Tuesday. 2.19.08 9:27 am
Relief teacher sacked for mocking students on blog
Dear netizens,
GO AHEAD, LAUGH AT MY STUDENTS
His posting on his blog:
Quote:
"Well, I have 3 terribly ridiculous compositions that I shall post on this very blog of mine. A source of entertainment I should say. And I will type it out in its purest form. No corrections or whatsoever... ENJOY!!! xP"
IMAGINE you are a primary school student struggling with the English language.
You try your best to write an essay, but your relief teacher is so appalled by your standard of English that he makes fun of it.
Not in front of the class, but to anyone who bothers to read the teacher's blog.
Imagine your humilation. It's enough to make any 9-year old cry.
Now the relief teacher has paid the price for his indiscretion.
He has been sacked for mocking his students' compositions on his blog.
The 21-year old, who had been relief teaching at a primary school in the north since January, had breached the school's confidentiality guidelines, the principal said.
We are not naming the school to prevent further embarrassment for the students.
On an entry of his blog, the teacher, a former student of the school, complained that "he had a headache marking all that nonsense (sic) compositions".
He wrote: "I don't remember my standard of English to be so horrible when I was 9."
"I have 3 ridiculous compositions that I shall post on this blog... a source of entertainment I should say."
He posted excerpts of the three compositions and later added a fourth.
The principal told The New Paper that the matter was brought to the school's attention yesterday morning.
The teacher himself had informed the school about the furore caused by his blog posting.
He has since deleted the entire blog.
The principal said: "Teachers at the school are made to sign a letter of undertaking which contains certain rules."
"One is a confidentiality cause."
She said, however, that the letter does not specifically refer to blogs.
The post contained four blocks of text, taken "word-for-word" from the students compositions, the teacher wrote.
A line from one student's composition read: "At Sunday afternoon, their building was burn. They dashed outside, they can't fine their child and they are very sad."
Another wrote: "And were so the firefrighters save the child. And they so happy, every after."
ANGRY
After a link to the teacher's blog was published on several popular online forums, netizens began flooding the message board on his blog with angry responses to what he had written.
They also responded to the incident on online forums.
Wrote one user: "I have seen many other teachers' blog, and I have nothing but respect for them."
"Why? Because they know teaching is their job."
"They won't do this kind of nonsense to make fun of their students."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Education said relief teachers who are new to a school would have been briefed on the school's expectations by the head of department or vice-principal in charge of relief teachers.
In this case, the teacher was briefed about student confidentality, but not specifically about blogging.
She said: "Teachers should be mindful that the Internet is a public platform and they will be personally responsible for the information they publish online in their blogs."
"Teachers should be good role models for their students."
"They are expected to conduct themselves in a manner which befits this role and upholds the integrity of the profession."
Parents of children in other schools told The New Paper that the teacher had crossed the line by making fun of his students' work.
Madam Thio, 45, who has a son in Primary 5, said what the teacher did was unprofessional.
She said: "A blog is personal – he shouldn't be writing about his students' work, especially if he has identified the school he was working for."
"Grammar is generally a big issue for children that age. He should be trying harder to correct them, rather than making fun of their mistakes."
LEARN FROM MISTAKES
Another parent, Mrs Kumari, 39, who has a son in Pri 6, felt the teacher should have respected the confidentiality of his students' work.
She said: "It's not right to make fun of his students' work on his blog."
"He could have highlighted his students' mistakes in class without naming his students, so that everybody can learn from the mistakes."
"There is no need to humilate the students online."
"The teacher should not have highlighted the mistakes outside the classroom."
Agreeing, Ms Emma Sue, 33, who has three children in primary school, said: "It's a matter of ethics."
"It's like the relationship between a doctor and his patients – you don't divulge information about them."
"If the teacher wanted to correct his students, it should have been done individually and in person, not on an online platform."
This article © 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd
--------------------------------------
OWNEDXOR@!!
