Attract and Train More Manpower for Special Needs Care and Education Sector

Ms Carrie Tan asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether there are plans to attract and train more manpower for the special needs care and education sector and, if so, what are they; (b) whether the Ministry is aware of plans by SG Enable to provide community training on caring for people with special needs or are neurodiverse and, if so, what are they.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), SG Enable and National Council of Social Service (NCSS) work closely with Social Service Agencies (SSAs) to attract manpower into the social service sector, including the disability and special needs education sectors. MSF and NCSS revised the salary guidelines for the social service sector this year to guide SSAs in offering competitive remuneration. Recommended salaries for sector professionals increased 4%-15%, to keep pace with salaries of comparable roles in competing markets.

To better equip professionals in the disability sector, a competency framework and training roadmap is being developed by the Social Service SkillsFuture Tripartite Taskforce, and training programmes are offered by the Social Service Institute and the Enabling Academy set up by SG Enable in 2022.

For those working with young children with developmental needs, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has included the Learning Support Educator and Early Intervention Educator tracks in Skills Framework for Early Childhood and has developed a Continuing Professional Development Roadmap to provide clearer progression and training pathways for Early Intervention professionals. ECDA has also worked with the National Institute of Early Childhood Development to enhance pre-service training and continuing professional development for professionals in our preschools.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has also been working closely with Special Education (SPED) schools to attract, develop and retain SPED teachers. A major development is the Journeys of Excellence Package, or Journeys Package in short, launched in 2020 to strengthen professionalism of SPED teachers. MOE is monitoring the outcomes of the Journeys Package as part of our regular review of existing SPED manpower policies to ensure that they are adequate in attracting and retaining SPED teachers.

In terms of community training, our focus is on caregivers, who are typically the first line of support for persons with disabilities. SG Enable works with the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to provide training courses. Caregivers may tap on the Caregivers Training Grant, which is administered by AIC, to defray the cost of these training programmes.

MSF and MOE will continue to work with stakeholders, including NCSS, SG Enable, SSAs and caregivers, to attract and retain manpower and strengthen people practices and capabilities for the disability and special needs education sectors. Together, we can build a more inclusive society to better support persons with special needs and their families.