Good stepping stone, but backwards systems and morals
Pros
- Good intermediate point in a career if you are looking for work as you are able to learn on the job - May meet potential friends - There is some leeway to learn new subjects in between teaching students as long as it relates to something that can be taught in the centre - Pretty good health coverage (includes dental) - There are questions for practice prepared and compiled by teachers in the department - Even when you're not very good at teaching, you won't be fired
Cons
General conditions: - A lot of racism and favoritism for people of the most predominant race, (which is the same as the CEO) - A lot of betrayal and backstabbing behind the scenes, some of the department heads are more prone to sending lies to the CEO about people if they are more capable than them or if they are not in a posse with them, and especially if you are not Indian. The CEO will listen to them without checking if what is reported is true - Crab mentality rampant amongst the more veteran employees, notably of the Indian descent - Some department heads frequently overstep boundaries and complain to the CEO about other departments, resulting in pointless scolding sessions of the entire department. Workload and welfare: - Having to write and draw notes for every student is an ergonomic hazard, especially so for very busy departments (eg. IB Physics). Most people have hand cramps, neck pain, and back pain after a few months - Due to poor circulation of air, lack of air purifiers despite high human traffic and talking without breaks for 8 hours (when busy), be prepared to fall sick often with respiratory illnesses - Feedback on improving teacher welfare is ignored - Poor overall teaching conditions. Poor lighting with fluorescent lamps that hurts your eyes, only given a foldable table (1.4m x 0.9m), a chair, a small box to place your belongings and some stationaries. You are not allowed to photocopy your notes that you prepared or diagrams you made - The only breaks you get is when there are no students. If you are placed in a department that requires non-stop writing and teaching (Eg. biology), you will frequently be exhausted and get sore throat Career and Pay: - Abysmal pay. (Grade 11 - 12 teacher) earns the same as a polytechnic fresh graduate even with a Bachelors degree. Even worse for people who are not Singaporean - No fixed bonuses and they are given out for unknown reasons (and amounts vary) - No career progression - Questions of pay raise are considered and not often followed up - Number of students taught and not the quality of the education determines if a person receives a pay raise Teaching ability: - Many of the teachers are unable to "teach" students (from the predominant racial group in the tuition centre). Instead many of them tend to regurgitate the information they learnt, largely due to their education style - Teachers are often overloaded with students at a small desk as the CEO accepts all students, even those without a booking, thus diminishing the quality of education the students receive within each 2 hour lesson and tiring teachers out faster - If you do too well and many students like your teaching style, the department head and CEO will intentionally stop giving you said students (to the point of telling the teacher to not introduce themselves to students)
