Time for Learning: A Day in the Life of a Singaporean Teacher

Singapore is one of the highest-achieving school systems in the world yet teachers have relatively fewer instructional hours compared to teachers in the U.S. As a senior teacher at Kranji Secondary School in Singapore, Rosmiliah's typical work week involves only 12-14 hours of academic teaching. This film follows a day in the life of Rosmiliah and provides intriguing insight into how teacher time is managed in Singapore.
"Time for Learning: A Day in the Life of a Singaporean Teacher," is a product of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) study, “Comparative Study of Time Use in Schools.” Sponsored by the Ford Foundation, the study examines policies and practices related to teacher quality used by high-achieving jurisdictions.

[@karynyzelman1176]

If only the students I taught were half as respectful as the ones shown here

[@stuwatson1735]

When you have students that are respectful and disciplined, much can be accomplished. Even in a shorter amount of direct teaching time. This is (imo) the biggest hurdle American teachers face. It's not budgets and the need for "smart" classrooms. It's the severe lack of discipline and respect and a lack of appreciation by many of the students for the opportunity they've been given to learn. Solve that and you'll see American test score increase and students more successful in school and in life. Congratulations on a well run classroom! Warm Regards.

[@edgykoala1732]

As a teacher, I really must say that this is true. I can blow through books when the classroom atmosphere is one of cooperative learning and, in the process, the students always end up having much more fun in the process. When you are actively teaching all day you end up pacing yourself.

[@thedestroyer6914]

Oh you havent seen my classmates in my class in singapore

[@aliciatan6417]

Stu Watson trust me im from a good school and my class is trash... kids are the same everywhere

[@RonLarhz]

Stu Watson Oh please. We have bullies n trouble markers too. Recently physical bullying is on the rise.

[@charcooler]

rafflesian here, they actually scare you into discipline with all the punishments...

[@donjr3270]

Back in Secondary School, I never fancy the "silent reading" session. But I see why it is so important now.

[@hugolouwen4360]

i personally wished they had them in classrooms tho :/ i just couldn’t concentrate with the crowded and stuffy atmosphere

[@arianrolex6456]

....bruh it’s fun, people are quiet, you can sleep

[@renjunsriceroll]

THEY READ IN THE MORNING BUT THEY ARE ACTUALLY JUST TALKING WITH STH IN FRONT OF THEM Singing national anthem: EVERYONE IS JUST ZONED OUT AND SLEEPY Class time: (talk talk talk) (secret use phone) (pair work: one does the work other copy) debate: preparation : BORING actual thing : One great student actually doing proper work; other students fighting instead of debating reflection: one student does it seriously; others copy "how to engage students" me: thats impossible

[@renjunsriceroll]

THEY ONLY HAVE ONE CCA DAY IM JEALOUS I HAVE TWO (CRIES)

[@ale-hh7yl]

MaiderieX xesritex soo true

[@manfred7657]

confluencexo 101 i have2x3 hours 1x2 hours a week

[@wanyeelim3783]

gotdayx’s ᴍᴏɴᴅᴀʏsᴇ In my school during post- PSLE debate competition they sometimes argued with poems

[@handsoap1097]

fucking true siah HAHAHAH

[@malikauzakova940]

what a cheerful teacher! I was really delighted to watch such a respectful and disciplined students.All future success starts from school and a teacher,and by watching the documentary i can confidently say than this children going to be the best with their extreme effort.

[@issasuwedi8082]

I've heard a lot about great pedagogical models achieved by Singaporean educational institutions. I'm happy to see how much they've achieved with their initiatives towards creating auspicious learning environments with extremely talented teaching professionals within them. The entire world has definitely much to learn from you. Good job and keep it up! 😊

[@hassanhassan-wm5rl]

thank you for sharing this experience , educating our children is the best investment

[@williamjayaraj2244]

No doubt Singapore is teaching the world how to teach. That is why teachers from Australia to USA come and visit schools in Singapore. Great service to the global humanity. Best wishes.

[@ideaquest]

This neighbourhood school is already at this high level. Imagine what’s going on at Singapore’s top schools like Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong. I assume students teaching/collaborating with teachers.

