Introduction
1. Good morning to all, 新年快乐 (Happy Lunar New Year)! Thank you for coming to this inaugural Training and Adult Education (TAE) Conference. This is a very good conference as it brings together training providers in Singapore to look at how we can improve and transform the TAE sector. It is a very important sector for Singapore's economy, because it drives upskilling and relevance of the workforce to support other sectors and the wider economy.
2. So when I chaired the ITM 2.0 review with my co-chairs Ms Euleen Goh as well as SMS Janil Puthucheary, we were clear that we had to get the transformation of the TAE sector done right so that we can continue to sustain Singapore's economy, and help workers in Singapore. The theme of this year's conference focuses on how to develop an effective, responsive and quality TAE sector.
Evolution of the SkillsFuture Movement
3. With your support and partnership, we have made significant progress since the SkillsFuture movement was started not too long ago in 2015. If you recall, when we started, the movement was more about SkillsFuture credits for individuals. We still have SkillsFuture credits today, and that is very important, but the SkillsFuture movement today is about working with enterprises and industries to identify skills needs for the economy and also to work with training partners like yourselves to provide training that is relevant and effective for the workforce and the companies.
4. In the last few years, we ramped up training capacity and the supporting infrastructure significantly to support upskilling and reskilling at a national scale. By enabling Singaporeans to take ownership of their lifelong learning journeys, we have improved training participation rate in Singapore from 35% in 2015 to around 50% in 2022.
5. In 2020, we embarked on the Next Bound of SkillsFuture to strengthen the involvement of enterprises in developing their workforce and help companies build workplace learning capabilities. Growing this enterprise pillar is critical to ensure that our training strategies remain demand-led. To this end, SSG has been expanding partnerships with enterprises and industry bodies and stepping up support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore.
6. Under the Next Bound of SkillsFuture, the Government is also providing more support to mid-career workers, especially those in their 40s and 50s,to improve their employability through Continuing Education and Training (CET).
Strategic Role of the TAE Sector
7. Having a vibrant, high-quality and market-responsive TAE sector is pivotal in ensuring the success of the SkillsFuture movement for Singapore. Over time, we have been strengthening and professionalising the TAE sector that employs more than 23,000 workers in more than 4,300 companies. Launched first in 2018, the TAE Industry Transformation Map (ITM) focused on driving business and pedagogical innovation including blended and online learning; enhancing productivity through digitalisation; improving career and skills progression pathways for adult educators; and recognising their skills and mastery.
8. Our collective commitment and investment have enabled the growth of a robust and diverse TAE sector that was able to respond swiftly and effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was not too long ago that we had the circuit breaker, and many of us turned to digital spaces for learning and training. It would not have been possible if there had been no prior investments in the relevant technologies and in digitalisation. So we are very grateful that the TAE sector, the training partners, many of you here have been working on this and were able to harness these capabilities during difficult times. And I think those who did, thrived much better.
9. Under the SGUnited Skills programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic, we expanded training capacity to support more than 91,000 training places in various sectors under the Enhanced Training Support Package. This is very useful. I have spoken to various employers in sectors that were disrupted by the pandemic – they were very grateful that workers, during downtime, were able to go for upskilling and to acquire new skills so that when the economy recovered, the companies would be able to bounce back faster.
10. Our earlier investment in setting up the digital learning infrastructure and capabilities also allowed training providers to quickly pivot to online learning, which was essential during the circuit breaker, as mentioned earlier.
11. Last month, the Government passed the SSG and Skills Development Levy (SDL) Amendment Bills, to enhance SSG's enforcement powers. These amendments were necessary to allow SSG to take legal action against errant entities who abuse SSG funding or misrepresent SSG programmes. With stronger safeguards in place, individuals and employers can have greater confidence to participate in training. This will in turn benefit the majority of training providers who are bona fide in their commitment to workforce upskilling and training.
Strategies of the TAE ITM 2025
12. With the pace of technological changes and speed of business cycles increasing and the half-life of knowledge and skills decreasing at the same time, it is likely that an individual will change jobs or require a major skills refresh every five years or so. This means that, every year, one in five of us will require some form of upskilling. As a key enabler for workforce transformation, the TAE sector must therefore respond even faster and more effectively to supply accessible and quality training that meets the needs of businesses. Our vision is to deliver lifelong learning that gives Singaporeans the skillsets to excel in the workplace, the confidence to take on new challenges, and to seize the opportunities in their careers.
