1 Introduction

Human capital investment has always been a priority in Singapore; this includes both general to tertiary education, and lifelong learning (Koh, 2014). The lifelong learning policy in Singapore, also known as the education and training policy, serves both economic and social purposes. On one hand, as the economy transforms towards becoming more knowledge-based and digitalized, Singapore maintains her competitiveness by ensuring that the workforce is adequately skilled to meet emerging demands. On the other hand, the lifelong learning policy serves to facilitate the continual career mobility of all citizens, regardless of starting points, so that every citizen can realize their fullest potential (Shanmugaratnam, 2015). Lifelong learning is pertinent in ensuring individuals can take advantage of inevitable economic changes and can continue to benefit from economic development—regardless of the disruptions brought on by technological advancement and other exogenous forces.

The SkillsFuture Movement was launched in 2015 as a continuation of Singapore’s human capital investment effort. It was born at a time when Singapore was experiencing demographic change, including an ageing workforce, a falling total fertility rate, and rapid changes due to globalization, technological advancement, and urgency in pushing for a digital economy and greening of the economy. The need to anticipate emerging skills and potential job content changes, and to embark on pre-emptive upskilling in tandem with industry transformation, laid the foundation of SkillsFuture Movement.

The lifelong learning policy manifests through SkillsFuture Movement. SkillsFuture Movement supports economic development through facilitating education, offering training options, and ensuring employer recognition—all of which are “focused on encouraging economic growth through skills development and labor force enhancement” (Woo, 2017). Notably, the Movement will also support Singaporeans to realize their fullest potential in achieving their career aspiration. This notion is supported by ongoing reskilling and skills-based career pathways across life stages, as part of the social movement to value skills mastery.

The Future Economy Council (FEC) drives the growth and transformation of Singapore’s economy in anticipation of future growth. Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies, the Council comprises members from the government, industry, trade associations and chambers, unions, and educational and training institutions. FEC oversees the implementation of the Industry Transformation Map (ITM) and SkillsFuture initiatives (Ministry of Trade & Industry, 2023b). Specifically, each ITM consists of a growth and competitiveness plan, supported by four pillars: productivity, jobs and skills, innovation and trade, and internationalization. As observed by Fung et al. (2021) in SkillsFuture: The Roles of Public and Private Sectors in Developing a Learning Society in Singapore, “[the] public sector has the opportunity to rethink existing education and training structures” to enhance the growth of “learning societies adaptive to the increasing pace of change” (Fung et al., 2021). The SkillsFuture Movement serves to testify that policy-led initiatives can bring about effective and wide-scale change in Singapore’s education system, and beyond.

This chapter will explain Singapore’s future-skilling planning and implementation through a skills-based approach, for targeted stakeholders including individuals and enterprises. It will also discuss the transformation of Singapore’s higher education sector to comprise Institutes of Continuous Learning (ICLs). The challenges involved and SkillsFuture Singapore Agency (SSG)’s adaptive innovation will be explored. The chapter will end with sharing the vision of a learning nation, where the skills ecosystem is progressive, responsive, and effective.

2 Future-Skilling

In Singapore, it is a national imperative to help citizens acquire and utilize skills, to enable them to take up quality jobs, and seize opportunities in the future economy (Ministry of Trade & Industry, 2023a). This is the foundation of an inclusive economy where citizens benefit from economic growth, enjoy high quality of living standard, and lead a fulfilling life.

As the national skills authority, SSG leads the collaboration in skills anticipation, skills identification, ensuring adequacy of training supply, removing barriers to skills acquisition (e.g., information asymmetry and affordability issues), and monitoring the outcome of the interventions. A high-level process flow is depicted in Fig. 26.1. On the skills radar, SSG leverages data science approaches and expert input to monitor in-demand skills, emerging skills, and future skills for the economy. In-demand skills are skills currently deemed as important by employers to keep their business going. Emerging skills are skills anticipated to be high-growth in sectors where such skills are highlighted as essential to support their industry transformation. Future skills are skills not currently demanded but are expected to be critical for the future economy, in accordance with industry strategies. The skills definitions serve to inform SSG on the speed to reskill and upskill the workforce.

Fig. 26.1
A cyclic diagram. It includes skills identification, skills dissemination, skills provision, skills access, skills acquisition, skills recognition, and skills progression. Each has a briefing of the approach and the outcome.

Skills identification to skills progression cycle (own representation)

Full size image

From 2015 to 2020, a massive sectoral engagement exercise as part of ITM development was carried out to identify the job roles and skills needs of the respective sectors. The approach was primarily via expert input, where employers and experienced professionals identified the skills requirement by job roles. This contributed to the establishment of the Singapore Skills Frameworks. Skills demand is categorized into immediate needs (in-demand skills), near-term needs (emerging skills) and intermediate term needs (future skills). This categorization allows stakeholders to prioritize training programs to support reskilling and upskilling capacity planning.