[@lololol559]

Most schools are like this buddy

[@camchardonnay665]

I remembered Mdm Ros from my day as a Seconday 3 student. She taught us Geography. I remembered her lessons to be fun and engaging. Even though she can be a little fierce sometimes. I can feel her passion for the subject and enjoyed her lesson. I still remember some things that she taught many years ago, like how to draw the formation of an oxbow lake :P

[@mxrksmanalt9718]

Great video! This is way different than my international school in singapore!

[@bimaerzazakaria4382]

Very inspiring. Hope Indonesia can learn much from what singapore do for its education. Finally Indonesia can transform its education to be better. maintaining its own way by having a global perspective.

[@XPurpleMyth3]

Bima Erza Zakaria true that

[@hanpua1056]

Bima Erza Zakaria your country first needs to clean house , like corruption that’s still goes on strong .Then poverty won’t be as bad , then schools be better .

[@FF-ds9xw]

We have our own probs, so keep it on. Cheers

[@mustafamohammed5177]

Why some Indonesian students are studying in yemen ?

[@patriciadubois3108]

Thanks to Mrs Rosmiliah. You have chosen the debate of the case study of my country- Mauritius

[@rosalindafrancia7027]

Thank you for sharing. Philippine teachers have much to learn from Singapore education system.

[@thedreamweaver6514]

As a high school teacher I find this interesting and might give it a try!

[@shuklavithika]

Very inspiring

[@mycreation205]

Sooooooo good teacher communication time In our place we see that one section teacher teaches something different to the other sections

[@LM-cn8kc]

I was in primary school during the early 80s and we didn't have newspapers or quiet reading time. We were most likely horsing around or fingering the marbles in our trouser pockets before the pledge and anthem. That's progress I suppose!

[@shuklavithika]

Impressive and creative post

[@joeandcoffee]

Mrs.Rosmiliah is my inspiration to become better teacher.

[@sumitgoswami8419]

All group discussions should end with a conclusion, this is what is believe, didn't notice it. Thanks Sumit Goswami

[@ohmingfeng1358]

go film at raffles institute

[@venkatesha7782]

Oh Ming Feng literally what I was thinking

[@syukrisaidi96]

MDM Ros!!!!! My favourite Pure Geography Teacher! :D

[@soon8098]

I study in Chua Chu Kang Sec, which is VERY near to Kranji, basically neighbours.

[@Korkinmaenkikkeli]

looks great

[@yaasin67]

In My Primary School, We Have Mass Silent Reading In The Hall And In Secondary We Didnt Do It And Spent The Time Eating Breakfast Or Settling Down At Class Or Hall To Get Ready For Morning Assembly

[@kiwiparlour3576]

They should do one on the life of a teacher in an ELITE school

[@Raven-wt1pq]

Red Velvet actually all the teachers are trained the same. And schools are also generally the same, the so called elite schools are still public schools and are just like the rest. Its just that they happen to be more popular bc they have the higher cut off points, meaning that the smarter students go there. But achievement wise, all the schools are about the equal bc the schools have different niches. Like mine, Mayflower Sec, prides itself in the performing arts. So it wouldnt really matter whether its a so called elite school or a normal neighbourhood school.

[@Raven-wt1pq]

Red Velvet i hope it helps you understand our system a bit more. :)

[@jexin1749]

Gina Chen Erm sorry but elite schools perform way better and the teachers are usually those who trained w teaching scholarships. And for elite schools, if their strongest area for cca are sports, they will ultimately still clinch quite a number of achievements in performing arts, clubs and societies as well. MOE gives them better teachers, resources so they will be more opportunities and activities so obv the life of a teacher in an elite school will be different bc they have to plan activities w these resources:-)))))))

[@Raven-wt1pq]

Tomato Pasta excuse me but every school has different strengths. And let's be honest, most (if not all) singaporeans teachers all go through NIE training and many have their degrees. And not all of the teachers w teaching scholarships went on to teach at the elite school. My biology teacher was an A* scholar (if you know what A* is). And yes, the elite schools have more resources sometimes but that bc of the money donated by some parents for their kid to get into the school itself (bribes i know) and there are also semi-private schools that have more money to spend bc its somewhat independant, but based on my own experience the schools has their own decent amount of resources (depending on the amount of students they have). And every single school has a few if not many achievements, at least for my school, we had many when I was a student (class of 2016) majority of the sports teams placing in the zonals, UGs getting gold and silver during their meets (especially boy scouts, theyre really good) and the performing arts getting cert of distinction most of the time. So yes, elite schools may have it all, but guess what? So do neighbourhood schools you damn elitist.