13. To achieve this, I am pleased to announce that we are launching the refreshed ITM 2025 for the TAE sector. This sets out a roadmap for the TAE sector's next phase of transformation. In refreshing the roadmap, we have consulted training providers, enterprises and adult educators, and taken on board their feedback and suggestions.
14. The key focus of our ITM 2025 is to raise the industry-relevance and market responsiveness of our training. Let me highlight several key strategies to achieve this end.
15. First, we must deepen partnerships with enterprises and sectors, so that they can take strong ownership in the upskilling of workers. This is possible, you know, because we have conducted studies of models overseas and we know that enterprises that take stronger ownership and training of their workers will find better productivity and better responsiveness in the upskilling of their workers.
16. New collaborations have been initiated to tighten the nexus between industry and training providers. For example, Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) recently partnered HP Singapore, one of SSG's partners, a SkillsFuture Queen Bee, to deliver courses on Sustainable Manufacturing, with the aim to train over 1,500 adult learners and provide mentorship for 100 proof-of-concept projects, supporting 180 companies. SSG will continue to grow new partnerships through the SkillsFuture Queen Bee companies, and also seed new collaborating models between training providers and enterprises.
17. We are also organising our ecosystem to better articulate and aggregate the demand for new skills, in order to activate timely supply of training by training providers here.
18. Take for example, the Skills Development Partners (SDPs) initiative. SDPs are being appointed to identify sectoral skills needs, strengthen skills development to support enterprise transformation and job redesign within the sector, and also help enterprises better recognise skills acquired by their employees.
- Five SDPs comprising Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) and Professional Bodies such have been appointed thus far. They are – Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES), Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI), the Singapore Computer Society and SGTech.
- IES, for example, is refreshing the emerging skills for the engineering job families and will roll out job-skills resources for the engineering workforce. It will also conduct horizon scanning and engage key stakeholders to detect priority skills and articulate their impact on jobs and businesses and share these insights with the sector.
- SSG will continue to drive skills recognition and skills credentialling through greater involvement of companies, unions, trade associations and professional bodies.
19. Next, innovate and digitalise at scale. The TAE sector is a key sector enabling the transformation of all other sectors in our economy. But to do that well, the TAE sector must continue to transform and scale up its innovation and digitalisation efforts. Bootstrap Pte Ltd, is a good example of how a training provider has used innovative solutions to help enterprises address their gaps in learning. They developed a mobile learning application for the healthcare sector to deliver personalised advice to patients and their caregivers, and scaled this up to benefit other enterprises in the retail and landscaping sectors.
20. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of adoption of digital and technology-based training solutions. Building on this momentum, SSG will support training providers to go farther in the development and adoption of innovative training solutions. For example, to boost e-learning, SSG will co-fund promising training innovations through sandboxes such as iN.LEARN (In-Learn) 2.0.
21. We will work with partners to adjust regulations through a process of consultations and continuous improvements. We will also promote process digitalisation to minimise the administrative load on the sector, as a continued focus from the first TAE ITM.
22. Through innovations that are built on the foundation of strong understanding of the science of adult education or andragogy, we hope to be able to enable even greater innovations. SSG will work closely with the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL) as the National Centre of Excellence for Adult Learning (NCAL) to deepen research, intensify the translation of andragogy research into practical tools, and raise their adoption by the training providers here.
23. Third, we must continue to invest in adult educators and sectoral capabilities. Technological innovations, teaching excellence, strong industry networks will require a strong and committed pool of adult educators.
24. As the designated National Centre of Excellence, the IAL will do more to raise the profile and quality of the adult educator workforce. IAL has recently revamped the Workforce Skills Qualifications Advanced Certificate in Learning and Performance (ACLP) to equip aspiring adult educators with the required foundational skills in a shorter time. Beyond this, IAL will partner industry stakeholders to provide more support for our adult educators to develop their skillsets, particularly in growing demand areas such as EdTech, workplace learning, and career coaching. For example, IAL will collaborate with Microsoft to develop a framework that adult educators can tap on to deliver better technology-enabled CET and upskilling at the workplace. Such efforts will in turn provide our adult educators with greater opportunities for career progression both locally and globally.
Conclusion
25. To conclude, the launch of the refreshed TAE ITM 2025 today marks a significant milestone in our efforts to transform and uplift the TAE sector. Implementing the strategies will require the collective efforts and shared responsibilities across learners, enterprises and training providers. It will also involve innovations and partnerships, and, most importantly, continued investment in people and capabilities in the TAE sector.
26. I hope you are as excited as I am by the opportunities that the TAE ITM 2025 will offer to the sector and would encourage all partners to participate on this next bound of transformation. It is your support and action that will fuel change and power our economy for the future. Thank you.