The report, available on the Unesco website, says:
Republic of Korea and Singapore both aligned vocational programmes with the needs of high-growth sectors, identifying skills bottlenecks and, as the economy developed, gradually shifting the focus of training from secondary schools to specialized technical institutes and higher education.
Two distinctive features of the vocational success story in East Asia have been missing from the policy environment of many other developing countries. The first is rapid economic growth, which has created demand for skilled labour and resources for training. Second, provision of technical and vocational education in countries such as the Republic of Korea and Singapore has been integrated into broad-based national strategies for industrial development, employment creation and raising living standards through higher levels of skills and productivity.It notes:
Singapore’s Skills Development Fund and Malaysia’s Human Resources Development Fund are financed by a 1% levy on wages, with the revenue used to subsidize training for workers in smaller companies. Singapore’s fund reaches 65% of enterprises with between 10 and 49 workers.
The report quotes from Education in Singapore: Developments since 1965 by Goh and Gopinathan. Here is the long quote, which appears in a box headlined: Singapore's 'jewel in the system':
By helping drive economic growth, overcome shortages of skilled labour and reduce social inequalities, technical and vocational education has played a central role in turning Singapore into a high-income country with one of the world’s best-performing education systems. The education minister has described the Institute of Technical Education as ‘a shining jewel in our system’.
The Institute of Technical Education was established in the early 1990s in response to growing concerns over the education system’s ability to meet the demands of a more productive economy and the needs of the young. It is meant for students who register low scores in general academic education. Courses are designed by government and industry. Companies value its graduates highly: over 90% of students were employed within six months of graduating in 2007. As the economy has evolved, the institute has responded with innovative programmes, including partnering with global industry to set up centres of technology in niche areas such as industrial automation, offering joint certificates with companies such as Microsoft and linking with institutes in Germany to offer diplomas in machine technology.
Perhaps the institute’s greatest success has been in combating the stigma associated with vocational education. Successive governments have invested heavily in training teachers, involving the private sector as well, so that the institute’s facilities are comparable to those of the country’s universities. Qualifications from the institute can be used as a route into tertiary-level technical education through polytechnics, or back into academic education through universities. The emphasis on giving confidence to students and tackling the perception of technical and vocational education as a sign of failure helps explain why Singapore’s model has succeeded where others have failed.--- Goh, C. B. and Gopinathan, S. 2008. Education in Singapore: Developments since 1965. Tan, J.-P. and Fredriksen, B. (eds),
Source: http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2010/02/singapores-ite-praised-in-unesco-report.html
Report: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001866/186606E.pdf
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