By Shukry Rashid
The Labour Movement is all set to raise awareness of a new career trial programme among early childhood operators and jobseekers.
The new Career Trial was introduced in March 2018 and replaces the Work Trial launched in 2016. The Career Trial offers jobseekers a short-term work trial ranging from 16 to 480 hours.
At the end of the trial, both jobseekers and employers can decide if they are fit for each other.
The official announcement of the programme was made at an Early Childhood (EC) career fair held on 19 May 2018 at SAFRA Toa Payoh.
At the end of the Career Trial, depending on their qualifications, jobseekers will be put through the Professional Conversion Programme for preschool teachers or the Place-and-Train programme for Educarers.
Growing the EC Sector
Recently formed, the Labour Movement’s Training Council will oversee the training and employment needs of workers across the 23 industries under the Industry Transformation Maps (ITM).
Under the Training Council, the Essential Domestic Services (EDS) Training Committee, which includes NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and the Education Services Union (ESU), will work together to operationalise the EC ITM.
To meet the growing demands of the EC sector which is set to grow by 3,000 to 20,000 educators by 2020, e2i and ESU have been partnering industry partners such as the Early Childhood Development Agency and preschool operators to attract more locals to the EC sector.
ESU Executive Secretary Ang Hin Kee (above) said that he had received feedback from EC educators about their experiences within the industry. Many of them shared that they decided to leave the industry because they found the industry unsuitable for them.
He added: “We hope new initiatives like the Career Trial will help workers to have an in-depth introduction to the early childhood sector and the type of work they will be doing. This will allow for better matching of expectations and retention of staff, ensuring conditions are right for educators, employers, children and parents to have the best outcome.”
On-the-job Training
The Labour Movement will also be encouraging small- and medium-sized enterprises to consider the framework of the Certified-On-the-Job Training Centre (COJTC) scheme administered by the Institute of Technical Education.
The COJTC scheme certifies companies that possess a good on-job-training system. The scheme aims to push more preschool operators towards higher skills standards and training framework.
