SkillsFuture Study Awards for the Social Service Sector

Overview

In keeping with the government’s aim to nurture lifelong learners, SSI aims to help our learners develop and deepen specialist skills or nurture other professional competencies that will enable them to increase their societal impact.

As a social service professional, you must be able to:

• Anticipate and plan for changing needs.

• Mobilise community resources.

• Provide integrated and holistic solutions.

• Work with policy-makers to improve social programmes and policies.

With the SkillsFuture Study Award, we empower you to do just that.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for the SkillsFuture Study Award, you must:

• Be a Singapore citizen.

• Have at least two years of full-time social service sector work experience. This can be accumulated across different years.

• Currently hold or have held a position in one of the key social service professions (e.g. Counsellor, Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC) Teacher, Psychologist, Social Worker, Therapist or in managerial or support positions such as a Social Work Associate, Social Service Assistant etc.)

• Not be a previous SkillsFuture Study Award recipient.

• Be committed to deepening skills that are relevant to the social service sector.

• Preferably be employed by an NCSS member SSA or MSF-funded SSA.

• Public Officers are not eligible for the Skillsfuture Study Award. Public officers are encouraged to apply for the in-house schemes instead of the Skillsfuture Study Award.

• Have a good track record in contributing to the learning and development of yourself and/or others.

• Demonstrate good work performance, possess a spirit of self-improvement and upgrading, as well as a commitment to the social service sector.

• Individuals on the Professional Development and Management Programme (PDMP), Leadership Development Programme (LDP), Sabbatical Leave Scheme (SLS) or Scholarship Scheme can apply for the SkillsFuture Study Award only after serving out the bond/minimum service Period. Applicants must declare upfront that they are recipients of PDMP, LDP, SLS or Scholarship Scheme.

• Be undertaking the programme or course at the point of application and the programme or course completion date is at least six months from the date of application.

Applicants who meet the above mentioned criteria can also be nominated for the award by their employers.

Courses eligible under the SkillsFuture Study Award

The SkillsFuture Study Award only supports courses or academic programmes that have a course fee of $2,500 and above and which falls under one or more of the following categories shown below.

• Courses are conducted by SSI and/or are funded by VWOs-Charities Capability Fund (VCF).

• Courses are identified by your SSA. This is applicable to candidates who are nominated by their employers.

• Courses lead to a recognised social service qualification (i.e. WSQ Diploma in Social Service, Bachelor of Social Work, Graduate Diploma in Social Work etc.)

How to Apply

Applicants will be required to submit their application online via SSG’s Application Management system (AMS).

The application period is open every quarter, unless stated otherwise. Refer to the table below for details on the application, processing and disbursement period.

Evaluation & Outcome

Your application will be processed and evaluated after the application period for the quarter has ended. You will be informed about the application outcome approximately 4 to 6 weeks from the application closing date. Completed applications will be processed based on the eligibility criteria and on a first come first serve basis.

Incomplete applications or applications without supporting documents will not be processed. Shortlisted applicants will be notified via email.

Contact Us

To find out more about the SkillsFuture Study Award, visit the SkillsFuture website .

Alternatively, you can email us at Skillsfuture_Study_Awards@ncss.gov.sg for any enquiries. You will receive a response to your enquiry within three working days.