I am a PCF preschool principal, all of my staff including me are underpaid. What can I do?

Question

PCF is a non-profit organisation , but social workers already got their pay adjusted. It is not under under goverment, and Civil servent got their pay adjusted. Even Primary School teachers got their pay adjusted. But why not PCF Kindergarten, and guess what, we are classified under private, but staff are not paid according to private market rate.

By the way all staff hold a Cert or Dip in Education and the Principal, a Dip in Leadership in Education. The best part is out Management community do not consider us as "higher level" staff. What are we then?

Answer 1

wow, i can understand your frustrations because it's not easy to teach small kids. it involves a lot of patience and work.

you guys also lay down the education foundation of every singaporean child. so there's a lot of pressure from the inside out to do an excellent job -- at minimal pay, sadly...

i hope you will get your dues and what you truly deserve... i suggest you really be proactive in giving suggestions to improve staff morale to your management community... keep this issue at the radar of the powers that be and i am sure you will be heard eventually... if you can also get some of the parents to be involved somehow, you can definitely make a big case (not fuss) out of this... do it in the right spirit, and not out of frustration... a calm, collected, well-researched and intelligent complaint will be heard...

all the best.

Answer 2

Since this PCF program is relatively new, you will probably have to be patient with the Management community. They will need about ten years of evidence (hard statistical facts) to prove this program is more effective than the more traditional program. When the evidence shows PCF to be more advantageous to children entering Primary, then the staff (principal & all your staff) will receive a salary based on statistical improvement of educational goals.

This new program, developed by the Education Ministry, with help from experts in Singapore & in Britain, moves away from what currently happens in many PAP Community Foundation (PCF) kindergartens. The change, announced in 2003, is based on the latest research on how children learn and will affect about 70,000 children in PCF centers.

It was tested over the last five years when 1,336 children in 32 PCF kindergartens were divided into two groups, with one group trying out the new curriculum while the other stayed with the old.

At the end of the second year, youngsters under the 'play' approach were a lot better at problem-solving, which includes matching and pairing items and is important for mastering mathematics.

They also had better social skills, were more likely to discuss an activity and share knowledge with classmates, and more likely to speak up and ask questions.

They also sharpened their ability to speak English.

The biggest all-round impact was seen among children from lower-income and non-English-speaking homes.