[@jexin1749]

Gina Chen well, Singapore's success in education is mainly based on the elite system that we have, so obviously they put more focus on schools that have more opportunity to produce the creme de la creme in the future. But have I ever mentioned that MOE place absolutely no attention on neighbourhood schools? No, i didnt. I am merely doing a comparison so why are u angered? Because you found out the truth in the hard way? And obviously there are outstanding teachers in neighbourhood schools as well but will you not agree that this ratio of outstanding teachers will be higher in elite schools? And honestly i don't even wanna quote my school's statistics lol you are just angsty because i pointed out the obvious. i wouldnt disagree that im not an elitist but I wouldnt in any way try to put down ANY INDIVIDUAL who arent in elite schools but ur response made me cringed im sorry

[@sandothemando8924]

Schools in Australia should implement more of these strategies. Better and more interface between students and teachers and more variety in teaching methods. Also fair and respectful discipline of students.

[@wontaeklim9580]

I am impressed that teachers do their best to improve their teaching skills.

[@TNKfilm]

I want to know if there's lots of extra jobs teacher in Singapore must do in school except three parts shown in this video for example doing lots of documents not related to teaching, getting workshop outside school instead of teaching etc.

[@Christjohnny33]

This teacher should come to Malaysia to teach ...

[@vlad8606]

Anything is possible in the absence of "inner city" students disrupting the learning process CONSTANTLY.

[@user-nf9xc7ww7m]

It's not racial, it's cultural. They learn that it's cool to be bad and to fight the man.

[@Hsuryanto]

good idea for learning

[@nemo_cc]

There's 3 types of teachers in my school: The very strict ones: Makes the class stand 1/2 the lesson for one person talking has mental breakdown in class says that they dont care if we fail and that its our fault that we are standing when one person talked The very helpless ones: gets bullied by the "gangsters" very quiet and usually doesnt care if ppl talk will go up to us and say " i dont kn ow how you can deal with them(the gangsters) The funny ones: is friends with the gangsters, doesnt scold them kinda bad at teaching

[@jiayi5829]

Most of my teachers are the funny ones but they are just something wrong with them and give some sort of attitude to the nice students.also loves to gossip with the gangster about their own colleagues

[@ruwaidaajhugroo1737]

Heyy im from Mauritius!!! 😉

[@jq6641]

As a Singaporean student, I can tell you that we find school boring Edit: Ok, of course that's just my view, for me it depends some lesson it's boring, especially traditional teachers where they are like absolute silence, don't get me wrong, silence is necessary but they have to keep up with times. Sometimes, I feel sorry for a teacher. Other times not

[@XPurpleMyth3]

Ong Jun Quan same. School is more like "YOU WILL LEARN- lots of tests and homework"

[@sugarcranes9882]

Ong Jun Quan As a SOTA student, I proudly disagree 😁

[@WishingBabyX]

I disagree as well. My experience in secondary school was quite pleasant, especially in secondary 4. As long as you’re keen in learning, school can be interesting and fun, especially if you’re sort of friends with your teachers.

[@XPurpleMyth3]

Nigel Kronkberry "if you're sort of friends with your Teachers" not many students have connections with Teachers like some students. Not to mention when they dislike you, they will make you suffer. Or they give you piles of homework and say "it will help you" and give you a deadline close. While that's my express and my NA Friend's lives. But I can agree on it not to drastistic if you NA.

[@XPurpleMyth3]

Nigel Kronkberry we're debating. Yay!

[@idroppedmybananas]

Why I suddenly remember why i hate school

[@Drinkwater.]

As a Singaporean now I have the right to say how hard my life is and how much we want to escpae to Australlia

[@katherineho8060]

Wesley Teh no you don’t. I may have been in a different situation compared to you, but you cannot make such generalizations.

