For helping Singaporeans chart their learning and plan their career paths right from the beginning, a holistic portal SkillsFuture has been launched. The portal claims to be beneficial for children till they become working adults.
Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam officially launched the SkillsFuture portal. It gives students an early glimpse into the different sectors to help them decide what career path they want to choose. There are six mini virtual games where the students can interact with virtual characters from different industries and job roles.
Several new features have been added in the portal, including a self-assessment tool that allows users to find out what their career interests and skills are.
The SkillsFuture portal blends education and career guidance portals previously catering to Primary 5 students up to junior college students, and an Individual Learning portal piloted for workers in 2014.
On the portal, a primary school student can also use a feature called Education Guide, which compares various secondary schools and gives information such as the subjects and co-curricular activities being offered. Every student from Primary 5 to Pre-University will be given an individual account to access the portal. They can use it to explore and discover different industry sectors and educational pathways through interactive tools.
Through the portal, students can receive career guidance even after they move on to secondary and post-secondary institutions, all the way till they became a working adult. Students can also receive guidance on their education plans.
Users can access a suite of online services such as the National Jobs Bank, a move that makes it more convenient for them to get various resources they need through one portal instead of having multiple accounts at different sites.
A special feature called industry insights has also been incorporated into the portal, where users can find out more information about a specific industry such as whether it has a positive outlook, before they dive into it.
One novel feature about the working adults include Training Exchange which allows them to search and compare courses to suit their needs.
Beyond students and workers, employers can also use the new portal to identify suitable courses that their employees can undergo by accessing Training Exchange, while training providers can beef up their industry knowledge through Industry Insights.
Another initiative called the SkillsFuture Advice for Singaporean people was also launched with the aim of helping Singaporeans understand the various SkillsFuture initiatives such as SkillsFuture Credit and how to use the new portal.
The workshops are free of charge and conducted in four languages including English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil and last about one-and-a-half hours.