SINGAPORE — The skills training sector will be given a push in improving the quality of its offerings, and be scrutinised more closely on how its trainees fare after undergoing training.
Under a new five-year plan, resources will be shared with training providers to help them identify the skills in demand by industry so that they can provide the most relevant courses.
An evaluation system will be set up to assess the quality of training providers, with information to be shared with the public to help them make better choices.
And firms will be encouraged to tap an existing S$27 million fund to use more technology in their training, such as e-learning tools and mobile devices.
The Training and Adult Education Sector Transformation Plan was announced by Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung on Thursday (Nov 3).
The effort is spearheaded by the newly set-up SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) agency, and is meant to boost the training sector so that it remains responsive to the changing demands of the local labour market, amid concerns over the mismatch of jobs and skills within the workforce.
Last week, a report by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed that the mismatch of jobs and skills has deteriorated to a level not seen since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say has also said that if this issue is not resolved, low jobs growth could persist and Singapore faces the prospect of rising unemployment.
To keep tabs on skills needed in the workforce, the SSG said some 6,000 trainers and about 1,100 training providers can refer to schemes such as the Skills Framework which provide details such as career roadmaps for different job roles, skills required and wage information in the different sectors.
This way, the SSG said training practitioners can get insights on sector trends and design relevant courses.
Training practitioners can also make use of the S$27 million iN.LEARN initiative launched last October to adopt “blended” learning — making use of multiple platforms such as e-learning tools and mobile devices to teach courses, instead of solely holding lessons in classrooms.
By 2020, the SSG’s goal is to have 75 per cent of the full Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) courses delivered through “blended” learning, up from the over 50 per cent as of September.
And in a bid to make more transparent the quality of courses and providers, the SSG will set up an online portal called the Training Exchange by end of next year.
The portal will house a directory of Skills-Future related courses, which currently stands at some 16,500, and will publish quality indicators and training outcomes of individual providers. The SSG said it will conduct the assessment and are still discussing on the indicators to be used.
Currently, providers and courses are assessed through audits done once in two years as well as the annual WDA Outcomes Evaluation Survey. But SSG pointed out that the survey, for instance, does not give a thorough quality evaluation.
The SSG will also introduce a National Training Management System by 2018, to tackle administrative inefficiency within the training sector.
And as part of efforts to motivate trainers to deepen their skills, the SkillsFuture Study Award will be made available to them. Currently, there is also the Adult Educators’ Professionalisation initiative, which was introduced last year by the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL) to recognise trainers with different levels of skills and experiences.
Practitioners in the field have welcomed the plan especially the push towards “blended learning”. Ms Jesline Yap, an adjunct adult educator at the IAL, said: “Economic factors have resulted in leaner teams and sending individuals away from their work to attend training sessions are now more challenging.”
They also noted the challenge of coming up with courses at a faster pace to support urgent learning needs. “Once you identify a learning need, you need to design and develop the course. You need to find materials that would be relevant and understand how the content can be applied to the workplace,” said Ms Praise Mok, deputy chief executive training firm ROHEI Corporation.
As for enhancing the assessment of courses and providers, trainers said it would help Singaporeans make informed decisions, and feedback received can improve quality and type of courses offered.
“It helps to bring more transparency on the offerings by the different providers and challenges the sector to be a lot more nimble. It is a good feedback mechanism,” said Ms Mok, who has 17 years of experience in the field.
But some noted that indicators for such assessments must be meaningful. Ms Yap said: “How do you define what is a good course or provider? Is a low course fee or good spread of food for breaks a good indicator? The indicators must be well thought of and crafted, and feedback obtained from different parties to offer a holistic and balanced picture of the course and its provider.”
