Daily Lessonsf from Life 04-05 October 2014 - Must Leaders be educated? And Ministry scales down recruitment of teachers

Hkg Umbrellas Revolution updates - I hope the protesters will leave peacefully before the government is forced to use force to disperse them as Monday dawns. It takes great wisdom and courage to pull back now as they have demonstrated the power of the people who are unhappy. There is no need to rile the angsts of those who are against 'the protesters' for disrupting their daily lives and making a living!

1. "Must leaders be well-educated? - The Straits Times  Oct 05, 2014

Mr Lee said that a leader does not have to be the most well-educated person, but should be capable.

"They must know the world and they must know Singapore. So whether you have the formal education or not, you must have that knowledge and you must have that leadership," he said.

He also said: "You may never ace an exam or be able to make a speech and move a crowd, but if you are stuck in a sticky spot, that's the person you want to be with you to see you through.""

2. "Ministry scales down recruitment of teachers - The Straits Times Oct 05, 2014

SINGAPORE - It has just become harder for graduates and mid-career professionals to land jobs as teachers in schools, even if they have done a stint of relief teaching.

The Education Ministry has begun to scale down hiring, after an aggressive eight-year recruitment drive since 2004 helped it build a 33,000-strong teaching force. At its peak, in 2009, it recruited 3,000 teachers. In the years following, the number was between 2,000 and 3,000 a year. But last year, the figure fell to 1,400. And this year, the ministry said it has taken on just 1,100 teachers so far.

Most of those it hires now are graduates who go on to take up the postgraduate diploma in education, as they are more sure of their career choices after university. Explaining the reduced hiring, the ministry told The Sunday Times it had “significantly grown” the teaching force in recent years.

“Going forward, our focus will be on replacing teachers who have left the service and recruiting more teachers in specific subject areas,” said a spokesman."

I am NOT sure the 2 headlines had been intentionally planned. More likely to be a coincidence!

Lessons for me are:

1. Must Leaders be Educated?

It depends on how we defined an 'educated' leader really. Does 'educated' means: 'wise, resilient, visionary, decisive with strong execution skills and capability, passionately persuasive and embrace life-long learning, humble and fully knowing WHY he/she wants to be a Leader, etc? If it does, then, Leaders must be 'educated' to be effective!

If not, it does not matter!

So, how does the government define an 'educated' leader?

For me, the leader MUST be very clear WHY he/she wants to a leader! For fame and fortune I can appreciate. YET, if these are the only 2 motivational forces that drive him/her, I KNOW he/she will go astray along the journey!

My idealistic thought for wanting to be a leader is: to create a bigger good for the majority of the people who were not able to do that for themselves WITHOUT violating the minority's rights too much!

That will angle the leader to stay the course.

2. Less Teachers from Now On ...

I am not privy to the ratio of Teacher to Students but feel that it would be good to have a sense of this ratio to assess if we have 'too many teachers' or 'too few'.

Is it a quantity or quality issue or both need further attention and this is NOT the time to relax? Again, I am not able to make good sense with this report on this AsiaOne page.

Also, does this has anything to do with the PM's answer on: we need leaders who can get us out of a sticky situation regardless of his/her/their education? Also, does it has to do with the ASPIRE Report to assure that non-university graduates will do alright in work and life? I guessed NOT. I hope not!

Lessons for me are:

a. with private tuition or the so-called 'enrichment/development learning centre' industry still thriving, is it time to relax on making sure the teacher-students ratio is adequate and that PROPERLY trained and qualified teachers help our students to 'learning to learn for a life time'?;

b. how many of the current lots of teachers are assessed to be 'aOK' so that we KNOW if the quantity is causing an issue with quality?  How does MOE assess the current teachers anyway?;

c. what happen when those who are really passionate and wanting to be teachers do not get the call? Is it because of the 'demand and supply' situation or there are special assessment to determine who is MORE passionate? Does it means the teachers' salaries and overall package will no longer be competitive since the 'supplies' are >> 'demands'?

Minister Heng, in my opinion, had been doing great in his job. With this announcement, I hope he and his officials can shed more lights on this CHANGE before I take this particular move as 'incomplete' and 'muddy thinking'!