SkillsFuture Movement

Madam, this Bill seeks to set up a Statutory Board, SkillsFuture Singapore Agency, or SSG, to focus and coordinate the operations pertaining to the national SkillsFuture movement.

As I studied this Bill which I understand is meant to be operational in nature, I cannot help but feel that there is nothing very exciting mentioned on either skills or the future. It belies the significance of the SkillsFuture as a national movement to provide Singaporeans with the opportunities to develop their fullest potential throughout life, regardless of their starting point. The SkillsFuture website promises that a variety of resources will be deployed to help Singaporeans own a better future with skills mastery and lifelong learning. I therefore hope that when the Bill is passed, the tone of the Act is merely an understatement of the exciting mission and breakthroughs that SSG is expected to deliver.

Kudos to the many supporters of the SkillsFuture team and the many agencies behind it. So much has indeed happened since the SkillsFuture movement was launched two years ago. Let me name a few. Of course everybody knows the $500 SkillsFuture Credit; Education and Career Guidance (ECG) at schools; Earn and Learn Programmes for ITE and Polytechnic students; Enhanced Internships; Individual Learning Portfolio which is coming out in 2017; Study Awards; Mentoring Scheme and Sectoral Manpower Plans.

While all the pieces make sense each time they are presented, I fear the day when we cannot see the forest for the trees. As a member of the former SkillsFuture Council and now the combined Council for Skills, Innovation and Productivity, I have sat through enough meetings led by Chairman Deputy Prime Minister Tharman to "double confirm" that the intent of the SkillsFuture movement is to future-proof the skills of Singaporeans and Singapore businesses.

The Minister himself, no less, said people often mistake SkillsFuture for a funding scheme, training programme or an organisation. He said it is not any of those. Rather, it is "everything we do to create a future that is different and better than today, in the way we look at work and careers, and the way we develop ourselves and our next generation".

SkillsFuture is not simply about tapping on the $500 Credit to attend a big menu courses at our Community Centres. As they say, "Don't use, so wasted!" or in Mandarin,"不用白不用". It is not simply an active ageing programme. It is not just a scheme to persuade one to either not sign up for University or to sign up later.

It is not about reviving the Training, Consulting or Mentoring industries. It is not just about doing up Sectoral Human Resource Manpower Plans to see how we can attract more talents for each selected industry sector. It is not just about doing the same thing that we have to do anyway and then branding it as SkillsFuture – what I would term "old wine in new wine skin".

SkillsFuture has to be more than all that I have mentioned. And the new SSG Agency established with the passing of this Bill, must live up to its name – focus on Skills and Future! All members of the Agency must envision the future of the industry, of our nation and future-proof the skills of our Singaporeans.

As it scrutinises the current and potential initiatives, SSG must administer the acid test of whether all these ideas will help Singaporeans future-proof themselves and maximise their potential.

We must strive towards the day when less and less of our people and businesses are surprised when they find that their jobs or those of their loved ones become irrelevant or, worse, suddenly disappear, disrupted by business models or technologies or the sharing economy-revolution that we did not see coming; or did not do anything about even if we knew they were coming.

The new SSG agency is, therefore, our bastion of hope to secure our future; to ensure that the major remains the major and not lose focus that we are trying to build a future for our people.

For the Bill to live up to its name, there are three areas I would urge the Minister to consider:

(1) to build strong expertise in the three critical pillars of Content, Pedagogy and Assessment;

(2) to become the Uber for current service gaps in some post-education spaces, for example, I will talk about a Special Education Academy in special education space; and

(3) to be bold enough to Create and Chase Our Own Rainbow.

First, on building strong expertise in the three critical pillars of Content, Pedagogy and Assessment. Content or What to Learn.

Madam, futurists have predicted that more than 50% of jobs will disappear by 2030, replaced by new jobs requiring new skills and new competencies. For content, we must build a 21st Century Curriculum that provides access by individuals and businesses to new literacy subjects ‒ more than just English and Mathematics and so forth ‒ to add on, such as basic coding for some of us, or basic e-commerce for some of our businesses.

It is not business as usual. We need to consult. We need to abandon the traditional mindset of discarding or hijacking ideas that are "not invented here". There is no way that career educators used to working within the confines of school buildings or systems or classrooms can hold the monopoly of ideas. SSG must try to research, invest and build bandwidth in "sunrise" new industries. Not an easy task but very necessary.

