Mrs Mildred Tan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, SUSS
Professor Tan Tai Yong, President, SUSS
Distinguished guests,
1. A very good morning to all of you.
2. I am really delighted to join you for the launch of the School of Social Work and Social Development.
3. Let me begin by referring to this young lady who was in the video earlier. She says that she joined social work because she liked working with children, didn't join teaching because she didn't want to be bound to the classroom and therefore became a social worker.
4. On behalf of my colleagues at MSF, we endorse that message. But on behalf of my colleagues at MOE, I would just like to gently correct some misperceptions – we do also value social work professionals in the teaching profession.
5.In fact, yesterday, I visited a school, and one of the first groups I met was the multi-disciplinary team comprising educators within the school, counsellors, Special Education Needs (SEN) officers, and social workers – who are the Student Welfare Officers (SWOs) – working together. Two days ago, I met a group of social workers and educators in the Student Development Team (SDT) from a range of schools. And two weeks before that I met with professionals across the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), including Integrated Case Managers from ITE and Socio-Emotional Counsellors from the polytechnics, to discuss support for students with complex needs.
6. So we do need good social workers in the education fraternity as well. And we can see the reach of social work – they create an impact in so many disciplines, in fact.
7. Indeed, our social workers along with our social service professionals are the pillar of our social services. Not just the social safety net as we envision it but also working upstream – upstream in society and community to prevent issues from surfacing later.
8. You address the needs on the ground, build trust with families and individuals, and work closely with a whole range of agencies.
9. The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has designated this year as the Year of Celebrating Social Service Professionals – to recognise and to thank you, to thank our social workers, for giving your time, giving your energy, giving your effort, and giving your heart to uplift individuals and families in the community.
10. Today we celebrate a milestone for social work in Singapore.
11. Social work education began in Singapore in the year 1952 at the local campus of the University of Malaya. Since then, social work and social work education have grown along with Singapore's development.
12. Social work education first took the form of a certificate, then a diploma, and a degree. Now, we have Continuing Education and Training (CET) programmes for specialised skills. Social work has become a profession in its own right.
13. Today marks not just the launch of a new school, but a new chapter in this journey towards building a strong social work sector, in order to lead boldly in the face of more complex social challenges and to lay a strong foundation for our future.
14. The School of Social Work and Social Development will contribute to this vision by nurturing both current and future generations of social workers to serve communities across Singapore.
Context and Impetus
15. We live in times where the pace of change can feel overwhelming, with challenges such as an ageing population, rising loneliness, mental health pressures, a 24/7 cycle on social media that can impact your well-being, economic dislocation, and technological disruption that is coming at a pace like never before. And as our society evolves, so do our social issues. Today's issues are increasingly complex, and the challenges people face are often manifestations of intractable as well as intertwined problems.
16. To grapple with these challenges, social work will need three key ingredients – practice, partners and people. Let me briefly elaborate on how the new School here at SUSS can bring these three ingredients together.
Practice
17. First, let me cover practice – and on this I am guided by professional colleagues at MSF. Social work requires a strong understanding of the ground, in order to provide appropriate emotional support and practical help to people.
18. So, by grounding social work education in practice, the new School can equip our social workers with the knowledge and the skills to navigate diverse client settings across various circumstances.
19. Undergraduates will be able to deepen their knowledge in practice areas such as protection, juvenile justice, disability services, eldercare, and so on. And to support this, MSF has collaborated with SUSS, allowing undergraduates who choose the protection practice area, for instance, to serve their practicum with the MSF's Protective Service, and to apply classroom learning in real-world settings.
20. Beyond honing their professional skills, our future practitioners need to be equipped to understand multi-faceted issues faced by our clients, to deliver effective and integrated care. Indeed, as the boundaries between health, education, housing, and financial wellbeing are increasingly intertwined, especially for complex families, social workers will have to not just understand but also learn to navigate these different systems.
21. It is also important that practice is informed by robust, evidence-based, and applied research – which SUSS is very well-placed to contribute.
Partners
22. The second key would be partners; social work of the future requires stronger partnership, collaboration, and a willingness to work beyond institutional boundaries, particularly as we move nationally towards more integrated models such as Comlink+.
23. Indeed Comlink+ and many policies are a result of feedback and suggestions and ideas by social workers. Comlink+ is one of them, and many housing policies such as the Single Room Shared Facilities, and the Joint Singles Scheme Operator-Run Pilot, are a result of very useful ideas brought forward by social workers and social work professionals.
24. So it is two-way. Through building strong and extensive partnerships, the School will be well-positioned to help our social workers tackle the complex social challenges of tomorrow. And as practitioners here will know, good solutions rarely emerge in isolation, but are the result of the community, the interdisciplinary practice, the private sector as well as the government working together hand in hand.
25. One example would be the School working with the Lions Befrienders Service Association and the SUSS Behavioural Insights Centre of Excellence. And they study the motivations and barriers to senior volunteerism. The insights from the study are being translated into recommendations to strengthen volunteerism and the role of Active Ageing Centres in our local context.
26. So I would encourage our faculty and our students to actively seek out opportunities for collaboration with our frontline agencies, with other IHLs, with the community organisations and even the private sector, to foster a more vibrant social service ecosystem.
People
27. The last key would be people. To prepare ourselves for tomorrow's complexities, we need to nurture a new generation of social workers, but also help current practitioners hone their skills and adjust to the change in environment. And the School plays an important role.
28. The National Council of Social Service (NCSS), SUSS and Workforce Singapore (WSG) have collaborated to offer a work-study career-conversion programme that trains mid-career individuals who want to cross in and become qualified social workers. Such individuals bring valuable life experience and expertise from their previous sectors that will enrich our social service sector.
29. Today, SUSS and MSF will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding to develop CET programmes to upskill and enhance the professionalism of our own MSF colleagues, starting with officers involved in social service delivery at the Social Service Offices (SSOs). These programmes will cover foundational skills, such as reflective practice and cultural competencies, as well as intermediate skills on family intervention and social welfare policy. The first run of the programmes will begin this month, and I am sure many of my colleagues will attend these valuable courses and then bring these learnings back to practice.
30. At the same time, we will also need strong leadership to shape the future of the sector. Leaders who have bold ideas, who dare to try new models of service delivery or integrated service delivery; harness technology for good; and to advance social sustainability.
31. As the School builds up your network in Singapore and beyond, I look forward to seeing more exchange of ideas that can strengthen families and uplift communities. I understand that the School is already looking into creating leadership forums and curated programmes with your partners.
A Shared Responsibility
32. I am glad to see all of you here today – educators, practitioners, community partners, and policymakers – united in shaping the future of the social services in Singapore and shaping the future social compact in society.
33. To our students and our undergraduates: You are joining a profession where you will encounter some of society's most pressing and difficult challenges. Hold fast to the core values of your vocation: service, social justice, human dignity, integrity, and competence. These will guide you well in your journey ahead.
34. To our faculty members: You sit at the nexus of practice, training and research. Your strong connections with the sector will ensure that what you teach in class remains relevant and forward looking, and responsive to the needs on the ground.
35. To our community partners and policy makers: Let us remain open to new tools and new ideas and approaches for addressing long-standing issues, so that we do not just meet today's needs, but also strengthen the capacity of future generations to meet theirs.
36. And to the new School of Social Work and Social Development: Cultivate the next generation of social leaders, who can drive meaningful change in our communities and strengthen our integrated approaches in the community. On that note, I wish you all the best in your journey to advance and deepen social work education in Singapore.
37. Thank you.