Support for Teachers Returning to Work after Extended Absence and for Teachers of Infants or Preschool-going Children

Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Education (a) what support is available for school teachers returning to work after extended illness leave; (b) whether this support includes flexible work arrangements (FWAs); and (c) whether the Ministry has data on what proportion of such returnees have taken up FWAs and how the FWAs are structured.

Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Education (a) what support is available for school teachers who are parents of young preschool children or infants, with difficulties finding childcare arrangements that can accommodate the early morning start to their workday; and (b) whether the Ministry has data on how many of such teachers have taken up flexible work arrangements (FWAs) and how the FWAs are structured.

The Minister of State for Education (Ms Gan Siow Huang) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, may I take Question Nos 1 and 2 together?

Mr Speaker: Please do.

Ms Gan Siow Huang: The Ministry of Education (MOE) provides a range of options for teachers who require flexible work arrangements, including to meet medical needs or caregiving responsibilities. These include part-time work arrangements for teachers who require a reduced workload.

Teachers who need more flexible work hours, such as a later reporting time to send their young children to a childcare centre, should discuss their needs with their schools early so that arrangements can be made to support them, where operationally feasible. Schools implement such flexible work arrangements based on their operational needs while maintaining a duty of care to their students. As many of these flexible work arrangements are localised and could be on an ad hoc or short-term basis, MOE does not collect such data.

Mr Speaker: Dr Tan.

Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): I thank the Minister of State for her answer. Some of my Clementi residents are teachers and I have met a Clementi resident who is a teacher and herself is a young mother with young children. She has found that her workplace requires her to report by 7.15 am, but all the childcare options that she has explored only open from 7.00 am. So, she finds it hard to get to work in time for the prescribed reporting time of 7.15 am. I was told that it has been suggested to her that she go part-time as the flexible working arrangement, with implications for salary and career progression.

Can I ask the Minister of State if MOE would consider working with agencies such as the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) to help facilitate childcare arrangements for such young teacher-parents, childcare arrangements as near to the school, place of work, as possible to help these teachers continue as fully as possible at work while maintaining their responsibilities to their own children at home as well?

Ms Gan Siow Huang: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for showing care for our teachers, including those who are residents in Clementi. We have a duty of care to our students. So long as the students are physically present in school, our teachers will have to be present with their students. At the same time, we care for our teachers as well, as they are the backbone of our education system.

So, when a teacher has a need for flexible work or certain reporting times to meet her caregiving needs, we would try to reach a reasonable arrangement that balances both the needs of the staff as well as the students.

I hope the Member understands that our schools work as a team and that teachers do not work by themselves. It is important for teachers to have open and early discussions with their school leaders so that arrangements can be made. For example, there are some schools that hire flexible adjunct teachers to cover the duties of the main teachers for certain periods of time so that our teachers who have other urgent needs or caregiving needs will also be able to continue with their teaching careers.

On the Member's suggestion to have arrangements with other agencies, I believe he meant ECDA, we are open to exploring all options. But at the same time, we also respect that parents usually have their own preferences on childcare arrangements; it is not just about whether the childcare centre is near their homes, but sometimes, parents themselves have other considerations on the choice of childcare. So, we do have to be mindful about over-leaning and exerting ourselves on the choices of childcare for our teachers.