Back
Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for Education,
Mrs Mildred Tan, Singapore University of Social Sciences Board of Trustees Chairperson,
Assocociate Professor (Practice) Yeo Li Pheow, Executive Director, Institute for Adult Learning (IAL),
Distinguished partners and guests,
1. A warm welcome and thank you for joining us on this special occasion - the opening of the Centre for Skills-First Practices by IAL, in support of the SkillsFuture movement.
2. It is wonderful to see all of you here. The programme promises to be a packed afternoon of intellectual exchange. Therefore, in my address, I will just share three simple words that we use quite often in this small part of the world.
3. The first word is the word “cheem”. To our overseas friends, “cheem” is local vernacular to describe something that is too difficult, or too esoteric, to be understandable. Show a Singaporean a page packed with equations, and this word appears in his mind. Today, mention the phrase “jobs skills taxonomy”, and unfortunately, he may well have the same mental reaction.
4. What is not considered “cheem”? Checking if someone has the relevant basic degree or diploma, or that he has experience in the same industry for the past 3, 5 years. Those are straightforward questions with clear cut answers for a hirer. But to assess that one might not have the right basic qualification but has upskilled over time, or that he has worked in similar roles but not in the exact industry, or that he has the versatility and the ability to collaborate well with others to overcome his lack of experience – those are trickier propositions, that require an application of what we label as skills-first hiring.
5. SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) has developed various tools, such as the Careers and Skills Passport and the Jobs-Skills Portal, that seek to make skills-first hiring and other skills-first practices more manageable, more information-based and data driven. Not necessarily simpler, but hopefully clearer and more transparent. More needs to be done, and the Centre will have its work cut out in clarifying, explaining and framing skills-first practices so that it becomes accessible and practically doable at scale. I am not suggesting to dumb down the practices for companies and individuals. But if skills-first is considered too “cheem” to do, it simply won’t be adopted.
6. The flip side of this is the need for skills-first practices to be rooted in robust analytics and research. There is another word in our local vocabulary, the word “zhun”. “zhun” means precise, on point, spot-on. If I told a Singaporean I had invented an AI tool to help him pick the best durian, he would no doubt ask, “zhun bo”, meaning “are you sure”, “does this work”. Similarly, when we ask companies to develop their workforce based on skills-first practices, they would surely also ask “zhun bo”. So the Centre must develop tools, conduct research and engage in studies that show rigour and applicability of skills-first practices.
7. How else can we build this confidence? First, by sharing our findings and insights widely, to invite dialogue and critique. Today, we launched our special edition of the Jobs-Skills Insights, co-developed by SSG and Workforce Singapore, in partnership with IAL and Burning Glass Institute. It describes how a skills-first approach might help address the ongoing transformations in our businesses and workforce. Second, by making the information and data accessible, so that people can go under the hood. To this end, we are introducing two more dashboards on our Jobs-Skills portal. The Job Requirements (Skills) Index (JRI) dashboard tracks how skills required for job roles are evolving, and help employers prioritise roles to redesign and the capabilities to build. The Job-Skills Profile dashboard helps individuals understand the skills defining various job roles, and the associated upskilling opportunities. So, we build confidence by showing that the data can be contextualised to the needs of individual companies and workers.
8. We are thankful for all the companies and organisations who are early adopters. Many are here today; the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the NHG Health will be signing an agreement with the Centre later. Your continued involvement will help us make these tools and practices less “cheem” and more “zhun”.
9. This brings me to my final word. ”laksa”, a popular dish. There is a lovely Malay phrase. “Assam di gunung, garam di laut”. The assam from the mountain, and the salt from the ocean; all brought into the same pot to make a great dish of laksa. Advancing skills-first practice requires multiple perspectives, experiences and expertise that no single institution, agency or organisation can offer. Over the past year, IAL has convened international roundtables, contributed consultative papers and worked with partners such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Centre has engaged unions, leading companies, training providers, Institutes of Higher Learning including, of course, its mothership SUSS. IAL will also need to corral the expertise of learning experts, labour economists, business researchers, maybe even computational scientists studying recommender systems.
10. This is not different from the laksa that is the SkillsFuture movement itself, which requires all hands on deck to succeed – workers, unions, companies, trade associations, professional bodies, training institutions. So perhaps it is apt that we are launching the Centre on the 10th anniversary year of the SkillsFuture movement. To bring the movement to the next level, we will need a new level of coordination and collaboration across our ecosystem, a strengthening of the jobs-skills nexus, so that skills are not only well learnt but also well recognised, well valued and well applied meaningfully in work and in life. This is how we will embed agility into our training systems and workforce, to adapt to the increasingly rapid changes to technology and to the global economy.
11. On this note, I thank all of you for being with us here today. Some have travelled quite a distance, and we are thankful. With the launch of the Centre, let us go forth to make skills-first practices less “cheem”, so that more will embrace it; more “zhun”, by deepening our tools, studies and research; and a great dish of laksa, by convening partners from different corners of the ecosystem and the globe.
12. Thank you.