Since 2020, SSG has leveraged on data science approaches and available data sources to enhance Singapore’s skills identification capability. These data sources include job posting data, curriculum vitae data, training participation data, wage data, and business performance data. The developed Jobs-Skills Insights (JSI) are validated with the industry and experts. This is further supplemented by the annual labor force survey and annual business survey, conducted at the national level. Results from ongoing monitoring and analyses are disseminated regularly to stakeholders within the skills ecosystem. The primary goals are to ensure that the workforce has the requisite skills to support businesses and the economy, and that reskilling efforts are carried out in a timely manner.

The skills development process from identification to progression (see Fig. 26.1) is done at three levels: economy, sector, and organization/individual. At the economy level, four future economies have been identified to power the nation ahead: the Green Economy, the Digital Economy, the Care Economy, and the Industry 4.0 Economy. Skills clusters commonly required by job roles within each economy, are determined via data science approaches supplemented by industry validation. These skills clusters are communicated to citizens to help them gain access to the future economies (SkillsFuture Singapore, 2021). At the sector level, Industry Transformation Maps have been developed and are refreshed regularly, to keep sectoral strategies updated. This is to meet accelerated changes arising from a dynamic operating environment, supported by good jobs and in-demand skills (Ministry of Trade & Industry, 2023a). At the organization/individual level, schemes and initiatives are put in place to help these entities acquire the skills they need, to advance their business/goals and to facilitate business transformation and career progression. Taken together, this forward planning presents a multi-level future-skilling approach, to pre-empt and position the nation for inclusive and sustainable growth based on skills as the common currency.

The outcomes of future skilling are monitored at multiple levels. At the course level, the Training Quality and Outcomes Measurement (TRAQOM) survey is administered at the end of the course and six months after course completion. Overall skills progression and skills gaps analysis are monitored at sectoral and national levels. This is complemented by the ongoing monitoring of labor market data, including employment participation rate, unemployment rate, medium wage of the workforce, average household income growth, productivity growth, and economic competitiveness.

3 Rolling Out Targeted Programs for Individuals and Enterprises

SkillsFuture Movement continues to support citizens in developing their fullest potential throughout life, regardless of their starting points. Citizens can confidently participate in career transition programs along their work journey, which may entail moving across to a new sector or job role, or moving up their career path. The Movement also supports reskilling for industry transformation. At present, the Next Bound of SkillsFuture is under way. This is the second five-year plan for SkillsFuture Movement. It will enable individuals to continue reskilling, enhance the role of enterprises in developing their workforce, and have a stronger focus on helping mid-career workers stay employable and move to new jobs or new roles (SkillsFuture Singapore, 2020).

3.1 Empowering Individuals

In 2015, SkillsFuture Credit was introduced to give all Singapore citizens aged 25 and above a training credit of S$500. The intent was and still is to put reskilling and upskilling decisions in the hands of citizens; individuals need to take ownership of their productive asset—skills, and not be solely dependent on their employers. In 2020, a time-limited further S$500 credit was provided to citizens, to nudge timely reskilling and upskilling to seize opportunities in the future economies. At the same time, an additional S$500 credit was provided to mid-career workers, to support their career transitions. These credits aim to defray out-of-pocket expenses, on top of the highly subsidized course fees that range from 50 to 90% subsidy. Courses are curated and pre-approved by SSG and sector agencies for quality and relevance. These courses are modular, bite-sized, and involve multiple learning modes (e.g. in-person, online, or hybrid). Some of the courses offered by local universities, polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education are stackable towards full qualifications.

The MySkillsFuture portal is a one-stop digital platform for Singapore individuals’ skills need. Individuals can use MySkillsFuture to access information on jobs-skills trends and developments, search for courses, apply for courses, download their training certificates, and assess their skills and career interests. Most recently, the portal is being enhanced to provide more customized recommendations to individuals on their training options.

Besides the online self-help functions, SSG also offers one-to-one skills and training advisory to citizens, through its network of Skills Ambassadors who are trained to provide career-learning advisory. SkillsFuture Work-Study Programs provide citizens with work-study pathways to obtain a Diploma, post-Diploma or Degree, that comes with job-matching and mentorship, as well as sign-on incentives and training sponsorships. By 2025, this pathway will be made mainstream, involving 12% of each yearly cohort of students (Chan, 2022a). To help mid-career workers stay employable and access good jobs, Train-and-Place programmes (TnP) and Place-and-Train programmes (PnT) have been progressively rolled out to provide skilling options for mid-career workers with different needs. The TnP and PnT programmes are two modes of career transition programmes. The former entails screen-and-train before the trained individual seeks employment, while the latter entails the individual’s secured employment prior to embarking on the reskilling programme.

