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STRENGTHENING EDUCATION AND CAREER GUIDANCE

FAQ
Table of Contents:
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General questions on Strengthening Education and Career Guidance
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Questions and Answers

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1

General questions on Strengthening Education and Career Guidance


Is Education and Career Guidance (ECG) already being offered?
Yes, ECG is currently offered at primary and secondary schools, junior
colleges/Centralised Institute (JC/CI) and at ITE, polytechnics and universities.
Career and training advisory services are also available to working adults.
At the primary and secondary schools, structured ECG curriculum and lessons
plans have been implemented for Primary 3-6 since 2012, and for Secondary 1
to 4/5A students since 2014. These are conducted by teachers. Students also
use an interactive web-based ECG portal, ecareers.sg to discover their own
strengths and interests, and engage in education planning and career
exploration.
ECG at the polytechnics and ITE is primarily delivered by academic staff and
personal mentors in class, through mass briefing sessions or course-related
practices as part of curriculum. Career, recruitment and further education fairs
are organised for students by the academic schools and Student Service offices.
Smaller group mentoring and coaching sessions may be provided by
counsellors, mentors and academic staff who double up as career coaches on a
case-by-case basis.
The Autonomous Universities also have dedicated career services offices or
centres, which offer career advisory and preparation programmes to assist
students in identifying their strengths and in exploring careers related to their
strengths, interests and fields of study.
The Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) provides career and
training advisory services at the WDA Career Centres located island-wide.
Besides WDA Career Centres, individuals can also visit CaliberLink and WDAs
partners such as e2i and the Continuing Education and Training (CET) Centres
for career advisory services and training assistance. Details on the location of
the touchpoints are as below:
Locations of WDA Career Centres, CaliberLink and e2i
Address
Central

Singapore

Contact details
Career 6883 5885
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Operating hours
Mon-Fri: 9am to 5pm

Centre
490 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh
#07-11 HDB Hub Bizthree
Singapore 310490
(Please use Lift Lobby 1)
North East Career Centre
300 Tampines Ave 5 #06-01
NTUC Income Tampines Junction
Singapore 529653
North West Career Centre
900 South Woodlands Drive
#06-07 Woodlands Civic Centre
Singapore 730900
South East Career Centre /
CaliberLink
11 Eunos Road 8
#02-02 Lifelong Learning Institute
Singapore 408600
South West Career Centre
8 Jurong Town Hall Road
#03-11 The JTC Summit
Singapore 609434
e2i
Devan
Nair
Institute
for
Employment and Employability
80
Jurong
East
St
21
Level
2
Singapore 609607
2

Please call to Sat: 9am-1pm


request for an
appointment to Sunday
&
Public
be made.
Holiday: Closed

6474 0606

Mon-Fri: 9am to 6pm


Sat: 9am-1pm
Sunday
&
Public
Holiday: Closed

How will education and career guidance be further strengthened for


students?

We will build on existing good practices through establishing closer coordination


and planning between schools and post-secondary educational institutions
(PSEIs). This is to ensure that students receive and relevant ECG as they
transit from one level to the next. At the national level, we are also working
towards an integrated ECG approach that will serve Singaporeans throughout
their life stages, not just during the school years.
ECG Counsellors
MOE will deploy ECG counsellors to secondary schools, junior
colleges/Centralised Institute, the polytechnics and the ITE. With the increased
support, students can benefit from consulting specially trained and dedicated
staff. These counsellors can work with academic and administrative staff to plan
and organise activities for students to explore and decide on their career paths.
Central ECG Unit
A central ECG Unit is being set up within MOE to oversee planning and
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implementation of ECG, working closely with the polytechnics and the ITE to
ensure alignment and continuity across different educational levels. The pool of
counsellors will come under the management of this unit. This centralisation will
enable counsellors to draw from within the fraternity a greater diversity of
professional and practical knowledge, experiences and perspectives to serve
our students better.
A common ECG Curriculum for Polytechnic and ITE students
As previous ECG efforts varied across the institutions, a set of common ECG
outcomes and learning objectives (which are part of the curriculum) has been
developed jointly by MOE, the polytechnics and the ITE for all students across
all education levels, to achieve better consistency and quality of ECG across the
system. ECG at the polytechnics and ITE will build on the skills and knowledge
learnt at secondary school, and help students i) develop a positive and realistic
perception of themselves for achieving personal and career goals, ii) adapt and
make considered decisions about their careers and aspirations, and iii) be better
prepared for the transition from school to work.
The curriculum will be conducted over a minimum duration of 40-60 hours
across two years for ITE students and three years for polytechnic students. It
will be rolled out in 2015, starting with Year 1 students in January at the ITE and
April at the polytechnics. Learning objectives will be structured into existing
academic modules and dedicated lessons on career-related topics, The ECG
curriculum will also be conducted through out-of-classroom activities such as
industry immersion programmes, talks and workshops. Students will also have
access to individual and group career counselling and guidance sessions if
needed.
Career services at the Autonomous Universities (AUs)
The AUs are also enhancing their existing career services to focus more on
helping students better identify their career interests, and be equipped with
greater occupational and industry knowledge. This will be done through closer
links with industry professionals, and access to personalised career advising
services through in-house career counsellors and advisors. For example, the
National University of Singapores (NUS) existing Career Centre was
repositioned as the Centre for Future-ready Graduates in October 2014. The
Centre will enhance its suite of career preparation programmes for students,
including new leadership development courses. It will also provide more
personalised career advising to students from Year 1.
The Nanyang
Technological University (NTU) also launched the Margaret Lien Centre for
Professional Success in 2014 to provide holistic career skills training to all NTU
students. It will be recruiting up to 13 consultants across various industries to
coach students on career planning and expand networking opportunities in
2015.
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Whilst it is a good step to enhance ECG support and provisions to


individuals, many students have expressed frustration that their personal
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choice of a course option in the polytechnic or ITE is by and large dictated


by the cut-off points. Will this problem continue when the new ECG
measures are in place?

