Building Respectful and Harassment-free Workplaces for Teachers and Educators

At the Annual Schools Work Plan Seminar this September, the Minister for Education raised an important conversation on setting clear expectations and boundaries for teachers and educators to manage their workload, including their right to disconnect outside of school hours and limiting communication with parents to official channels such as their school email or office number. I thank the Minister for asserting these baselines that will lay the foundation for building respectful and harassment-free workplaces for teachers and educators.

It is indeed timely and critical to raise this conversation as their roles and responsibilities today have expanded well beyond merely imparting subject knowledge. And together with Senior Parliamentary Secretary Shawn Huang, we recently engaged union leaders from the education cluster of unions which cover unions across the entire education sector from pre-school to mainstream as well as Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs), polytechnics, universities and private education providers on the protection and well-being of teachers and educators across the education and continuing education and training (CET) ecosystem. I thank them for sharing with us their valuable insights and feedback based on experiences on the ground and handling grievances of teachers and educators.

Teachers and educators today are tasked with addressing a wide range of student needs including supporting students' 21st century competencies, Character and Citizenship Education, Co-Curricular Activities, well-being as Teacher Counsellors, and many more. These tall orders cannot be met without enhanced support and protection for them. In the past four years I have persistently raised questions in this House on enhanced well-being support and harassment prevention for this group. Through this Adjournment Motion, I hope and wish to reiterate the call to foster workplaces that uphold dignity, safety, and respect for teachers and educators through a pre-emptive, strengthened, and holistic approach, or what I call the "3Ps" of Prevent, Protect and Partner.

First, "Prevent". Teaching is a work of heart, and our teachers and educators are deeply committed to taking care of students, but we cannot expect them to be accessible to parents and guardians, or even students and school leaders, round the clock, especially for non-urgent matters. Unrestricted communication can lead to fatigue, stress and burnout, impairing their ability to fully focus on what matters most: teaching.

I am heartened that the Ministry of Education (MOE) has addressed this issue proactively through its refreshed Guidelines for School-Home Partnership, also known as the GSHP, which serves as a how-to guide for working together "positively, constructively, and respectfully". However, I opine that any ambiguity about expectations and boundaries left open to individual interpretation can lead to unconscious encroachment into teachers and educators' personal time, as well as place the burden of setting limits on them, which can be both challenging and uncomfortable.

I therefore propose for each school and educational institutions to develop and make transparent a set of communication protocols to empower teachers and educators to set clear and firm boundaries from the onset. These protocols will serve as a more school-specific and enforceable extension of the refreshed GSHP, where schools can stipulate official hours during which teachers and educators may be contacted and establish alternatives for urgent matters outside those times, in a way that best fits their own context and in consultation with all stakeholders. These protocols will help parents and guardians as well, by preventing misunderstandings on when and how to reach out and ensuring that communication is efficient and purposeful.

Establishing these boundaries will not compromise the quality of support offered to students and families. Most students and families use existing communication channels appropriately and thus are already respectful of these boundaries. And in fact, when teachers and educators can maintain work-life harmony, they return each day refreshed, prepared and engaged, benefiting students directly. Establishing these boundaries marks a significant step towards a more balanced, supportive and sustainable education system.

An especially vulnerable group here is preschool teachers, who have frequent interactions with parents, since parents of young children tend to be very highly involved and protective. Young children also have higher emotional and physical needs, which can blur professional lines. In situations where parents disagree with teachers' handling of children displaying difficult behaviour or expect them to be overly accommodating to unreasonable requests, teachers may feel pressured into accepting disrespectful or harassing behaviour.

This is where the commitment of strong leadership to upholding guidelines and protocols is key, without which guidelines and protocols remain mere suggestions. Good practices can only take root when standards are reinforced consistently and their importance demonstrated through action. Teachers and educators need to know that school leaders have their backs. I commend the school leaders, supervisors, and superintendents that check in with their officers regularly. I also urge them to readily empower teachers and educators to stand up against harassing or disrespectful behaviour should they occur.

Second, "Protect". There are few cases of harassment and bullying of teachers and educators in Singapore. However, for the minority of cases, each should be investigated seriously and without delay, with strong consequences for aggressors and compassionate support for those affected. I urge schools to re-examine and, where necessary, strengthen their punitive measures and escalation procedures and processes. At the same time, we must prioritise repairing the harm caused to victims, recognising that those who have experienced harassment or bullying may suffer lasting effects on their career confidence, mental health and sense of security.

