Forum: MOE prioritises hiring of local teachers
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We thank Dr Shanmugam Kadakara for sharing his views about the recruitment of local Tamil Language (TL) graduates as teachers ( Give more consideration to local Tamil language graduates in teacher recruitment,
The Ministry of Education (MOE) would like to assure Dr Shanmugam that we prioritise hiring local applicants. To build the local TL teacher pipeline, MOE has diverse pathways to attract quality applicants. For example, we offer the Teaching Internship Programme to A-level students to encourage them to take up relevant undergraduate degrees or diplomas that will support their aspiration to become Mother Tongue Language (MTL) teachers. We also partner with our local institutes of higher learning, including the Singapore University of Social Sciences, to attract their graduating students and alumni to join the teaching profession. At the same time, we are stepping up recruitment of local mid-career professionals with the relevant expertise to become TL teachers.
More important than qualifications, MOE assesses the suitability of potential teachers holistically based on factors such as good content knowledge, a keen interest to teach, and an understanding of what teaching entails. We also look for teacher qualities such as care for students and effective communication skills.
MOE will continue our efforts to attract suitable individuals with the right dispositions and competencies to join the teaching profession to nurture our students’ love for MTL learning.
Yin Tong
Divisional Director, HR Solutions & Capabilities
Ministry of Education
