Allied Educators: A supportive, listening ear for kids without one

Jane Ng looks at the important role played by more than 2,000 allied educators in helping teachers both inside and outside the classroom.

The Sunday Times, 6 Oct 2013

When a Primary 6 pupil told school counsellor Brinda Kumari Shanmugam Naidu that he wished she was his mother, her heart broke.

She saw how upset he was that he did not have a good relationship with his mother. That resulted in the boy being defiant and violent in school, throwing a chair at his teacher and threatening friends with sharp objects. He would also sit on a parapet to get attention and had to be coaxed to come down.

Miss Naidu, who is 44 and single, decided to mediate between mother and son when the boy's behaviour took a turn for the worse, even though school counsellors are not required to do family counselling.

She found the boy's mother was too lax with him and he felt she did not care about him. The mediation improved their relationship, and he went on to become one of the top pupils in his class.

Now in Secondary 2, he still returns to visit Miss Naidu at Gan Eng Seng Primary in Redhill Close.

The number of school counsellors like Miss Naidu has been on the rise since the allied educators scheme was introduced in 2009.

Apart from school counsellors, there are two other types of allied educators - those who deal with teaching and learning; and those who focus on learning and behavioural support. Allied educators support the work of teachers in the classroom and in pastoral care.

The total number of such educators has risen from 600 in 2009 to more than 2,400 today, with an average of seven in each school.

There are two full-time school counsellors at Gan Eng Seng Primary where almost 96 per cent of pupils live in HDB flats. About 60 per cent live in one-, two- and three-room flats, a figure higher than at an average primary school.

Children who go home to an empty flat because their parents are working, and absent parents are issues which crop up regularly. They make the school counsellor's role critical.

School principal Aw Ai Ling said: "Some of our pupils have absent parents, or lack a role model at home. Our counsellors and teachers step in as their role models, so their role becomes very important."

The problems handled by the two counsellors - Miss Naidu and Mr Sean Cheng - run the gamut from relationship issues to suicidal tendencies.

With about 1,400 pupils in the school, the pair have to work closely with teachers to spot pupils who need help.

Miss Naidu said: "We see ourselves as a family. Success for a child - not just academically but to be able to live life well - is success for us."

The team at Gan Eng Seng is constantly on the lookout for those who need help, some of whom may have basic needs not met.

Recently, a girl fainted in school on a Monday because she did not have enough to eat over the weekend. When her teachers took her home, they found that the electricity and water had been cut off and there was no food or drink.

About 800 pupils are on meal coupons but some are worried that they may be teased for being poor and so refuse to use them. So Miss Naidu and teachers take turns to walk around during recess looking out for those on meal coupons who are not eating.

Many children also lack emotional support at home.

"Many kids don't go home to a mum and dad. Some of their parents have separated, others are working shifts," said Miss Naidu.

The lack of parental support sometimes becomes obvious only after a child lands in trouble.

She recalled a Primary 6 boy who let loose a volley of vulgar words when he was upset. She kept her cool and spoke to him later.

"I asked him what he thought others might think of him if they were to hear him, and how that would not be a fair opinion of him because I knew him to be better than that," she recalled. She taught him other ways to cope with anger.

A year after he left school, the boy returned to apologise.

Another child, a 12-year-old girl, had suicidal thoughts and told Miss Naidu she felt that killing herself was the only way to deal with her relationship problems.

After talking to her, Miss Naidu alerted the girl's parents and other teachers, and they were able to keep close tabs on the child and provide her the emotional support she needed.

"Sometimes when problems at home become too much, or when their parents divorce, children might think it is their fault. They harbour resentment, anger and guilt. This suppressed emotion is dangerous because if you don't let it out, they may explode one day," she said.

To get children to talk about their emotions, a "Quiet Oasis" has been created on the fourth level in the school, which has two partitioned spaces for individual counselling as well as a chill-out corner for kids to hang out, do their work or just come by to visit.

