Enhanced curricular structure for ITE students

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Wan Rizal, Jalan Besar GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education with regard to the new enhanced curricular structure for ITE students whereby students will experience a three-year pathway leading directly to a Higher Nitec certification (a) what are the Ministry's plans for students who find it more difficult to cope under the new structure; and (b) what are the plans to provide additional support and academic coaching to support them in completing their Higher Nitec certification.

Response

The new ITE curricular structure seeks to equip ITE graduates with deeper industry-relevant skills for employment. With the enhanced 3-year structure, we hope that more students can continue on to a third year and attain a Higher Nitec, instead of leaving after the two-year Nitec certification. This gives them a stronger foundation to build on for further education and skills upgrading over their careers.

2 ITE will do its utmost to help its students persevere in their learning journey, in the following ways.

3 First, ITE will continue to proactively and regularly engage its students, and identify those who may need more support early, based on their class participation, engagement level, performance in assessments and other relevant factors.

4 Second, once these students are identified, ITE will provide them with targeted support in a timely manner. ITE lecturers will provide them with appropriate learning scaffolds, additional coaching as well as social and other forms of support. For those who would like more time to complete their modules, ITE will support them with a more flexible pathway, to take a lower load of modules and take additional semesters to complete.

5 Third, ITE will beef up the industry exposure elements in its courses, and raise their quality. It will provide students with early exposure to industry, jobs and careers to better engage them, and strengthen their motivation for learning. The industrial attachments planned for both Years 2 and 3 will help to reinforce and strengthen what they learn in the classroom, and help them appreciate the applicability of what they are learning. They will be able to sustain and deepen their learning, and also strengthen their work-ready skills.

6 However, in spite of ITE's best efforts, there will remain some students who will not complete the three-year pathway. ITE will encourage these students to take up the second industry attachment in the third year to deepen their workplace learning. Students can still choose to exit with a Nitec qualification and transcript reflecting modules they have already completed. ITE will also provide job placement support to help them with the transition to work, as well as customised education and career guidance. The goal is to encourage and support them to return to ITE anytime they choose to do so, to complete the rest of the modules and attain their Higher Nitec qualification, either through the full-time or part-time programmes.

7 ITE's strong mission of education and social support and strong industry orientation and focus has benefitted many cohorts of students, equipping them with work-ready qualifications and skills to take on skilled jobs in the economy. MOE and ITE will continue to support and help ITE students thrive and succeed and fulfil their potential.