Nov 14, 2024
Next year, the SkillsFuture
movement will be 10 years old.
Over the past decade, continuing
education and training (CET) has
become a national priority driven
by advancing technology and
intensifying global competition.
While the CET ecosystem has
matured, challenges remain: how
to get more workers and
employers to invest in training,
and how to get the most bang for
the buck from public spending on
CET.
Addressing these challenges
will take tighter coordination
across stakeholders in the CET
ecosystem.
At The Conversation, an event
hosted by the National University
of Singapore, I listened to thought
leaders from the institutes of
higher learning (IHLs), National
Trades Union Congress, public
agencies and the private sector
who had come together to make
sense of the CET landscape and
consider what could be done
collectively to strengthen it.
The Conversation raised several
interesting ideas to improve the
effectiveness and efficiency of
CET in Singapore. One thing was
clear: a greater level of
engagement and innovation could
take CET forward.
FOR WORKERS: CUSTOMISATION,
FLEXIBILITY AND FUN
Among those who are reluctant
to take up training, some perceive
it as neither engaging nor
relevant; others may have
struggled in school and dread a
return to the classroom.
We often forget that learning
should be enjoyable for everyone,
not just children. For adults
juggling work, caregiving and
other family responsibilities,
attending training sessions can
feel like an added burden, making
it seem more tempting to spend
that time catching up on
much-needed rest. Even those
who are motivated to learn may
be hindered as a result.
The solution for this goes
beyond funding – giving
employees time away from work
may also not suffice as trainees
have to deal with a backlog of
e-mails when they return to
office. Flexible learning options
such as digital, online and
workplace learning could help.
Training could also be made
more attractive and accessible by
personalising it to individual
needs and preferences. For
instance, there could be options
for experiential learning through
workshops and projects that
integrate learning with work.
Organisations can also foster a
learning culture where setting
aside time for training is a norm.
For instance, besides an “Eat with
your family” day, there could be a
“Learn with your family” day.
Those who find motivation by
learning alongside family
members and friends could be
encouraged to do so through
course discounts for group
bookings, similar to how group
discounts motivate friends to sign
up for fitness events together. With the right trainers and
technology, it is possible for
people to learn together while
progressing at their own pace.
Learning should also build on
existing skills and experience.
This could entail recognising
prior learning through work
experience, so that workers are
only required to top up their
skills in specific areas rather than
be forced to relearn what they
already know well.
FOR EMPLOYERS: CLIENT-CENTRIC
AND RELEVANT TRAINING
User experience plays a big part
in getting employers to embrace
training. Training design and
delivery should therefore be
client-centric.
An organisation looking to
develop new competencies might
benefit from a comprehensive
package that includes training for
all employees, from new hires to
C-suite executives, as well as
targeted recruitment of skilled
candidates. This could be
achieved through a consortium of
various IHLs, private training
providers and employment
agencies.
Training should also dovetail
with a firm’s business needs and
transformation plans, focusing on
improving collective staff
performance such as by
facilitating the adoption of new
technology or work processes
throughout the organisation.
Piecemeal training, on the other
hand, may boost individual
workers’ productivity without
optimising team performance.
A tiered approach could be
adopted to help firms identify
suitable training programmes. While larger firms can customise
training for their needs, small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) that lack scale could
benefit from a system aggregator
that pools training needs and
matches them with suitable
providers.
SMEs should also be given
access to a well-designed
self-service platform that
facilitates course search, similar
to hotel booking websites.
Course ratings on this platform
should reflect input from
employers and not just trainees.
These could be corroborated by
third-party skills assessors to give
employers a better sense of
course quality and training
effectiveness.
FOR TRAINING PROVIDERS:
COLLABORATION
While some competition among
CET providers can spur
improvement and innovation,
excessive competition could lead
to inefficient outcomes, such as
duplication of effort and
resources, or heavy spending on
course marketing by training
providers competing for the same
niche.
There is in fact much to be
gained from coordination and
collaboration. For instance,
training providers could pool data
on skills, training needs and
learning outcomes. Modular
courses offered by different CET
providers could be stacked into
common qualifications to give
trainees more options.
It is important to play to the
strengths of different CET
providers rather than adopt a
one-size-fits-all approach.
IHLs can complement one
another in delivering seamless
CET offerings for organisations
and individuals. This could be
encouraged at the system level by
defining suitable outcomes and
differentiated KPIs, and
designing funding incentives to
encourage collaboration.
ASSESSING SYSTEM-LEVEL
EFFICACY
The return on investment in
training, whether privately or
publicly funded, is often assessed
in terms of productivity gains for
employers along with wage
growth for workers.
However, training is more than
just achieving better performance
and pay now. It is also about
investing in the future by
strengthening career health and
workforce resilience. Just as we
should take care of our health
before we fall sick, workers
should not wait till they have lost
their jobs before embarking on
training.
Employers too should train
workers for the skills and jobs of
tomorrow, as reskilling workers
cannot be done overnight and it
is often more costly to replace
workers than to retain them.
It is also important to recognise
that an employer may not
capture all the benefits from
worker training: there are also
spillover benefits to the wider
industry or economy from a more
skilled and competitive
workforce.
Such spillover benefits have to
be factored into any assessment
of the overall return on CET,
particularly public investment in
CET. We need to develop ways to
assess the impact of training on
career health and workforce
competitiveness. This is no easy
task, but it would be well worth
the effort.
SINGAPORE CAN LEAD THE WAY
Globally, CET is in an emergent
phase as no country has
perfected its system.
With generous government
funding for SkillsFuture,
Singapore has an opportunity to
show the way in developing a
world-class, future-ready CET
ecosystem.
The benefits from The
Conversation go beyond the
concrete suggestions that
emerged – by forging networks
and renewing connections, it will
hopefully kickstart a sustained
dialogue among stakeholders to
take Singapore’s CET ecosystem
to the next level