The last aggregate score for each course is determined by the academic scores
of the students who are entering into the programmes. The polytechnics also
have discretion to admit a number of students based on other demonstrated
aptitudes and interests.
The objective of better ECG is not to help one better secure a place in a highly
competitive course. Instead, ECG seeks to help our students understand their
strengths, interests and aspirations better, so that they will make better-informed
educational and career choices. This can translate into their understanding of
their suitability for and interest in various other course options, rather than just
congregating towards more popular courses or relying on incomplete information
in making education and career choices. This can help put students in a better
position to choose courses that will help them maximise their potential, based on
their strengths, interests and opportunities.
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What efforts are taken to help the adult workforce in training advisory and
career services?

WDA works closely with various partners (e.g. industry associations, unions,
training providers) and stakeholders to promote lifelong learning and skills
development, offering various channels where individuals can access training
and career information:

Individuals and employers can use WDAs course directory


(http://www.wda.gov.sg/content/wdawebsite/l204-coursedirectory.html) to
search for WDA-supported courses by training areas and job levels. For
CET courses offered by the publicly funded PSEIs and UniSIM,
individuals may refer to the course listing at www.getCET.sg.

In 2014, WDA set up two continuing education and training campuses as


focal points to inspire lifelong learning by building strong and close knitted
lifelong learning communities, and showcasing diverse high quality
learning opportunities. Our local workforce will be able to access a range
of services and training to help them improve their skills and careers,
upgrade their jobs, and get the most up-to-date information about the job
opportunities.

As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen support for Professionals,


Managers, and Executives (PMEs), the tripartite partners MOM, WDA,
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NTUC and SNEF have jointly developed a one-stop career resource


portal (www.CareerResource.sg), which was launched on 14 Nov 2014.
The portal aims to raise PMEs awareness of the various programmes
and services available by providing them with convenient access to a
range of resources and information from CaliberLink, e2i, U PME Centre
and WDA.

The Jobs Bank was launched in July 2014 to make job vacancies more
visible to Singaporean job seekers and facilitate a fair hiring process. The
Jobs Bank facilitates the online job application and hiring process
between local job seekers and employers. It allows employers to
advertise jobs and search within a database of job seekers and allows job
seekers to create a resume and apply for a job at no cost.

Those who prefer to receive face-to-face career advisory services and


training assistance can approach WDAs Career Centres located
conveniently island-wide. Besides WDA Career Centres, workers and
individuals can also visit CaliberLink and WDAs partners such as e2i and
the CET Centres for career advisory services and training assistance.
WDA will continue to explore ways to improve and deepen its outreach to
individuals at the touch points, which will include the provision of labour
market information to assist individuals in making better-informed career
and training choices.

How many ECG Counsellors have been recruited so far? What are the
requirements for those interested to apply as ECG Counsellors?

MOE has started recruiting ECG counsellors, and expects to deploy them to
schools, polytechnics and ITE from mid-2015. At steady state, there will be
close to 100 ECG counsellors. We are working towards 6 counsellors per
polytechnic and ITE college, and one counsellor per five secondary schools, JCs
and CI. Once deployed to schools and institutions, students will be able to
make individual or group appointments to discuss their education and career
choices with these counsellors.
The efforts of MOEs ECG counsellors to provide support to youths at the earlier
life stages will complement existing career and training advisory services
currently provided by WDAs career coaches at the WDA Career Centres.
Together, the pool of ECG counsellors and Career Coaches will ensure that
there is a seamless provision of education and career advisory and guidance for
individuals across all stages of life.
The details, including the requirements for those interested to apply to become
ECG
counsellors,
are
available
at
MOEs
website
at
http://www.moe.gov.sg/careers/eas/education-and-career-guidance-counsellor/
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Where will the ECG Practitioners be sited?

The ECG Counsellors for MOE schools will be centrally sited within the Ministry
of Education (MOE) headquarters. The ECG counsellors for polytechnics and
ITE will be based at these institutions.
Career Coaches based in the WDA Career Centres, CaliberLink and the
Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) will provide career and training
advisory to individuals in the workforce.
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How will the ECG Practitioners be trained?

The ECG Counsellors at schools, polytechnics and ITE will undergo training to
be equipped with skills and competencies necessary for education and career
counselling or career development facilitation. They will also be trained in basic
counselling skills.
To raise career advisory and guidance capabilities across all touch-points, and
ensure a baseline level of competency across the board, ECG practitioners for
both students and the workforce will undergo structured and accredited training
programmes. WDA and MOE will also be working together to develop a
common competency blueprint. There are also plans to organise regular
professional network sharing sessions for ECG practitioners to share
experiences, knowledge and skills within their agencies and at the national level.

END

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