In January this year, the National Instructors and Coaches Association (NICA) was formally registered with the Registrar of Societies, and also became an affiliate of the Labour Movement. This followed an NTUC announcement in August 2018 to extend its reach to the freelancer community by forming an association which can potentially represent the interests of some 5,000 full-time freelancers who are coaches and/or instructors in the fields of sports, music, fitness, dance and wellness etc.
Supported by the NTUC and led by a 13-member protem committee, the association seeks to represent the interests of fellow freelancers, work closely with stakeholders to help freelance coaches and instructors deepen their skills and competencies to enhance their work prospects, ensure more are protected by the Prolonged Medical Insurance product and create better work environment for them.
Top Priority: Creating Standards, Deepening Competencies to Expand Business Opportunities and Enhance Work Prospects
Relevant knowledge and updated skillsets are critical to ensuring that freelancers can continue to adapt to the changing landscape, and that their services remain well sought-after by clients. However, in the world of freelance coaches and instructors, they face several issues:
a) Inadequate training framework, courses, support and resources that are easily accessible to these freelancers
b) Emphasis on academic qualifications as credentials to practice, but there are few avenues for experienced instructors or coaches who attained their skills through on-the-job training to gain proper credentials
c) No industry benchmark to measure the value of service provided by them. This undermines efforts by instructors and coaches to go for training that can boost their credibility and professionalism
“Freelancers are doubly affected when the business environment transforms because the onus to keep up with changes falls solely on the freelancer's shoulders. He/she will have to overcome two challenges: firstly, sourcing for suitable training which is challenging because the training which a coach or instructor requires is more likely to be specialised and less likely to be offered by mainstream training providers; secondly, training is typically self-funded. Funding for training can be challenging as a freelancer’s income could vary from month-to-month. As the pace of changes picks up, freelancers who fail to upskill and/or second skill quickly enough will become irrelevant,” shared NICA Protem Committee President and Band Instructor, Adrian Chiang.
NICA’s top priority is to engage relevant stakeholders, to lend their support and resources to create an eco-system that encourages and helps freelancers to deepen their competencies and acquire new skills. This will enable them to remain relevant to the changing landscape and most importantly, be equipped to expand their business opportunities and enhance their work prospects:
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Inadequate training support, resources and relevant courses |
Collaborate with partners such as NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and NTUC LearningHub as well as relevant stakeholders such as platform intermediaries:
Partner industry stakeholders such as SportSG, CoachSG, Ministry of Education, People’s Association and National Arts Council etc to resource and support coaches and instructors in professional development |
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No avenues for experienced coaches/instructors to gain accreditation |
Work with CET centres and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) to introduce alternative skills recognition pathways to certify experienced freelancers (eg. Show proof of competency which can be used as a proxy for the CET centre/ IHL to assess readiness for either options: direct accreditation or admission into a formal academic programme. The latter option is common in other sectors where incumbents rise from ranks e.g. applied science, culinary) |
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No industry benchmark or standards |
NICA to initiate the development of a set of industry standards that would cover areas such as professional conduct, safety and acceptable practices of instructors and coaches, service buyers etc. This would be a step in the right direction towards enhancing the image and professionalism of instructors and coaches; the standards would also guide NICA’s efforts in ensuring its members are equipped with necessary expertise to continue practicing. |
"NICA builds on the cooperation between NTUC, freelancer communities such as SCA (Sports Coaches Association of Singapore) and government agencies such as MOE and SportSG to strengthen the contracting practices and the professionalism of instructors and coaches. Continuing professional development workshops in coaching techniques, for instance, have gained traction with coaches who are keen to deepen their technical expertise. We also hope to do more to equip coaches and instructors with skills and technology to thrive in an increasingly digitalised world. For instance, we are working closely with CoachSG, NTUC LearningHub and NTUC’s e2i to roll out a SkillsFuture Digital Workplace course for sports coaches to prepare them for the future work environment. In this regard, we look forward to the support of stakeholders to replicate this progressive model of partnership for the other sectors that NICA represents,” shared NICA Protem Committee Secretary and Sports Coach, Justin Teh.
NTUC Assistant Director-General and Director of U FSE (Freelancers and Self-Employed) Ang Hin Kee also shared, “NTUC U FSE has been working with various freelancer communities to organise relevant training courses and Masterclasses which are currently lacking in the market. We have had some early successes in areas such as technical training for riggers by STAR (Singapore Talent, Artistes and Resources) and Freelancing 101 boot camp for newer creative freelancers by CreativesatWork which U FSE and e2i supported. We would like to build on this momentum to expand such types of training courses to more freelancers. We would also like to work with NICA to better educate new entrants to these professions such as introducing workshops or resource kit to help new entrant navigate the freelance trade.”
Second Priority: Income Protection with Prolonged Medical Leave Insurance
Working with various insurance providers, NICA is offering a special deal for members to sign up Prolonged Medical Leave insurance products which provide a daily cash pay-out should the freelancer be hit by prolonged illness or injury.
This would continue to be an important area of focus, to reach more freelancers in the relevant fields and get them insured. The nature of their work makes coaches and instructors more susceptible to physical injuries or illnesses. Such a product will help members mitigate the loss of income when they stop working to recover from physical injuries or illness.
Third Priority: Better Work Environment for Freelance Coaches and Instructors
With the Tripartite Standard on Contracting with Self-employed Persons in place, NICA will engage coaching and instructor communities and their stakeholders to improve existing contracting practices, in particular the outlining of avenues to resolve work-related disputes at the lowest level possible. With support from NTUC, members are also able to seek advice from the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) on payment and other contractual matters.
Going forward
NTUC and NICA recognise synergies in establishing close collaborations with industry stakeholders like SportSG, Ministry of Education, People’s Association and others. Thus, they will continue to progressively work on expanding and leveraging the relevant networks, to form alliances with partners so as to reach out to more freelancers in these fields and together, advance the interests of these freelancers.
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