[@karynyzelman1176]

No. Please do not send your kids or future kids to a public school in australia

[@SuperKnowledgeSponge]

I escaped to the US. I advise others to do the same.

[@Kraken1Kid]

I say move to EU

[@limjavier3861]

Is it GB day or GB have to wear there full uni for morning assembly than change out

[@kcorson8967]

Who is watching students during all the professional development time? What are students doing at this time? Thank you!

[@investigacionydesarrollocu7439]

Could I find this video with Spanish subtittles ????

[@celesttinee6224]

oohhh GB day

[@sugarcranes9882]

You know what's funny is that that teacher's average day is shorter then my average day by about 2 hours. And I'm a student

[@dreamsofmishra]

adulthood has its responsibilities, and perks. also, teachers spend a lot of time marking stuff and planning new lessons which you may not know abt. they dont just switch off that aspect of their brain when work ends. Some of my friends are young teachers, maybe they're still v invested so i cant say it applies across the board.

[@teys6847]

Honestly, teacher's job is not only teaching in class. It includes discipline, lesson planning and paper works. So time management is necessary for you to have time for your family and friends. But its a meaningful job

[@jubairasaid4547]

Amazing how could we avail a trading I hope Singapore gov.can extend their best practice education in Mindanao barmm we are in need for our intgrated school

[@hanpua1056]

So many kids wear glasses there 😎

[@hxcq5883]

Yeah it doesn't mean they are nerds or what.

[@arafikkph9040]

Do all teachers and schools on Singapore use English in their activities??

[@wahab197391]

Okay, so. In my daily life in my Singapore school aka "Kranji" (im primary 4 c;) We usually read books instead of newspapers, and instead for the bell to ring for us to sing the national anthem..We have a vice principal to say "Kranjians can you all stand up please." Or they would say which year will stand up first. After that. WE HAVE TO WALK UNTIL LEVEL 4 AND LEGIT I LITERALLY FELL DOWN BECAUSE I WAS TIRED GOING UP THE STAIRS, Anyways. On Fridays, we have CCA's and after that. We would go to the hall to either see a presentation, show or speech. but if we don't, we would usually have to come back down to class. And the most annoying part for me is....HOW EVERYDAY WE HAVE TO START THE LESSON WITH MATH, AND I LITERALLY CANNOT STAND HOW MUCH HOMEWORK MY TEACHER GIVES. ITS EVERYDAY DUDE! (did yall think I would really say bro?) anyways..atleast my English teacher and social studies teacher is funny either ways. Social studies, we don't have to greet the teacher lolololol.

[@haseebbutt9434]

So sad

[@unown293]

you’re only p4 lmao, wait until you get older

[@Chocoogem]

Athena Tait erm this is like really late but CCA is co-curricular activity. It is compulsory to have in secondary school. So when students first go into the school, they will choose what CCA they would like to join like girl guides, scouts, photography, basketball, etc. After lessons, the students will go for their cca.

[@user-vb8lk5pj6h]

DANG I LIVE in Indonesia ( close to Singapore) but not like that, but we sing our anthem.

[@Koa_lala]

Ohh in Philippines our school time starts at 8:00 or 8:30 am to 4-5 pm

[@haseebbutt9434]

To much time so boring

[@mohdilyasa8616]

Students reasing newspaper had me laughing.

[@SB-ll1tt]

I wish we had an amazing geography teacher like this. Ours was miserable. I went to a very strict school but most of the teachers were great.

[@vcwsh8803]

How much these teachers and senior Teachers in MOE earn a month ??

[@thurazaw4675]

Do one for Acs independent! Wonder how’s life for acsian teachers

[@shaun1880]

From there and I can confirm it’s pretty much the same

[@promadvishwakarma2210]

good

[@bringiton5282]

The system seems great but the way they explain it is just a lot of bullshit vernacular.

[@user-gk4pc4gd1n]

0:44 I come in as early as 7 o’clock to check emails!?!?? Bisch, mah teacher comes in as early as 5 to plan and print out worksheets for us

[@zuccburger7293]

中野洋美

[@Mazlina-rp8be]

中野洋美 your teacher don’t know time management la. Your teacher come at 5? The school not even open !!!