Teaching is an inherently socially and emotionally demanding job, but teachers and educators should never accept disrespectful behaviour like abusive language from parents and guardians, inappropriate comments in the classroom, or unwelcome physical contact as "part of the job". Every teacher and educator must be made aware of their rights and protections available to them to prevent underreporting and failure to seek support. They should feel safe to inform their school leaders or MOE, or in more severe cases where their safety is threatened, file a police report without fear of retaliation, blame or being penalised in their performance reviews. School leadership must also be sensitive to the implications of power dynamics and equipped to escalate the matter after mediation or formal warnings have failed.

Our teachers and educators make a vital contribution to our nation by nurturing the young minds of tomorrow. They have the right to work in environments free from harassment, intimidation and discrimination. We cannot risk allowing behaviour that undermines them to go unchecked. Implementing stronger punitive measures and escalation processes will underline a position of zero-tolerance. This includes in-school suspensions with counselling and reflection requirements or mandatory social-emotional learning lessons for students as well as stronger penalties and interventions for adult offenders. Consequently, any accusations made should be thoroughly investigated and the accused should have the opportunity to respond.

Perhaps the Ministry can also look into conducting mandatory training programmes on recognising, preventing and healing from harassment and bullying that are trauma-informed for all school staff. When in doubt, teachers and educators who are union members can also approach their union for help. Our teachers' and education unions in Singapore hear many cases of grievances a year, ranging from managing students' misbehaviour and abusive attacks from parents to work appraisals, mental health issues and career progression. Our unions stand ready to champion all teachers and educators from trainee teachers to veteran faculty, from pre-schools to special education (SPED) schools to Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) including ITE, polytechnics, universities, private education providers and international schools as well.

For IHLs, where parents are less involved and students more mature and motivated in pursuing their academic and career goals, the number of harassment cases may be limited. But even a small number of isolated cases can have serious impacts, not only on the individuals involved but rippled across the broader school community. To build a respectful and inclusive teaching and learning environment, campuses can consider working together with unions to provide a dedicated office that can professionally receive, handle and manage harassment complaints.

This dedicated office typically acts as an informal and neutral "help desk" of sorts, that provides confidential conflict resolution options and resources to faculty, staff and students that are, crucially, free from departmental influence. At the moment, an equivalent of such a dedicated office that acts as an unbiased and third-party channel does not seem to exist or be widely known in IHLs. Faculty, staff and students' primary recourse is to approach school leaders, human resources (HR) departments or supervisors, which may discourage reporting of sensitive or uncomfortable matters.

A dedicated office is, thus, especially helpful for those who are not ready to pursue formal action but still want to discuss options or seek advice on navigating the system, a more flexible approach to formal HR processes. The dedicated office's mandate can also be expanded to include proactive responsibilities, such as identifying systemic issues and recommending changes to workplace policies, standards and codes of conduct to school leadership based on case trends and feedback.

I am heartened that teachers and educators who require psychological support are able to tap on a host of resources including  MOE's in-house professional counselling services, schools' Wellness Ambassadors and additional funding and resources for Staff Well-being Committees. I would suggest, additionally, that teachers and educators who have experienced harassment and bullying be given the option to take mental health leave from work, if needed, or in the interim, participate in the Teacher Work Attachment Plus programme to regain a sense of confidence and stability.

Further, access to these well-being resources should include allied educators, like school counsellors and special educational needs officers, as well as allied staff in SPED schools, like teacher aides and vocational education personnel, who may face higher physical risks and emotional strain but receive less support and protection than teachers. It is commendable that MOE has made significant efforts to break down silos between mainstream schools and SPED schools, including increased opportunities for intermingling among children as well as attachments, rotations and secondments for teachers.

I submit that MOE should ensure that Allied Educators and SPED non-teaching staff are not overlooked in the policy decisions surrounding their well-being, protection and career progression.

Third, "Partner". We often say, "It takes a village to raise a child". To promote a positive school culture of mutual support and trust, we need all hands on deck. If our teachers and educators are not given the respect that they are due, there is a problem beyond that of individuals' actions. It is a community problem, influenced by our shared beliefs, perspectives and practices. The community then needs to be part of the solution. Law enforcement agencies and community partners need to step up as well to partner with and support our educational institutions.

Parents and guardians, for one, play an influential role in instilling into and reinforcing students' respect for teachers and educators. Our children take their cues from us. When we treat their teachers and educators with courtesy and gratitude, we inspire our children to do the same. If they feel misunderstood or think that something is unfair, rather than responding defensively, we can guide them to discuss these issues respectfully.

