Workload, parents’ expectations cited as top factors affecting pre-school teachers’ wellness: Survey

SINGAPORE - How much did my child eat today? Did she poop? Did my son get a mosquito bite?

These are questions that some pre-school teachers get every day from parents, said Eilzah Syinorieffa, a senior teacher at Agape Little Uni in Jurong West.

Some parents are used to receiving frequent updates from infant care educators, and others are stressed about whether their child is ready for primary school - but teachers cannot always be on their phones to reply, she said.

Workload was the top factor that pre-school educators said impacted their well-being, according to a new flash survey conducted by educational consultancy and social enterprise Preschool Market.

This was followed by parents’ expectations, and staffing and manpower challenges, according to responses gathered from over 480 pre-school teachers here in August. Respondents had teaching experience that ranged from less than two years to over 10 years.

These preliminary findings were released by the social enterprise on Aug 29, at an appreciation event for early childhood educators ahead of Teachers’ Day.

They come days after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced at his National Day Rally that full-day childcare and infant care fees at government-supported preschools will be significantly lowered to $150 and $300 per month respectively by 2030.

The city-state will hire 1,800 more infant care educators by then to meet the expected rise in demand for such services, the Government announced on Aug 28.

As the sector looks to ramp up hiring, preschool teachers told ST that they hope for more dedicated time to prepare their lesson materials away from the children they care for.

They also highlighted the need for morale boosts, be it through praise or pats on the back, as well as for strong support from school management to do their jobs confidently.

One senior teacher Nageeba Mehjabeen, 31, said her private pre-school, Little Atlas Preschool, sets aside one or two hours of such “non-contact time” for teachers a week. She hopes this can eventually be increased to an hour a day.

Eilzah, 27, said her centre sets aside three or four hours a month of planning time for teachers, and that teachers there are very grateful for this time to focus and catch up on their planning.

“If we cannot show up for the teachers, the teachers will not show up for the children,” she added.

At the event at Downtown East, MP for Jalan Besar GRC Shawn Loh noted that parents’ expectations have risen with the times.

Loh, who is advisor for the Education Services Union, said he has received feedback from teachers of parents who want to be updated “very regularly”, and also of abusive behaviour.

This includes parents who file official complaints, and even police reports, against teachers without merit.

“Even when the finding shows that the teacher did nothing wrong, the teacher’s name is tarnished,” he said.

“I do seek all parents’ understanding. We can all do a better job, keeping in mind that teachers are our partners and not vendors.”

Preschool Market founder Cheong Su Fen said some of the teachers surveyed also cited long working hours and discomfort from sitting on the floor and on kids’ chairs among the challenges they face.

She hopes to encourage operators to partition a ‘cosy corner’ in their centres with a sofa, music, and perhaps a trolley of tea and lozenges for teachers to take breaks.

Cheong, who is also associate faculty at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said she hopes to conduct another fuller survey in the next six months.

The social enterprise is also in talks with the Early Childhood Development Agency and the National Institute of Early Childhood Development to develop a ‘wellness index’ to better understand the well-being of pre-school teachers, she added.