[@c_yin]

And a lot of 250 student come my school and become the top students in class 😭

[@victorxdd381]

This is why I hate going to school ...

[@bairullakisshan708]

If it's quiet challenging to manage 40 students, so it's really difficult for Filipino teacher to manage learning of 50 to 60 students in a room with a very low salary.. hahaha.. so sad for Filipino teachers.. I really admire Singapore .

[@mfra959]

As a Indonesian, I'm so jealous with my neighbor Most of public school in indonesia 100 worse than this School education system like ancient era education system So far to get Developed Ohh yeah many Indonesian public school also don't have Computer lesson

[@user-hm9mj1hc3j]

6:50 nice black low wedges shoes, cute

[@Shayanraj_15]

I feel this is not grooming next generation children, This is manufacturing students to take on the future market trends. This is just my opinion.

[@jaymoran53]

Hello, fellow educators in Singapore, Congratulations! I love to teach Social Science in Singapore for Senior High School Level. I have a BS, MA and PhD in Education. I experienced here in the UAE teaching Philosophy, Organizational Management and Research among Grade 11 and 12 students. For my more than 10 years in teaching, i experienced K to 12 and British curriculum teaching methodologies, approaches and strategies. I'm pretty sure, i could be an asset in Singapore. Anyone can recommend a school for me to apply? Thanks and God bless!

[@joesr31]

Pretty sure its allocated by MOE if you want to teach in schools like these (ie. primary, secondary, junior college). I'm not really sure what is senior high school level, but I would assume it is Junior College (ie. right before university). There is not social science as a subject. There is geography, history, literature, economics in terms of humanities and social sciences. Would suggest you look up MOE website. If not you can search up the polytechnic as well, not very sure about that as I did not study that path

[@JayneBeremasBrooks]

Which company of girls brigade is that?

[@c_yin]

*sighs* School ends at 5.30 or even later for 2 days sometimes.. And we have to wait 2 hours just for it

[@chantelle1576]

ikr.. sometimes when school holds event, i had to stay till 11pm

[@beatricetan1597]

"I go to school as early as 7" Me : early meh?Reach school at 6:30 and I already have some friends there

[@ale-hh7yl]

Beatrice Tan I reach school at 6:20

[@jetsetradios]

True true

[@kyoli9847]

I reach school at 7.30 sharp coz I don't wanna go school early

[@limjavier3861]

If I dont meet my friend I reach school at 6.20 but if i meet my friend and we will walk to school together we will reach at 6.50

[@Tanshien08]

I reach at abt 7.15 cost my hse is far and I take abt 30min to reach (Fernvale to hougang) And my school start at 7.45

[@existancialcrisis]

Thats my school!;)

[@08antarasarkar72]

Will your school give an indian a job of a teacher if he/she has 10 years of teaching experience with bachelor & master's degree ?

[@uchihamadara2660]

great singelish.

[@christophersinambela]

Show them Prince EA Vid

[@mooseolly7744]

who is that old granny sitting behind at 4:46 ?

[@saebyeoksgf606]

y’all are wrong. mostly all schools are filled with gangsters, students that are almost absent everyday, bad students, students that doesn’t listen or do their homework, students that fights and cause accident or gives the school/class bad names and much more. my school is one of them and my class is the worst but i LOVE my class since im one of them... hehe. during the reading time in the assembly area, we talk. when we sing the national athem, we just lipsync and zone out. during class, we talk, run around, fight, makes the class messy, sit on top of a table that’s not a desk WHEN THERE IS A TEACHER, some of us also uses our phone during mother tongue and get caught but we still continue. we stay back after school, our school set a rule saying we have to go straight home after school unless we need to go out then we change into normal clothes instead of staying in school uniforms but we stay in school uniforms and go to somewhere we are not suppose to go since there is people staying there and make a lot of noises. it’s actually very fun being bad but if u end up in boys or girls home or jail then bye bye. That’s a long ass ride, I mean speech but all this things I said happens to all p6 pupils.

[@fbr35]

Malaysian school too much fun

[@remsorian3]

I love you ...........................

