Enduring issues within Singapore’s TVET

ABSTRACT

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has been the backbone of Singapore’s push to build an industrialised workforce and is currently responsible for the post-secondary education of 65% of its Primary 1 cohort. Admissions to polytechnics increased from 5% of Primary 1 cohort in 1980 to 40% today while the Institute of Technical Education takes in 25% of this cohort. Under the current nation-wide comprehensive SkillsFuture Singapore initiative, skills acquisition seems to have replaced academic qualifications to become a new byword in Singapore’s education landscape. This paper traces the development of Singapore’s TVET into the current SkillsFuture epoch to analyse the tensions that have been wrought amongst knowledge, skills, habitus and curriculum frameworks. The role and place of vocational education, and its affordance and constraints within the wider hierarchy of what counts as valuable education in Singapore are also explored as questions here, including the complexities and issues around equal opportunities and social mobility, broader talent development, and the formation of life-long learners.

KEYWORDS:

• TVET
• Singapore curriculum
• polytechnic education
• SkillsFuture
• social reproduction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mardiana Abu Bakar

Dr Mardiana Abu Bakar is a lecturer with the Policy, Curriculum and Leadership Academic. She is also programme leader in the Master of Education, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning. In these roles, she teaches and partly administers the core programmes on curriculum policy and theory. She is currently a co-PI in three research projects: 1. Diversity and intercultural mindedness amongst secondary school students; 2. The role of a child support model for low-income families; and 3. The pathways and life trajectories narratives of vocational students in Singapore. She is also a consultant with Yayasan Mendaki to develop their signature pedagogy and is also currently working with the Islamic Religious council (MUIS) in their current effort to develop the curriculum understandings of their teaching force. A critical scholar interested in issues of curriculum access and equity, Mardiana believes that schools are places of possibilities and constraints; and her main passion is to contribute towards the nurturing of self-critical communities of reflexive educators in Singapore. 

Boon Yong Kwok

Boon Yong Kwok is a lecturer with Singapore Polytechnic’s SPEAR programme (previously known as General Education), offering technological and pedagogical advice in the design of out-of-class self-directed learning journeys. As an Academic Mentor, he has been tasked to enable the faculty in maximising their teaching capacity, and to digitize the curriculum. He was conferred the Master of Education by the National Institute of Education (Singapore) in 2019.

Aznan Abu Bakar

Aznan Abu Bakar, Business Design Associate, is the User Experience Centre (UXC) Manager at Singapore Polytechnic (SP). Aznan is a recent graduate of the MEd C&T from NTU. He was the Course Chair for the Diploma in Business Innovation and Design at SP’s Business School. This diploma was the first of its kind in Singapore, where the tools and mindsets of the design thinking (DT) methodology has been introduced within a business curriculum so as to inspire breakthrough innovation. Aznan is currently a Senior Manager at the User Experience Centre at Singapore Polytechnic that is leading the institution’s work in the industry capacity building, service and product innovation partnerships in public and private sectors. He continues to work and travel with both local and international partners in the Asia Pacific region.