3.2 Engaging Employers

In 2020, SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit was introduced to encourage employers to invest in enterprise transformation and the capabilities of their employees. Eligible employers receive a one-off S$10,000 credit to cover up to 90% of out-of-pocket expenses, over and above existing programme subsidies. In 2022, the requirement of a minimum employer contribution to the Skills Development Levy was removed, to allow more enterprises to qualify for and benefit from the scheme.

SkillsFuture Queen Bees (SFQBs) are industry leaders who take on a leading role to champion skills development in organisations, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs). As SFQBs, these leaders provide skills advisory and support to guide organisations in identifying and acquiring skills needed for business transformation. Interested organisations join a SFQB network to benefit from an ecosystem support, which includes a skills manager who works with the organisation to curate training programmes and tap on government schemes.

The National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning (NACE) was established in 2018 as a collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Vocational Education and Training, and the German Chamber of Industry & Commerce. NACE aims to help organisations build and develop their workplace learning capabilities, solutions and systems, through training and consultancy projects. The goal is to build up workplaces in Singapore, to be able to undertake workplace training and learning for their own employees, to support ongoing business transformation and growth. This involves, for instance, incorporating internships, work-study programmes, and upskilling employees as part of workplace practices.

4 Transforming Institutes of Higher Learning into Institutes of Continuous Learning

Singapore is working towards a higher education system with multiple upgrading pathways, so that citizens may choose the pathway that best fits their individual aspirations and needs. To support such a system, a citizen’s relationship with Institutes of Higher Learning should last for a much longer time, than if education were to be frontloaded before an individual formally embarks on their career.

As such, Singapore is repositioning Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) as Institutes of Continuous Learning (ICLs). This is to signal that there is no limit to lifelong learning, and that there is no need to rush for the highest possible qualification before entering the workforce (Chan, 2022b). This approach is coherent with the strategy of helping mid-career workers to stay employable and access good jobs. Since 2018, all IHLs (post-secondary education and above) have set up their continuing education and training services, to be the major providers of continuing education and training. Singapore’s twelve autonomous universities, polytechnics, and Institutes of Technical Education cater to the reskilling needs of the economy, alongside private training providers.

Besides supporting skills-based reskilling initiatives, ICLs have their core capability in research and development. The polytechnics are set up with their specialization as centers of innovation to support SMEs in adoption of advanced technological applications.

The revision of the mandate is not without its challenges. Firstly, reskilling of incumbents in the workforce requires a different pedagogical consideration and learning design as compared to educating students without work experience. To do this, the ICLs partner industry practitioners to design and deliver the continuing education and training programs as part of their capability development plan. Secondly, with demand being from employers who sponsor their employees for skills acquisition, learning is expected to be applicable in nature and relevant for workplace. As such, more ICLs are partnering with enterprises to design part of the workplace learning curriculum. Thirdly, the demand for career facilitation by adult learners has led it to become an essential service. Adult learners who are keen on career transition expect ICLs to support their successful transition. This calls upon ICLs to ensure that the courses they offer lead to jobs in high demand areas, and that career-learning advisory to learners is part of the services rendered.

5 Further Steps to Enhance Lifelong Learning Participation and Design

By 2021, the SkillsFuture Movement was in its 6th year of implementation. The training participation rate of the resident labor force was 50% in 2021, as compared to 35% in 2015 (Ministry of Manpower, 2021). As of 31 December 2021, 27% of eligible Singaporeans have used their SkillsFuture Credit; and 24,000 enterprises and 660,000 individuals participated in SkillsFuture-supported reskilling programs, an increase of 22% and 71% respectively from 2020 (Ministry of Education, 2021).

Challenges remain in encouraging more individuals in the workforce to initiate their reskilling journey. Statistically, professionals, managers, executives, and technicians (PMETs) have the highest training participation rate (58.7%). Comparatively, clerical, sales and services workers, and production and related workers have lower training participation rates at 38.3% and 21.5% respectively (Ministry of Manpower, 2019).

With the speed of change increasing at the business front and the half-life of skills shortening, there is a need to sustain the validity and relevance of one’s knowledge and skills (Chan, 2022c). On this front, SSG has been producing regular and up-to-date JSI through ongoing data analytics, to support individuals’ skills development decision making. Starting from 2021, SSG has released and will be releasing annual Skills Demand for the Future Economy reports for Singapore citizens (SkillsFuture Singapore, 2021). SSG also partners with education and training partners to strengthen job placement services, to support vulnerable segments of the workforce in their career pivot journey. Depending on the needs of individual adult learners, career-learning advisory through jobs-skills adjacency analysis and training pathway advisory services are provided.

