Parents should stop treating teachers as service providers: Chan Chun Sing

The role of teachers and parents have evolved over time, said education minister Chan Chun Sing, in a wide-ranging CNA interview on the educational policies that were established during the current term of government.

"I think today, on the positive side, most parents are prepared and want to be more involved, and that's why today, when we have parent support groups, many parents will genuinely want to come and partner the schools, to work with the schools, to come up with programmes that are suitable for their students."

A minority of parents who expect too much

On the other hand, there is a "minority" who "expects too much from this partnership", said the minister.

"It is not a service-client mindset where I expect this and you deliver to me."

Chan also pointed out that parents are the "first teachers of our children".

He said that the ministry intends to set expectations on what is "right and wrong" and help parents to understand that imposing unreasonable demands on teachers is a form of inequality to other parents.

"You are depriving the teacher from spending quality time with the rest of the students who also have their needs," said Chan, adding that the teacher also suffers negatively in terms of their work-life balance and mental health.

Teacher's workload

Chan also spoke about establishing boundaries for teachers in a Schools Work Plan Seminar on Sep. 18, 2024.

He touched on how teachers were now no longer required to give parents their personal mobile numbers; they are to use only official channels, such as their official email and office numbers when contacting parents.

Chan noted that he did not want to make a habit of educators getting "buzzed" at different times of the day and to protect educators from "a very small minority that can take up an inordinate amount of time and effort".

He also talked about how teachers should not be expected to be "everything for everyone".

"We should not expect to do everything for everyone at all times, at the same time. This is not a movie title. We don't need to be everywhere, everything, everyone, all at the same time.

We are not superhuman. If we do not prioritise, we do ourselves a disservice; we also do our efforts and our students a disservice."

Top image: Chan Chun Sing/Facebook