Center on Education and Work Collaborates with Singapore Educators
January 31, 2012
Students and schools in Singapore are benefiting from research from the UW-Madison’s Center on Education and Work. In February 2009 the Singapore Ministry of Education adapted CEW’s WISCareers and CareerLocker online career-information systems for use in Singapore schools.
WISCareers and CareerLocker are designed to help youth and adults identify their interests, skills, and values; to apply their unique patterns of interests, skills and values in the world of work; and to develop job-seeking skills to acquire meaningful employment. Here’s the site as adapted for Singapore schools.
CEW staff have visited Singapore, provided training with the local schools, and witnessed the positive response of students and teachers to the system. Fran Breit, Associate Director for Career Information Systems at CEWsays it’s been “an incredible opportunity” to work with Singapore educators, who engage in world-class educational innovations.
A “Personal Globe Inventory” helps students gauge their interest and confidence levels in a range of activities. Base on their interest patterns, users receive a list of occupation choices and information on the nature of these occupations. Students receive to a list of relevant courses offered by local and overseas institutions of higher education. Students can retrieve and review their own e-portfolios, which include personal profiles and education and career information.
eCareers.sg is accessible from home and schools. Teachers, career guidance coordinators and school counselors use it to help students clarify their goals; identify their strengths, career options, and educational opportunities, and then guide them toward their career aspirations.
This resource has earned acclaim. In 2009, the eCareers.sg site received two international awards for being one of the top IT applications in the ASEAN region.
Breit says the ideas generated from the Singapore collaboration has provided CEW with new ways to conduct outreach and training. This project has inspired new features for theWISCareers, including a new elementary-level version that will benefit the 600,000 Wisconsin students and adults who use the system each year.
For more than 35 years, Wisconsin Careers has provided teachers and counselors across Wisconsin and the U.S. with career-related curriculum resources. More about WISCareers is available here.
