What does it take to be an early childhood teacher in Singapore?

A lot it seems.

A man, Ismail Tahir, recently took to Facebook to share the sacrifices and struggles that his wife faces as an early childhood educator.

Been working for 6 years

Ismail mentioned that his wife has been working as an early childhood educator for six years.

He works as a tertiary education teacher, and explained that both of them often trade stories about work since they are both in the education sector.

In his post, he described the many challenges and struggles his wife faces as a teacher, urging everyone to "think of the sacrifices the teacher makes just to give your children a... good education".

Puts her students' needs ahead of her own

In his post, Ismail cited examples of how his wife would often put her student's needs ahead of her own.

For instance, she would spend out of her own pocket for work because her classroom or students need it.

These expenditures include buying materials such as files, stationery and educational books.

Ismail also claimed that his wife may also come home late because a parent was running late in picking up a kid, or because there simply just isn't enough manpower to do all the work.

Emphasising that there is a lack of work-life balance for childhood educators, Ismail said that some Saturdays would also be sacrificed as it is the only day when all teachers are free for meetings.

Heavy workload

Ismail mentioned that his wife is required to take on many roles at work, such as a nanny, admin officer, community leader, classroom designer, and a "poop and vomit cleaner", among many other jobs.

The workload is also heavy, he said, because the teacher is expected to prepare administrative and curriculum work on top of conducting lessons and caring for the students:

"My wife brings home administrative and curriculum work. Why? Because of her job descriptions, she barely has the time to do it at school during her working hours because she takes care of the children most of the time. They don’t even have their own time for lunch, what more for their admin work?"

Because of this, he added that their bed is often "a second office" for his wife.

Dealing with nasty parents

Parents, who perhaps have had a "long hard day" at work, sometimes vent their anger on childhood educators too, according to Ismail.

Hence, his wife has to deal with "unwanted comments from parents who are just plain unreasonable", leaving her "affected" by the whole incident.

In his post, Ismail urged parents to think twice before going on a "rampage" and taking it out on the teachers:

"So the next time if you want to drop off your kids at 7am and purposely pick your kids up late from school, or your kids went home with the wrong shirt, or wrong water bottle, or have a small cut on their fingers, please think again before you go on your rampage and blaming the teachers for not doing good enough.

Think of what the teacher had to go through for the day before you want to vent your anger at another teacher."

You can see his full Facebook post here:

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