Teacher-Student Relationships

Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Education what steps are taken by schools to ensure that teachers and students do not engage in inappropriate relationships.

The Minister of State for Education (Mr Lawrence Wong) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, the MOE expects all teachers to conduct themselves in a manner which upholds the integrity of the profession and the trust placed in them. The vast majority of our officers do so. MOE takes a very serious view of misconduct by teachers, particularly when it involves inappropriate relationships with students. Such teachers will be subject to disciplinary action, which typically results in dismissal and debarment from future employment with MOE.

All Beginning Teachers attend an orientation programme before they start work, where they learn about the Teachers' Creed which encapsulates the values and ethos of the teaching profession. In this context, they are briefed on the expected standards of professional conduct and the need to maintain proper relations with students at all times.

Schools have guidelines and measures to ensure that the daily interactions between teachers and students are conducted in a safe, mutually respectful and conducive environment for teaching and learning. For example, open spaces are created for teachers to interact with students. School leaders regularly remind teachers about appropriate behaviour through briefings and case studies.

The Academy of Singapore Teachers also runs professional learning sessions which remind teachers of their duty to uphold the professional image of the teaching service.

Unfortunately, despite these measures, incidents do occur that do not reflect well on the conduct of specific teachers. MOE thoroughly investigates every reported case of inappropriate relations between a teacher and a student and takes disciplinary action, where applicable.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Sir, supplementary questions. One, in view of the growing number of teachers who share their mobile phone numbers and who befriend their students on Facebook, how would MOE intend to ensure that these teachers do not subsequently develop inappropriate relationships with their students? Two, as tuition centres are registered under MOE, would there be any monitoring of the teachers in the tuition centres to ensure that students undergoing tuition are not taken advantage of by bad hats within the tuition industry? At this stage, let me stress that I believe that the majority of our teachers are true to their calling and doing a great job in their duties as teachers, but there will always be some black sheep and the question is how to weed out those black sheep.

Page: 724

Mr Lawrence Wong: Sir, I thank Mr Lim for the supplementary questions. As I mentioned earlier, there is a series of measures that are taken to emphasise to all teachers – and we have a growing number since we are expanding recruitment – the values, the professional ethics, the guidelines and the way they interact with students. This happens at entry into the National Institute of Education (NIE), where the guidelines, professional ethics, expectations and ethos of the teaching profession are emphasised to student-teachers. Upon graduation from NIE, again, Beginning Teachers go through a whole series of steps and processes to help them understand their roles and responsibilities as teachers, as well as the professional expectations and ethos of the Teaching Service. Within the schools, when the teachers are deployed to the schools, there is a series of beginning-teacher orientation programmes that help to guide each teacher through the first steps as a teacher. This is so that, within the school context, they also understand the responsibilities they have and the way they are supposed to interact between themselves and with students.

I believe we have various platforms, guidelines and many measures taken by MOE, NIE and the schools which allow us to make sure that even as we expand our teaching force, we will do our best to make sure that every teacher understands the expectations and responsibilities.

Tuition centres are licensed under MOE, but we take the lighter regulatory touch over these centres and tutors that these centres employ. This is very much between the tuition centres and the tutors. They are not quite within the school system. I think if there are issues there, we will certainly investigate in greater detail on a case-by-case basis.

Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister of State this: in the context of the issue being discussed, do all primary and secondary schools in Singapore now have school counsellors attached to them? And if so, can these people play a greater role in social, behavioural and relational issues related to teachers and students?

Mr Lawrence Wong: Sir, the answer is "yes", and they are doing so.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Chua Chu Kang): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister of State if MOE would consider extending the briefing of these guidelines to students as well. It takes two hands to clap and parents are also interested to ensure that their children are trained and well-versed with the guidelines. It may not just be teachers who are behaving inappropriately, but administration staff or other contractors that the schools employ.

Mr Lawrence Wong: Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary question. We will certainly have a separate process to educate students and parents, and to reach out to them and engage them. I do not think the same set of guidelines will be applicable but these are all stakeholders whom we would want to include. This will make sure that every party has the same expectations and that they are well-engaged in this process.

Mr Speaker: Mr Yee Jenn Jong, last question.

Page: 725

Mr Yee Jenn Jong (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, I would like to point out that there is a big group of Allied Educators, part-time teachers and third-party service providers in schools. Perhaps MOE would also extend the guidelines to these organisations and people.

Mr Lawrence Wong: Sir, I thank the Member for the suggestion. I think as long as they are stakeholders involved in the education process, we would not leave them out in this process of making sure that these expectations, values and ethos of teachers are entrenched and are widely proliferated. That is something that MOE believes in. We take it very seriously.