TEACHER-ASSISTANTS

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TEACHER-ASSISTANTS: The following Question stood in the name of Mdm Ho Geok Choo -

20. To ask the Minister for Education (a) if he will update the House on the responsibilities and role of teacher-assistants vis-a-vis teachers; (b) what is the ratio of teacher-assistants to teachers; and (c) what formal qualifications do teacher-assistants have and what training do they go through.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Question No. 20, Sir.

The Minister of State for Education (Mr Chan Soo Sen) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, schools hire teacher-assistants or teacher-aides to increase their capacity or support teachers in their tasks. The teacher-aides may be deployed to relieve teachers of administrative as well as non-professional duties. They can also help teachers in classroom management, so that the teachers can focus on teaching or adopt more student-centred strategies.

Although teacher-aides are deployed to support teachers, teachers remain responsible for the planning and delivery of lessons and school activities. Unlike relief teachers, the teacher-aide cannot stand in for teachers in the conduct of teaching and instructional duties.

As the circumstances and needs of schools differ, the Ministry of Education has given schools the autonomy to engage relief teachers or support services such as teacher-aides. These services can be paid from the manpower grant that the Ministry allocates to each school. This year, we have increased the

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manpower grant to allow schools greater flexibility and capacity to support our teachers. We understand that to-date, around 60 schools have engaged teacher-aides.

Schools will ensure that the teacher-aides they hire have relevant skills and qualifications for the tasks they are assigned to. It all depends on what they are hired to do. Based on feedback from schools, teacher-aides generally have at least a GCE "O" level certificate, and some have completed tertiary education. In addition, they are given some foundational training by the manpower agencies who recruit them. For example, EduCare, which is a cooperative by Singapore Teacher's Union, conducts 120 hours of training in various aspects such as handling pupils with learning and behavioural difficulties, communication skills, IT and safety and a further 80 hours of on-the-job training for their staff.