I think what Singapore needs is a nationally recognised structured exam which technical workers could take to assess their competency in a particular area. This would eliminate the need to go through the entire vocational training programme at ITE or polytechnic just to get some form of paper qualifications. This exam should have both practical and written components with equal weightage. For example, technicians who have been in the field could take one exam to test their ability to trace pipelines and troubleshoot problems using a P&ID. All process and instrumentation diagrams use symbols very similar to one another so an experienced Technician should have no problem with this task. Right now, technicians rise up the ranks based on their companys requirements alone. A Senior Technician in one plant may be considered a junior tech in another or a lead tech in yet another plant. There is no standardisation. This exam system will at least give employers a snapshot of a technical workers ability with respect to his peers and can give an accurate picture to the employer so he is deployed where he will be most needed. It improves efficiency for the company and job satisfaction for the employee who knows his job will present a new set of challenges and that he will not be stuck doing the same things all over again. What do you think? Julie Chin, Balkis Rayali, Patrick Tay Teck Guan, Hasrul Passarebu, Lionel Hayashi, Md Rifae, Elysa Cheng, Priscilla Toh, Jason Chua Chin Seng, Eunice Chia-Lim
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 03:53:23 +0000
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