SINGAPORE - Special education (Sped) teachers will get more time off to go for training or step away for medical or urgent leave, as a pool of relief teachers will be developed, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing on Sept 10.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) will work with Sped schools and social service agencies (SSAs) to form a pool of relief teachers who can step in when needed, he added.

Mr Chan was responding in Parliament to a question by Mr Patrick Tay (Pioneer) about MOE’s plans to better support Sped teachers, to address stress and burnout risks.

MOE will also explore working with Sped schools to conduct joint marketing as a sector to better recruit teachers and improve their human resource management and processes, said Mr Chan.

The careers of Sped teachers should be “as respected, as professionally enriching and as personally satisfying as being a mainstream teacher”, he said, “where Sped teachers and leaders can have the confidence that their progression and development will parallel that of our mainstream teachers as a system at the sector level, rather than just within a Sped school”.

The ministry will work on providing mainstream and Sped teachers more opportunities to learn from each other in the form of attachments or rotations, to “appreciate other student profiles and contexts”, said Mr Chan.

MOE will also work with SSAs to find ways to better achieve economies of scale in administration and infrastructure support “without losing the nimbleness required to cater to the unique needs” of each Sped school, he said.

Mr Chan added that the professional development of Sped teachers and leaders, which includes deeper knowledge and practice in curriculum and specialisation in various disability profiles, will also be deepened.

“To be effective, this will be done collectively across the SSAs and Sped schools, rather than each school developing its expertise on its own,” he said.

These steps are part of MOE’s efforts across the Sped sector to support teachers’ well-being, on top of measures already implemented by schools, said the minister.

In the immediate term, the ministry, together with Sped schools, has developed the Journeys of Excellence package to guide the professional development and career progression of Sped teachers.

The package includes funding support for competitive salaries, professional development support for teachers, a school staff developer to look after the learning needs of teachers, and strengthening the hiring and retention of teachers to address the issue of high workload.

Mr Tay and Ms Denise Phua (Jalan Besar GRC) raised concerns about the physical risks Sped teachers face, and how to better protect them.

In response, Mr Chan said that this issue has to be tackled by looking at the teaching support and training given to teachers and allied educators, as well as infrastructure design.

“This can range from rooms for (pupils) having a meltdown to calm down, to places where our teachers can also have a respite from their duties of taking care of the special needs children,” he said.

He added that MOE has also expanded mental health resources for all Sped and mainstream teachers, in response to Mr Tay’s question about whether the ministry is working with mental health professionals to take care of Sped educators.

Ms Phua also spoke about the challenges in creating a relief pool for Sped teachers, especially in view of the upcoming increase in parental and maternity leave.

She added that all teaching and non-teaching Sped staff, like speech pathologists and occupational therapists, should be included in discussions about what entails comprehensive support.

Mr Chan said that the entire community of teachers – teaching and non-teaching Sped staff, along with mainstream teachers – is considered in these measures.

Acknowledging the difficulty in forming a relief pool of Sped teachers, he called for greater support as his ministry works with the Ministry of Social and Family Development and SSAs.

“We can no longer just operate as a fragmented sector where each and every one of us is just trying to do the best for ourselves – that in itself is necessary but not sufficient,” said Mr Chan.

“We need to come together as a sector and ask ourselves, how can we share the best practices and also learn from other countries where there are also perhaps better or different practices from us.”