SINGAPORE – Teachers in special education (Sped) schools can expect higher salaries, Second Minister for Education Maliki Osman said on Friday.
Additional funding will be provided to Sped schools to raise their salaries as part of the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) efforts to attract and retain talent in the sector, he said. More details will be announced in early 2024.
From 2024, key staff and leaders in Sped schools can also look forward to more avenues for professional development, such as opportunities to reinforce teachers’ skills in working with students of different disabilities.
The 1,760-strong Sped teaching fraternity will need another 350 teachers by 2030, as the number of Sped schools grows, Dr Maliki said at the Special Education Learning Festival 2023 at Republic Polytechnic.
He acknowledged that recruiting Sped educators is not easy. “There will be demand for competent teachers in different settings, such as Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children centres, pre-schools and even mainstream schools, to support our students with special educational needs,” he said.
To keep pace with other competing sectors, Dr Maliki said, the Ministry of Education (MOE) reviewed salary guidelines for teachers and teacher aides, who are assistant teachers.
“Enhanced guidelines will accompany the salary changes. I’m sure the schools will follow the guidelines closely to benefit all the teachers,” he added.
According to MOE’s website, teachers in Sped schools currently earn a starting monthly salary of $2,620 to $3,120. The exact amount depends on factors such as academic training and experience.
Mr Caleb Lai, 32, a speech and language therapist at St Andrew’s Autism School, said the higher salaries will be “really beneficial” for the industry.
“We need more quality and a bigger number of educators. This is a growing industry, and we need the right people to do the right things in our schools,” he said.
Since 2020, MOE has strengthened support for Sped schools by developing teaching and learning syllabuses. It aims to develop syllabuses for seven learning areas in the Sped curriculum by 2025. At the end of 2022, it had released syllabuses for three areas – daily living skills, visual arts and vocational education.
Two new syllabuses – in communication and language, and social-emotional learning – were launched on Friday to better support students with special needs in developing important skills to navigate life after school.
Mr Lai said the new communication and language syllabus will feature the use of digital tools that special needs students can use to better express themselves. These include photographs or digital animations that non-verbal students can select to produce a sound, so that they can express themselves that way.
“Many of our students (have) very limited verbal skills, or are actually non-verbal. And that can result in a lot of frustration and behaviours of concern,” he said. Being able to communicate can help to improve their quality of life, he added.
Ms Madanarathi Madan Gopal, 54, who had a hand in developing the social-emotional learning syllabus, said it aims to equip students with fundamental life skills such as self-management, self-awareness and responsible decision-making.
Ms Madanarathi, who is head of the life skills department at AWWA School at Napiri, said that teachers will have clearer guidance with the syllabus on how to nurture these skills and traits such as resilience in students so that they can adapt to life after school.
On Friday, six Sped teachers and three Sped schools received the MOE-SG Enable awards in recognition of their contributions.
Ms Nur Rasyidah Andi Satria, 39, the head of department of visual art and physical education at Chaoyang School, received the Outstanding Sped Teacher Award. Ms Nur Rasyidah, who is also the school’s head of department for co-curricular activities (CCAs), came up with a system to allow all Chaoyang pupils to join CCAs.
Chaoyang School caters to pupils aged from seven to 12 who have mild intellectual disabilities. All the pupils try out various activities in the visual and performing arts, clubs and sports, before honing their talents in the school’s talent development programme.
Ten of its Primary 5 pupils identified for their flair in floorball formed two teams to take part in 2023’s Play Inclusive, a sports competition co-organised by Special Olympics Singapore for athletes with intellectual disabilities to partner people without disabilities.
The teams were placed second and third in the competition.
Ms Nur Rasyidah, who started her career in the Sped profession as a teacher aide in 2001, said: “Through this experience, the students developed a sense of belonging to the school. Special needs students need security and avenues to spend time meaningfully. I am glad that we were able to provide this to our students through this programme.”
