[ad_1]
It has been about four years since the term SkillsFuture was introduced to Singaporeans.
Since then, the national movement to change the way people perceive skills, jobs and learning has led to a series of courses, initiatives and roadmaps.
Work-study programs, intensive internships, training workshops and digital skills workshops, the staff of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) – the agency in charge of the movement – has been busy in the last two years was created in October 2016.
Its Managing Director, Ng Cher Pong, shares with The Straits Times his thoughts on whether Singaporeans know SkillsFuture well now.
Q How effective was the SkillsFuture movement?
A Building an ecosystem of skills is a multi-year effort and, for us, what is essential is to take on enough scale and inspire us.
First, we need to make sure that our businesses are doing business quickly because it is critical and we need to make sure that over the next three to five years they can recycle the workers.
-
EVENT INFORMATION
-
The Straits Times & SkillsFuture Forum on the Future of Work is co-organized with the Speakers Series of the World
Date: July 3 (Tuesday)
Time: 10:00 am to noon (Registration starting at 9:00 am)
Location: ] Singapore School of the Arts, Drama Theater Level 2
Admission: Free. Refreshments and goodie bags provided.
On-line Registration: stssg.sphevents.com.sg
-
160k
Number of Singaporeans who have started using their SkillsFuture credit for training courses. last year. the total number of users to more than 285,000 since the launch of the program in 2016.
79
Number of "Win and Learn" programs that allow new polytechnic graduates and ITEs to work while earning a degree, as a specialist degree, at the same time.
4.6k
Number of Singaporeans who have attended SkillsFuture Advice workshops in community clubs and community centers since July last year. The same number of Singaporeans have taken courses since last October, as part of SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace, which showcases the potential of technology in their work and personal lives.
4.9k
Number of Singaporeans who completed the SkillsFuture Series in eight emerging skill areas such as cybersecurity, urban solutions, and finance in February of this year.
If you talk about a culture like the German system where even in a recession companies continue to hire a lot of apprentices, it's something deeper. For this to take root will take much longer.
The government plays a big role in this, but everyone must see that they have a role to play.
The role of the government is mainly to oversee this ecosystem, identify bridging gaps, identify some of the necessary changes, intervene and play the role of pooling different stakeholders.
Q How should employers change as well?
A In the past, some employers relied heavily on "buy" decisions, so you poach the talent of competitors. But I think that's getting harder and harder, especially if you're on the cutting edge of industrial development, whether you're in companies like robotics, AI, data analysis, because you're in the business. there is a global shortage of talent in these areas.
So even if you are willing to pay a premium, you can not find the talent.
This change is not easy. This is not just a change of state of mind. It takes human resources to be able to define the skills that the business needs, which needs to be done in parallel with how the company is going to transform itself.
If you want to take a workplace training, you need supervisors
We want to support that, and the government has deployed 23 cards processing the industry. When workplaces change, these cards serve as a model, especially to help small businesses, to give them ideas on how to think about change in their businesses.
Q What obstacles hinder the investment of employers in
A Part of the challenge is that we have 200,000 businesses to hire, and that they are at different stages of preparation and development. So the first step for many of them is that they have to agree that they have to transform themselves.
Otherwise, there is not much interest for the SSG to engage them, not much for us to tell them: "Please send your worker for training."
The next step is how do you transform – do you have internal capabilities, do you have human resources?
For large companies, this step may be easier. For some small businesses, they may not have strong HR departments capable of deploying training roadmaps. But that's where we come in and work with them to support that.
Q How to convince individuals that vocational training is important?
A The challenge is that most Singaporeans rely on employers to send them for training. We really need people to take ownership of training and development, to think that training does not stop when you leave the education system.
This is why the SkillsFuture credit was sent to Singaporeans. that: "Look, it's an account that the government has created for every Singaporean aged 25 and over to help you get started."
This is a tee shot and supplements the course fee subsidies we provide.
Q Some people say that there is just too much information on the courses to go to find out which suits them. How is SSG trying to simplify the process?
A Last year, we spent a lot of time thinking about how to classify the message.
We have now found a level – for Singaporeans who say SkillsFuture is so complicated, who wants help, they can go to SkillsFuture Advice Workshop – 11/2 at two hours at the community level.
For those who say they are ready but lack confidence to navigate This new scary work world where digital skills are essential, our advice would be for the Digital Workplace SkillsFuture.
For those who want to learn emerging skills, this is where the SkillsFuture series comes in, across the eight categories such as analysis data and urban solutions.
This is not just about studying or working now. There is also work-learning (the programs), so the lines get blurred and the tracks are now interconnected.
For individuals, there is much more choice. Education and career guidance is an important area for us.
We start early, but it is not to put them away, but to give them scale. This will help especially children who come from families who do not have exposure or networks.
Q Are skills more important than qualifications?
A I still think it's a false dichotomy. in fact it is not one or the other. Qualifications, in a sense, are an indication of the skill level you are acquiring.
But the qualifications are pretty clear, too, not everything. For employers who are transforming or looking for adaptable people, a diploma will not tell you if you are adaptable.
Similarly, some of these changes are infiltrating into the education system. We are now making changes to the admissions process to say, "Actually, it's not just your notes, there are other things."
If you're very passionate about this area, we will be ready to do it. into account to decide to admit you for a particular course because it counts in your performance.
Q What can Singapore learn from other countries that have developed a culture of learning?
A a good number of study visits and many facets, especially in the German-Swiss system, have impressed us tremendously. One of them is the participation of employers in workplace training.
Their learning system is very well established and because it is run by employers, it is a very good system because apprentices learn directly. ] We had to decide how to transfer some of the best elements from there without necessarily aiming at reproducing the entire system. We started working – learning programs of different lengths, different structures to meet different needs.
The Scandinavian countries have a very strong culture of lifelong learning. One of the things that has impressed me is the way they are customer-centric in continuing education.
An institute in Denmark interviewed all the people who wanted to enroll in a course to be able to get your work experience, the skills you are looking for and how you plan to improve yourself, these particular modules are relevant to you and they structure something for you.
[ad_2]
Source link