The room with bright walls and cheerful furniture is also where Miss Naidu and Mr Cheng conduct group activities such as reading, games or craft, for pupils who need someone to talk to.

Miss Naidu, who has been a school counsellor for 41/2 years, and previously held jobs as a pre-school and special needs teacher, jewellery maker and magazine writer.

She applied to the Education Ministry to be a school counsellor in 2009 after obtaining her master's in counselling from the University of South Australia through a distance learning programme.

Helping these children and seeing them turn around is one of the most fulfilling aspects of the job for her, said Miss Naidu, who found out last year that she had stage 2 breast cancer and is undergoing treatment.

Now the roles are reversed - her former students visit her and ask about her health. "They come back to school to visit me, and ask if I have taken my medicine," she said, chuckling.

MORE THAN COUNSELLORS
By Jane Ng, The Sunday Times, 6 Oct 2013

Apart from school counsellors, there are two other groups of allied educators - for learning and behavioural support, as well as teaching and learning.

The former provide in-class help to students with mild special needs, training in life skills and develop learning resources for students with special needs.

Greenwood Primary's allied educator for learning and behavioural support, Madam Nirmala Balakrishnan, 33, found that customising teaching materials to help pupils with special needs and learning difficulties was more effective.

When she found out that a boy in Primary 2 with dyslexia was a visual learner, she redesigned the worksheets to suit his needs, and made learning "visual" for him.

For example, to differentiate the words "tired" and "tried", she told him "tired" had the word "red' in it, "because your eyes get red when you are tired". The boy drew a picture of an eye above the word "red" and has since remembered the difference.

"Learning has become more meaningful for him and he has started liking words," said Madam Nirmala, as she is known to her pupils.

The other group of allied educators work closely with teachers to enhance teaching and learning in both academic and non-academic areas.

Yishun Town Secondary's allied educator for teaching and learning, Mr Terence Ten, 52, a former engineer who joined MOE 41/2 years ago, goes beyond his job scope of a co-teacher in the craft and technology class and is involved in the school's student leadership committee.

He is trying to get student leaders who attended a mediation course to train other students in mediation.

His principal, Mrs Tan Chuen Yin, said: "He has been a big help and support to the teachers. Teachers take on multiple roles and his help has meant that they can focus on other aspects of their job well."

A caring presence for troubled teens
By Jane Ng, The Sunday Times, 6 Oct 2013

School counsellors who handle older children deal with a different set of issues.

At Assumption Pathway School, which takes in students who have failed their Primary School Leaving Examination, a school counsellor and a social worker each work in pairs with teachers to reach out to the teens.

Social worker Eunice Chng, 28, and English language teacher Lee Nyuk Phing, 40, worked together to get a 15-year-old Year1 repeat student back to school.

He was in school for less than half of his first year.

When he was held back in Year 1, they tried various means to get him to attend school, including messaging him repeatedly on Facebook or by SMS to ask where he was and telling him they were worried about him.

His attendance improved after their constant efforts, said Miss Lee. "Knowing that we care has made a difference to his attendance and he will usually turn up after our messages," she added.

Miss Chng said she has learnt to speak in shorter sentences so the children could understand.

Added Miss Lee: "I had to learn words like 'lepak', which means hang out, so as to decode their SMSes."

Assumption Pathway's school counsellor Siti Qhuzaimah Ramlan, 30, and teacher Shirin Salleh, 41, worked together to help a 16-year-old Secondary 3 student who was prone to self-mutilation and truancy.

The girl was hurting herself every other day last year. "It was her way of dealing with relationship problems, gaining attention and relieving stress," said Miss Siti.

For the past year, the pair visited the girl at home, counselled her and encouraged her, even when she stayed away from school for an extended period because of personal problems. The girl has since signed a behavioural contract and promised to go to school.

"Sometimes these kids just need someone to talk to. They will respond when they know that someone cares about them," said Ms Shirin.