Skills needs and skills utilization are primarily determined by workplaces. As Singapore pushes forth for a digital and green economy, enterprises are expected to drive innovation and growth globally and locally. While the anticipation of future skills and identification of emerging skills involve enterprises large and small, SMEs continue to lag behind larger firms in skills development efforts (Institute for Adult Learning Singapore, 2018). This is particularly worrisome when SMEs employed 70% of the workforce in Singapore (Department of Statistics, 2023). To scale up engagement with Singapore’s community of SMEs, SSG identifies Skills Development Partners (SDPs) to help SMEs aggregate their skills needs and source for reskilling supplies (Gan, 2022). SDPs will work on the ground to validate the skills needs of the professional community and curate reskilling pathways to support the skills needs of SMEs. This new initiative is currently in its pilot phase. The pilot will allow SSG and its partners to learn alongside the SMEs’ journeys, and adjust their support to SMEs along the way.

Singapore recognizes the need to empower citizens in their extended working lives, and the need for the workforce to continuously learn and pivot their career throughout life-stages (National Research Foundation, 2021). To these imperatives, the Singapore government has been investing in research and development, to better design and deliver learning to the workforce. In 2019, SSG and the National Research Foundation convened a taskforce to establish The Future of Adult Learning Research Agenda (Institute for Adult Learning Singapore, 2020). The taskforce made four recommendations:

(1) Four highly complex priority research areas to advance adult learning research in Singapore in the next 5-10 years;

(2) Data infrastructure to support adult learning research, policy evaluation and data-driven practices;

(3) Research co-laboratories as new mechanisms to facilitate large-scale research-practice collaborations, driven by use-inspired transdisciplinary research;

(4) New flagship platforms to signal the building of a leading research-user learning community in Singapore.

The Agenda has guided research investment and capacity building in Singapore. The Workforce Development Applied Research Fund (WDARF) is established by SSG to encourage interdisciplinary research in the areas of workforce development and lifelong learning, administered by the IAL (Institute for Adult Learning Singapore, 2023). Besides leading adult learning research, IAL also leads the professional development of adult educators and drives learning innovation in continuing education and training in Singapore. The commitment to research, innovation, and adult educator development is pertinent to SkillsFuture Movement.

6 Conclusion

As the economy and businesses continue to evolve and restructure, continuous reskilling effort will be a policy priority worldwide. Especially in Singapore, the human capital investment strategy serves both economic and social purposes. SkillsFuture Movement will continue to adapt to the needs of the economy and the workforce. To support this ongoing adaptation, SSG has put in place monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to evaluate the effectiveness of SkillsFuture’s schemes and programs. These measurements will allow SSG to enhance its programs and services. At the same time, SSG invests in research and development to develop future models of adult learning, career-facilitation, and skills anticipation capability. Only through continuous enhancement and adaptation can Singapore ensure a progressive, responsive, and effective skills ecosystem.

The Singapore experience suggests that skills development agenda is integral to economic transformation and inclusive growth. One form of institutional arrangement is for the government to play an active role as convenor: to coordinate the skills demand and skills supply of the economy through working with stakeholders in the skills ecosystem. Quality and responsiveness of training provision is critical to the success of the reskilling agenda and having a committed and responsive community of training providers requires the right incentive and nurturing. Being mindful of the barriers to reskilling and upskilling means there is a deliberate need to address affordability to access training, and to actively address information asymmetry. Hence, the timely and targeted signposting of jobs-skills information through channel partners (such as including Trade Associations and Chambers, Professional Bodies, Labor Unions and other non-governmental organizations) will strengthen the outreach to target segments of the workforce and enterprises. Only when the whole nation is involved and all hands are on deck, can we achieve the future skilling agenda.

Future Skills in Practice: Our Recommendations

  • A skilled and competitive workforce is the foundation of an inclusive society where everyone benefits from economic growth;

  • SkillsFuture Movement supports economic development through skills development and labour force enhancement;

  • SkillsFuture Movement also supports Singaporeans to realise their fullest potential in achieving their career aspiration;

  • One form of institutional arrangement is for the government to play an active role as convenor: to coordinate the skills demand and skills supply of the economy through working with stakeholders in the skills ecosystem;

  • National skills agenda requires tight coordination among key stakeholders within the ecosystem;

  • Skills are used as the common currency for individuals’ skills development journey, for employers’ talent and workforce planning, and for education and training partners to ensure courses are meeting skills needs;

  • Quality and responsiveness of training provision is critical to the success of the reskilling agenda; and,

  • Being mindful of the barriers to reskilling and upskilling means there is a deliberate need to address affordability to access training, and to actively address information asymmetry.