[@jaymoran53]

Hello, fellow educators in Finland, Congratulations! I love to teach Social Science in Singapore for Senior High School Level. I have a BS, MA and PhD in Education. I experienced here in the UAE teaching Philosophy, Organizational Management and Research among Grade 11 and 12 students. For my more than 10 years in teaching, i experienced K to 12 and British curriculum teaching methodologies, approaches and strategies. I'm pretty sure, i could be an asset in Singapore. Anyone can recommend a school for me to apply? Thanks and God bless!

[@delilahscassettes2135]

prettt much any international school

[@darthvader2452]

school in singapore is definitely not fun

[@lee.rants.about.everything]

Darth Vader yeeep

[@zlon6464]

Ikr

[@XPurpleMyth3]

My schools ends lessons on 2:25pm

[@sugarcranes9882]

XPurple Myth :3 my earliest end time is 1500 and my latest is 2030 or sometimes even 2130

[@XPurpleMyth3]

Sarah Lam *claps for you* I have Fgc sometimes so latest is 4. But school closes on 5...I dislike it cause of I want school time to be able to end later (weirdly) ;-;

[@rachelletann]

that school is right beside my house lol

[@h.e.y7480]

SG Cher = S$$$$ + respect

[@jiajialow8955]

Malaysia 🇲🇾 is more worse reached school at 6:25 give so much hw that we don't know how to do do until 12/1 am . Discussion work? No way teacher is just so hw do hw and do hw . Real story

[@normanwong9027]

What makes you think we don’t get buried under homework too?

[@abidalouti989]

universale paiple

[@Draco-nx7nt]

what lenguage do they speak english and chinese?

[@twenlil]

English and their mother tongue. All the other subjects like Science, Math, Geography, History etc are taught in English.

[@shanneng02]

Draco 31805 We speak both!! :)

[@skytan4436]

Draco 31805 Mother Tongue can be Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Some of them take 3rd language, such as French, Japanese, Arabic, Burmese, etc.

[@wanyeelim3783]

Malay too!

[@bgomtori]

Both

[@user-ec3pf2rk7g]

I was like “ha I come at 6:30am :>” ( I’m being a weird & rude rn i know)

[@michelleloo894]

OMG KRANJI #kranjian

[@tasertag7513]

This could be quite biased.

[@limjavier3861]

You should go to chij tpy sec

[@tailiu223]

Her accent is very different from British English. I need to really pay attention.

[@user-rh6jx6xj8e]

Tai Liu because she isn’t british and we as singaporeans don’t speak like our past colonisers?

[@NarutoUzumaki-ze4be]

It makes me younger .....lol

[@hi-dx7qw]

wah reach school 7 vry early hor wat bs

[@SuccessforLifester]

This teacher has an easy workload and only needs to teach one subject.

[@SuccessforLifester]

This video is all a show. Not a true reflection of the life of school teachers there

[@brandonryanmosidin2509]

Girls Brigade!

[@khanhlynguyen5725]

Singaporean sounds funny :))

[@ojm21]

Whose school has a principal named "Miss Tan."? 😂

[@wanyilim4219]

St nicks has had 3 mrs tans back to back, or at least within my pri n sec sch life, all 3 SN principals were all Mrs Tans xD

[@faitherpietem3643]

Mine's Mdm Tan xD

[@muhammadhanif6146]

It alarming that many students are having glassess

[@at-a2771]

Student or robot ?

[@thankyou8806]

Apparently we are humans too.Singapore education is suited for anybody to be honest.The lessons here are engaging and there are balance between studying and other activities

[@c_yin]

And everyone is dead.. No response in class lol

[@muhammadhanif6146]

E

[@superiorsubsngang4715]

I go to Singapore primary school. So boring

[@katherineho8060]

Superior Subs NGANG I’m not so sure about that. Compare to the schools in China (for example) our curriculum is truly much better. So don’t be so quick to comment

[@vcwsh8803]

I am an Associate Lecturer in singapore university.

[@chhunlaymalai4296]

she may be philippines

[@tarinai344]

5:02 Eh.. is that guy making a joke? Secondary school students doesn't know that extreme weather patterns are caused by climate-change -> caused by carbon emissions? And he is asking other people to 'Did you read it properly'? I am so hopeful of the next generation!