Next, on SSG's expertise on Pedagogy or How to Deliver Learning. Over the years, I have spoken at length on how e-learning platforms and blended learning platforms are the future of the day. I spoke on how our students, many of whom are digital natives, cannot be left to learn only as far as their adult teachers can or will learn. I spoke on how best education resources and best practices must be made available online and otherwise so that more learners can access them, to level the playing field. I spoke about the potential of an open architecture to which content developers can contribute, where content can be curated and transformed into modules that can be distributed to more learners.

I am not the only one thinking about this. At the school level, the MOE has promised an e-learning space. At the tertiary level, I have observed different IHLs trying out different Learning Management Systems; some of them re-inventing the wheels of locating, negotiating the best platforms. I believe it is the role of the Government and, in this case, the SSG agency, to consolidate and share these learnings in pedagogy as I fear that by the time we think we are ready, the game is over and our investments hitherto would have been wasted.

Building SSG's expertise on Assessment or How to Test if One Has Learnt or Mastered a Skill. Madam, there is a strong need to add to the repertoire of assessment modes, the currently popular ones being standard written tests and project work. Madam, we Singaporeans are known for our ingenuity in finding ways to ace examinations, especially written tests. But because post-Secondary education institutions are a close link to the industry, how we assess and report on results will become the proxy by which employers evaluate the candidates they seek to employ. The SSG agency should work closely with industry to enlarge the assessment and selection toolkit so that there is more focus on skills, aptitude and not just standard academic results.

Next, for the Minister's consideration, to become the Uber for certain service gaps in the post-Secondary education space, such as in special education. At this point, Madam, I want to remind the Ministry about the scope of this Bill, on whom this Bill is meant for. It is not a Bill just to future-proof those who can study in the existing post-Secondary education institutions. It is for all Singaporeans. Singapore is a nation. It is not a business entity. It is not Singapore Inc. We do not leave behind those who are at risk. We do not throw the crumbs while the rest of us feast and continue to learn what others do not. Every one of us deserves to maximise our potential, whatever level that potential is deemed to be.

Our Singapore brand of lifelong learning must be inclusive. It must include those of us who learn and contribute differently. I am thus a little bit disappointed to see no mention of persons with special needs or their educational needs in the Bill. The cliff-effect of learners, especially those who graduate from special schools, is real. The cost of not helping them to continue learning and to renew their skills is high as they may otherwise seek higher cost social services, such as day activity centres, because they are no more relevant to the workforce. There is also an upside in that a number of adults with special needs may be able to take on jobs in our very tight labour market. But even those with special needs who found jobs earlier, will find that without continual customised training and support, they will soon lose their jobs.

The current efforts by SG Enable need more boosting and scale. SkillsFuture for this group of Singaporeans is necessary but may have to innovatively take on a different complexion, with strong collaboration between the SSG and other relevant Government agencies, the VWOs and the private sector.

One model that I would advocate in this regard is the formation of a Special Education Academy that can become the Uber or Airbnb in this learning space. This Academy, which may be a blend of physical and online presence, need not provide content itself, just like what Uber does, it does not own any vehicle. It should work with the key disability groups for proper needs analysis and development of curriculum and learning solutions for persons with special learning needs. It must align with the Bill's intent to focus on skills and future.

To support this, I propose that a fund be set aside, very much from the existing Skills Development Fund, very much like the way MediFund is set aside in the 3M system in healthcare.

And, lastly, for the Minister's consideration, to be Bold to Create and Chase Our Own Rainbow. We have spoken for too long about our admiration for the German and Swiss vocational and training systems. These systems are backed by a culture of centuries of ingrained mindsets that honour craftsmen and strong private-public education ventures. They are not hindered by bias that has plagued us for generations. Our bias against sometimes blue-collar workers and our love for scholars and white-collar jobs.

Singapore has our own ITEs and Polytechnics. Let us forget about trying to become like the Germans and the Swiss. I suspect that in the future, the dichotomy between vocational, applied education and academic pathways will be blurred. So, let us gather a group of dream-makers and chase the rainbow, and create our very own Singapore excellence model in post-Secondary education. A dream that will allow us to master skills to not just make excellent products and services like the Germans and Swiss, but also to market them well like the Americans, in the case of Uber, Airbnb and so forth.

In conclusion, like a typical kiasu Singaporean, I, for one, believe that we can get there, that space. I am confident that SSG, under the Minister's guidance the team behind him, can blaze the trail for post-Secondary education, but only if it will simply not simply do business as usual. I am prepared to be part of the solution to contribute to SSG's purpose to secure the future of Singaporeans. And I guess Singapore can count on us. Thank you, Madam. I support the Bill.