COMMENTARY: Writing for Lessons on Leadership, a series hoping to inspire the next generation of Singaporeans through the stories of Singapore’s many successful business leaders and entrepreneurs, our contributor Abel Ang shares his reflections on how to create a virtuous cycle of lifelong learning. 

Abel Ang is the chief executive of a medical technology company and an adjunct professor at Nanyang Business School.

Recently Singapore’s Education Minister, Mr. Chan Chun Sing, gave a speech at the Straits Times Education Forum, outlining the “3C’s for Singapore’s universities to thrive in a post-COVID-19 world”. He gave his take on how he sees the higher education system evolving, especially in relation to adult learning and continuing education.

His first “C” was about continuous learning. He makes the point that the “half-life of skills and knowledge has shrunk” and so the “pace of acquiring skills and new knowledge must intensify.” Working adults will have to keep learning long after they have left school, so that they can remain economically viable and employable.

The second “C” encourages Singapore universities to create value in collaboration with industry and community. These collaborations should go beyond the shores of Singapore and the Minister aspires that Singapore’s “universities share more resources and combine faculty strengths to win projects to develop solutions for the world, the industries, and the community.”

Finally, he shares about how Singapore must have confidence in the path we are taking for education because of the uniqueness of our direction. He sums up the point by saying that “for Singapore to defy the odds of history, we will need the confidence to chart our own destiny and develop solutions for our unique challenges in context.” As a Singaporean, the first thing I thought about when I read the speech was, why only 3C’s?

After all, aren’t Singaporeans famous for wanting the 5C’s, namely: cash, car, credit card, condominium living, and a country club membership to boot?

Can-Do

A “C” that I would have liked to see in Mr. Chan’s speech is a “can-do” attitude towards applying learning.

The online game Wordle, which has taken the world by a storm, is an example of the can-do attitude that I hope to see more of in our education system today.

Josh Wardle, the creator of the game, studied Media Arts in the University of London and went on to graduate with a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Art from the University of Oregon. Despite having no formal experience in programming, he lists 13 technical skills in his LinkedIn profile – presumably picked up along the way throughout his life.

I believe that Wardle’s can-do attitude to apply adult-learning acquired skills in a meaningful and commercially relevant way is an inspiration to all. His game is reported to have 3 million users daily and has been sold to the New York Times for more than US$1M.

The game is a reminder that it is not the act of learning that ultimately creates value for the learner, but how the learner applies the knowledge to solve real-world problems.

Concerns over bread-and-butter issues

But perhaps the most important “C” that I wanted to see in Mr. Chan’s speech is the mention of cash.

By instituting SkillsFuture credit to defray the cost for Singaporeans to take courses and continuously learn, the government has reduced friction for workers to continuously learn.

However, while everyone knows that they need to continuously learn and improve themselves to maintain employability, many don’t seem to be able to make it a priority.

Why not? As anyone who has had to juggle part-time study with full-time work will tell you, adult learning is tough.

With bills to pay, children to feed, and parents to take care of, adult learners are often consumed by bread-and-butter issues on the home front. Few adult learners are thinking about the 10 different jobs that Mr. Chan believes the current generation of workers will be employed in, before they get to retirement age.

In the words of Tom Cruise, who played the character Jerry Maguire in the 1996 romantic comedy of the same name, to get adult learners to go through the pain and sacrifice of adult learning, they need someone to “show me the money”!

Do such schemes really help workers?

Even for workers who have put in the effort to utilize their SkillsFuture credits, it seems like the link between the learning and future cash is still not so clear.

In his 2022 Committee of Supply speech, Minister Chan shared that the government spent nearly S$1.2 billion in skills training for our workforce in 2021. He noted that this is 40 per cent more than 2019 and it excluded spending on COVID-related programmes.

It was reported in 2020 that 500,000 people had used their SkillsFuture credits, but no data has been shared about how the usage of the credits has led to people become more employable. More importantly, how have the skills acquired led workers to earn more for themselves and their families?

I have attended discussions with union members in Singapore where the members have raised that exact point. Their grievance is that despite cajoling from companies and union leaders to upgrade themselves, union members who have made personal sacrifices to undergo training have not seen material improvements in their take-home-pay or career prospects.

How to link cash and learning

It appears that the Health Promotion Board (HPB) has understood the link between cash and getting people to prioritize exercise in their lives.

HPB has developed a wonderful program in the form of the National Steps Challenge, which attracted more than 900,000 signups last year. The Challenge rewards participants with up to S$85 of e-Vouchers when they hit requisite physical activity levels monthly.

What is notable is that in previous editions of the Challenge up to one in five people continued to maintain high levels of physical activity, even when the e-Vouchers were no longer being provided.

Imagine if there were a similarly designed e-Voucher or cash program for adult learners to improve themselves via a similarly gamified Learning Challenge? This could help establish an immediate link between adult learning and cash in the pocket.

Furthermore, the programme could be further enhanced for the government to defray the cost of salary increases for those who have engaged in adult learning, in the same way that the newly announced Progressive Wage Credit Scheme co-funds pay increases for low waged workers. This would ensure that completion of relevant courses would come with appropriate salary increments, thus assuring employees that their effort will pay off.

When it comes to cash incentives, the topic of abuse will inevitably come up. Should the government be incentivising people to take cooking and flower arrangement classes supported under the SkillsFuture credit? Similarly, should HPB be giving incentives to people who are shaking their pedometers instead of walking the steps?

My view is that the group of people who abuse the scheme will be small, and the benefits of the behavioural change for the vast majority far outweigh the negative effects arising bad behaviour of a small group of people. In the same way that HPB’s Steps Challenge has had lasting impact to get people to move more, my hope is that an equivalent Learning Challenge will have a lasting impact to make adult learning a regular part of people’s daily lives.

It is true that not everyone engaged in adult learning is motivated by cash, but an e-Voucher program combined with a government funded wage increase for adult learning could be a game changer, in the same way that the National Steps Challenge has been transformative in getting Singaporeans to exercise more and lead healthier lives.

Creating a virtuous cycle of adult learning

The social aspect of Wordle, where players are allowed to “brag” about how well they have done online could be a further accelerant for adult learning in Singapore.

According to research, only around 5 to 15 per cent of the people who start free, open, online courses actually complete it. Perhaps creating a platform for people to share about their adult-learning achievements on social media could unleash a virtuous cycle of adult learning in Singapore.

Ultimately, why people have fixated on the classic 5C’s over the years signals how people have aspired to build a better financial future for themselves and their families.

In his Committee of Supply speech, Minister Chan said that the MOE “will do more to support Singaporeans to achieve career resilience and job mobility through a major investment in skills refresh”.

He added that MOE, MTI, MOM and MOF are studying how they can enhance structural support for Singaporeans in their 40s and 50s who may need significant reskilling to provide a second wind in their careers.

For adult-learning to be successful in Singapore I think we need to go beyond Minister Chan’s 3C’s by considering how adult learners can get more cash in their pocket when they apply their learning, and to encourage them to display their can-do attitude.

If we can achieve that, I think we will be well on our way to achieving Minister Chan’s vision of a country where we “learn for life, and to learn throughout life.”

Top photo: Philippe Bout/Unsplash