Ranking and promotion are important concerns for teachers. In an ideal world, educators would only care about nurturing character and imparting knowledge.
But we do not live in an ideal world. Singapore is a competitive capitalist society, so it is inevitable that even the education sector would have competitive capitalist characteristics.
I don’t think most teachers covet promotion because that would mean more responsibilities, especially having to manage their fellow teachers (more challenging that managing students).
But I think most would not want to get the dreaded D grade, which means no bonus and certainly more scrutiny.
To my knowledge, I have never gotten a D.
But a well-meaning supervisor once sat me down and sort of implied that I could be doing better. He asked me to think of ways that I could improve. (i.e score points with management) I suggested starting a newsletter. He said cannot because that would be infringing on the territory of the English department. (At that time I was an all-humanities teacher).
My supervisor suggested that I form a band with students to perform for events. I was not impressed. You mean the difference between a D and my current performance is a boy band? I didn’t sign on in MOE to be a getai manager!
But my boss meant well. It is a good boss who cares about your development. Many bosses do not. Teachers are simply chess pieces to maneuver for their development.