MOE has also stepped up its efforts in engaging and cultivating strong partnerships with families by working with parent support groups (PSGs). Such networks help share responsibility and resources and can make a big difference in easing teachers and educators' workload. By simply sharing homework help or answers to straightforward questions with each other, instead of defaulting to teachers and educators as the point-of-contact, parents and guardians free up time for teachers and educators to focus on more meaningful tasks. Schools should continue to encourage parents and guardians to reach out to their peer networks as a primary resource, leveraging technologies like an online forum or private chat group. PSGs can also organise more informal meet-ups, so that parents and guardians can get to know one another better and foster a sense of community.

I am mindful that teachers and educators' issues can be deeply gendered, given that this is a profession disproportionately over-represented by women. Female teachers from primary school to junior college, for example, make up over 70% of the teaching staff, according to education statistics released in 2023.

Although the profession is of course not the sole purview of women, it has a strong association with nurturing and emotional labour, roles traditionally assigned to women. As such, teachers and educators may be expected to perform additional emotional labour, such as comforting students and handling interpersonal conflicts without formal compensation, despite the demands on their time and energy. This devaluation not only impacts them financially, but also the respect and recognition they receive, since it perpetuates the notion that such work is less skilled. This is also known as "invisible labour".

Teachers and educators should, therefore, be fairly compensated for their extended duties in providing nurturing and emotional labour, such as teachers who take on additional caseloads as teacher counsellors. While schools currently have the flexibility to reduce the teaching or committee duties of teacher counsellors to provide them with adequate time to counsel students with moderate needs, formally recognising and compensating their work via an incentive bonus scheme can help validate the extra work often expected from those in teaching roles, reducing burnout and acknowledging their full contributions.

On a more macro level, we also want to make sure that the teaching profession is respected and appreciated by the wider community, which can help prevent and reduce the mistreatment of teachers and educators. By raising the status of teaching as an attractive, meaningful and esteemed career does not have to come from the top-down, but from within.

I am, therefore, imploring school leaders to entrust teachers and educators with more autonomy over their ways of working and teaching. This means holding space for teachers and educators to share their feedback as well as listening and taking into consideration their ideas.

Teachers and educators possess first-hand and in-depth knowledge of their students' evolving needs, making them uniquely positioned to identify gaps in school programmes, culture and policies. We must believe they hold within themselves, the creativity and innovation to create impressive and contextually relevant ways of working and teaching that are sustainable and effective. Partnering teachers and educators in this regard, therefore, also reflects respect and recognition of their expertise.

To be clear, what I am suggesting is not to add yet another role onto teachers and educators' ever-growing list of demands that they also be counsellors, helpline operators, administrators, event organisers and so on. On the contrary, by allowing teachers and educators a say in how they work and teach, we may be able to address their perennial pain points of managing heavy workloads, burnout and poor student behaviour.

More importantly, which I find lacking, is the strong involvement of our unions in the co-creation and development of these policies and frameworks to build a harassment-free and respectful workplace or school environment across the entire education spectrum. I suggest that MOE can spearhead a coordinated national tripartite effort to prevent the abuse and harassment of teachers and educators, perhaps, by forming a tripartite workgroup to create a framework on building a respectful and harassment-free workplace. This will allow teachers and educators' voices to be represented and allow them a seat at the table.

The framework can aim to provide educational institutions with: one, a common definition of abuse and harassment and, thereby, a consistent set of standards to safeguard teachers and educators; two, recommended protocols for immediate incident response, reporting and post-incident management; and three, recommended follow-up actions to be taken against perpetrators that prioritise restorative practices for students and strengthens penalties and interventions for adult offenders.

When parents respect teachers and educators, their children do too. When school leadership trusts their officers to do what they do best – teach; it sends a powerful message about the quality and value of the profession.

In conclusion, the success of any educational institution rests on the well-being of its teachers and educators. I urge all relevant stakeholders in our child-raising "village" to commit to building a respectful and harassment-free workplace for our teachers and educators. When we prevent harassment and bullying by enacting clear and transparent guidelines and protocols, protect teachers and educators by strengthening punitive measures, escalation processes and restorative practices and, finally, cultivate strong partnerships among ecosystem stakeholders, we foster a school culture where every teacher and educator feels valued, supported and safe.

Teachers and educators, whom we make exceptional demands of, are passionate individuals who have chosen to dedicate their careers to educating our children and youths. I am confident that every single one of us in this room can think of at least one teacher or educator who has touched our lives and changed us in some irrevocable way. Our teachers and educators must be empowered to report instances of abusive behaviour and harassment without fear of repercussions.

The National Trades Union Congress' affiliated unions in the education cluster stand ready to champion their needs and well-being. Let us pay their contributions forward by upholding the dignity, safety and respect for all teachers and educators, because every teacher matters, every educator matters and every worker matters. [Applause.]