The pull or push factors contribute to a teacher attrition rate of around 700 each year. The teacher population of 29,000 does not translate into smaller class enrolments.

The marking load of teachers remains colossal. Individualised instruction, however useful and necessary, is not the norm.

Teacher ranking and the manner in which it is implemented sends seismic waves across schools in Singapore. One notable phenomenon is the fattening of one's professional portfolio. Teachers spend a disproportionate amount of time, energy and effort in padding up their portfolios. This includes attending self-improvement courses, going for sabbaticals, performing community service, launching personal initiatives and programmes to outrival their competition, and staying on in school long after dismissal time.

Appraisals, no matter how well structured, have to clear the hurdles of objectivity, impartiality and fairness. Teaching is a profession where productivity or effectiveness is difficult to quantify or qualify, even with the best-conceived scales and indicators.

The most critical yardstick that sieves the ordinary from the exceptional is the teachers' classroom performance.

I am talking about his relationship with the kids - his passion, commitment and staying power in order to make a definitive difference to the young ones. He could do this by being a good role model, and coming up with creative, exciting and fun teaching methods, and livening up the dreariness of repetitive drills with humour.

The hoi polloi of the teaching profession, who work quietly and diligently without fanfare and publicity, can easily miss out due recognition and rewards.

Ho Kong Loon