators do far more than impart knowledge.

1. They shape character and pass on our values to the next generation.
2. They support students' well-being in and beyond the classroom.
3. They prepare our young mind for a complex and uncertain world, that is very different from the one we know today.

4.That is why MOE is committed to growing and supporting our teaching corps by: (1) attracting and retaining good teachers; (2) developing their capabilities; and (3) addressing workload and well-being.

5.Dr Wan Rizal has raised two important questions. First, how should we measure whether our educator workforce is thriving and sustainable? Second, as we introduce new technology and AI-enabled tools, how do we know they are making a meaningful difference to teachers’ work?

Monitoring the Sustainability of our Educator Workforce

6.On educator sustainability indicators, MOE tracks a range of indicators relating to our educator workforce. These include teacher retention, participation in professional learning, workload and well-being trends, as well as feedback gathered through our regular engagements with teachers, school leaders and our unions including the Singapore Teachers’ Union (STU) and the Education Services Union (ESU). We look at a variety of workforce, well-being and engagement indicators to guide policy and strengthen support for educators holistically.

7.One important indicator of the health of the profession is our ability to attract and retain good educators. We have more than doubled our hiring over the past three years, from 600 in 2023 to more than 1,300 teachers in 2025. The mean annual resignation rates of teachers have also remained low and stable at around 2% to 3% over the past few decades, and this is not something that we take for granted. MOE will continue to strengthen the appeal of education careers and our recruitment efforts, so that we maintain a strong pipeline of educators.

8.To keep education careers attractive and fulfilling, MOE periodically reviews salaries to ensure that our educators’ overall remuneration remains competitive.

9.Beyond pay, career progression allows educators to grow, deepen their expertise and contribute in different ways throughout their careers.

1. Educators have different aspirations and strengths. MOE therefore offers three career pathways – the Teaching, School Leadership and Senior Specialist Tracks – so that educators can pursue their interests and fulfil their potential.

10.Another important indicator of a sustainable profession is whether educators continue to grow and develop throughout their careers. Our teachers’ professional growth remains a priority.

1. In schools, School Staff Developers and Teacher Leaders support teachers' professional learning. Master Teachers work alongside them to strengthen teaching practices and lead professional learning communities that build competence and confidence.
2. MOE's Teacher AI Literacy Professional Learning Roadmap helps teachers build AI literacy progressively — from foundational knowledge to advanced applications that ease day-to-day work and enhance teaching and learning.
3. We also value diverse professional experience. Under MOE's Teacher Work Attachment-Plus programme, educators can undertake short stints in the people, public and private sectors. These complement rotations within MOE and attachments to other government agencies.

11.MOE regularly monitors workload indicators based on actual returns from teachers, in areas that Mr David Hoe mentioned. We acknowledge that while teacher workload has remained stable in terms of hours, the work is becoming more complex. This is why MOE will continue to work on strategies to reduce workload.

Enabling teaching with technology

12.MOE shares Dr Wan Rizal’s view that technology and AI should meaningfully improve teachers’ work and free up time for what matters most. Technology is introduced to automate routine administrative tasks and reduce unnecessary workload so that teachers can focus more on teaching, learning and supporting students.

13.MOE has introduced various technology and AI-enabled platforms to reduce teachers’ workload.

1. Parents Gateway, as Dr Wan Rizal has pointed out, has streamlined administrative processes. Similarly, HeyTalia helps teachers draft communications.
2. AI-enabled tools in the Singapore Student Learning Space support teachers to plan lessons, and in marking and providing feedback to students.
3. This creates space for teachers to tend to the uniquely human aspects of teaching – nurturing character and values, and building meaningful relationships with students.

14.At the same time, technology alone cannot solve workload challenges. Sustainable workload management requires changes in how work is organised, supported and distributed across the school system.

Supporting educators and the wider ecosystem

15.Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an ecosystem to nurture the next generation. Beyond teachers, the education ecosystem and community comprise parents, school leaders, allied educators, administrative staff and community partners too.

16.The Teacher Work Management Framework guides School Leaders on how they can help teachers focus on purposeful work by creating a safe and empowering staff culture and continually reviewing and streamlining school programmes.

17.The wider education community provides vital support to our educators as well.

1. Adjunct teachers share the teaching load and help schools meet short-term staffing needs.
2. Allied educators provide specialised support for students of different strengths and needs. Over the past decade, we have doubled the number of allied educators in priority areas such as counselling and special educational needs, from about 800 to 1,600 across all schools.
3. We have also increased administrative staffing in each school by 50% on average, which frees up valuable bandwidth for our teachers.
4. Schools can also engage coaches, student well-being support and vendors for other administrative tasks, events management and student programmes.
5. Such support enables our teachers to focus on what they do best – educating our students, and we will continue to review non-teaching staff support in schools to better support our teachers and students.

18.To Mr David Hoe’s point on shared provisions across schools, MOE will also continue to look at how best to optimise resources such as clustering CCAs and centrally organising student programmes. For example, our Strategic Partnership CCAs (SP-CCAs) are centralised, non-school-based CCAs, conducted in conjunction with SportSG, to allow secondary school students to pursue their interest in sports. SP-CCAs are conducted by professional instructors and coaches.

19.Dr Wan Rizal asked about smaller class sizes, so that teachers have more capacity to support students. MOE already provides for smaller classes on a needs basis, and we will continue to review our approach.

20.We recognise that education reforms and new initiatives can temporarily increase workload. To support schools and teachers, MOE provides flexibility for schools to pace, and where needed, even defer new system-wide initiatives. Beyond workload management, MOE supports teacher well-being through school-based initiatives such as Staff Well-Being Committees and Wellness Ambassadors.

21.Parents also play an important role by respecting boundaries for parent-teacher communication and maintaining reasonable expectations. Together, these measures help educators sustain the vital work of teaching and caring for students.

Conclusion: Whole-of-society effort needed

22.Singapore’s education system rests on the dedication, professionalism and commitment of generations of educators. Dr Wan Rizal is right that sustaining a strong educator workforce must remain a national priority. MOE shares this commitment.

23.When we invest in educators, we invest in every child, every learner and Singapore’s future. It is fitting that Dr Wan Rizal and Mr David Hoe raised this issue in the month when we have just celebrated Teachers’ Day. The occasion is not only an affirmation of teachers’ dedication, but also a reminder to appreciate and support them as they shape our next generation.

24.On behalf of MOE, our students and parents, I thank all our teachers for their dedication. Thank you, teachers.