SINGAPORE, 22 SEPTEMBER 2022 – As Singapore embarks upon her journey to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the future of education is a major concern. The education sector was one of the hardest hit during the pandemic, with schools shutting down and classes turning to online e-learning. E-learning saw a distinctive rise whereby teaching was undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. With Private Education (PE) setting foot on its own post COVID-19 journey, three factors namely – resiliency, pedagogy and sustainability were highlighted at the Singapore Association for Private Education’s (SAPE) Annual Conference today where over 160 academics and professionals together with Guest of Honour Mr. Desmond Tan, Minister of State, Prime Minister’s Office, Deputy Secretary-General, NTUC, and Executive Secretary, SISEU, were present at PSB Academy City Campus.
The PE Sector sees an increase in Growth and Recovery
This year’s SAPE theme is – Emerging Stronger and More Resilient in a post COVID-19 era. From the perspective of the PE sector, growth and recovery looks promising. Recent news showed that foreign enrolments in Singapore private schools is expected to pick up as borders reopen with there being about 65,400 international students in Singapore at end-April 2022, up roughly 10 per cent from 59,100 in April 2021. This projected increase could be possibly due to Singapore being seen as managing the pandemic well, the development of COVID-19 from a pandemic to a more manageable endemic, as well as the gradual reopening of both Singapore’s borders and international ones.
“As the private education sector bounces back, Singapore was seen as an attractive education destination stemming from its sought-after reputation for being safe, stable, coupled with the government’s handling of COVID-19. Moreover, with the Forward Singapore initiative – we should strive to equip students with skills to become more effective and productive when they join the workforce, including how to lead others. This strong drive for self-improvement and perseverance will help strengthen our social impact allowing us to turn each set of challenges into opportunities, said Mr. Viva Sinniah, President, SAPE.” “We can find the silver lining in whatever comes our way and be a bastion of stability and opportunity in this world and leave behind a better Singapore for tomorrow.”
Collaborative roles of key stakeholders in Singapore
For Singapore’s economy to continue to prosper, post COVID-19 era – collaborations between various stakeholders are crucial to build a strong foundation to help employers bridge skills gaps and overcome talent shortages. The recent signing of a memorandum between NTUC’s e2i (employment and employability institute) and SAPE served as a testament to strengthen career planning and job security for Singaporeans. SAPE and e2i aim to bolster job matching and professional development for private education graduates, with the key objective of developing a sustainable and competitive local workforce as the economy recovers from COVID-19. As Singapore, collectively bolsters all boats in the nation, such partnerships will help better support the manpower needs of the Singapore economy over the long haul and thus enable the PE sector to stand better prepared to catch the rising post-pandemic tide.
Moving forward with Sustainability at top of mind
However, over the past decade, it has become clear that business leaders must work toward preserving a sustainable future. This task is even more urgent because they are operating in a VUCA environment – one that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.
Since the turn of the century the chaotic, turbulent, and rapidly changing environments in which we live have become the ‘new normal’ defined by exploding technological developments, dramatic demographic growth, immigration, ecological disasters, and geopolitical trends disrupting our lives at an ever-increasing pace and breadth. These circumstances, accelerated by globalisation, are termed VUCA: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Education and higher education, face the brunt of VUCA and therefore, the kinds of competencies that are required for coping with changing conditions is associated with the concepts of resilience and social-emotional competencies that are part of the discourse of social-emotional learning.
The pandemic has accelerated the need for new skills in school and the workforce, with social and emotional skills emerging high in demand. Leaders and role models in business education play a pivotal role to teach and practice the way we want the business world to be in the future. Models of social-emotional competencies emphasise self-awareness and regulation, social-awareness, communication skills, empathy, and responsible decision-making. They depict them as crucial competencies that are necessary for students’ and teachers’ well- being, as well as for their improved ability to cope with complex conditions.
“We will continue to do our best to support the PE industry by engaging like-minded organisations and public agencies to partner with us and help our students in Singapore build the hard and soft skills necessary to navigate the challenging global economy together to preserve and emerge stronger in this era of recovery,” said Mr. Viva Sinniah, President, SAPE.