National career framework for social workers launched

SINGAPORE — With social workers sometimes crossing over from one speciality to another, such as from working with families to working in healthcare, a new framework seeks to offer clarity on the common competencies found across the various settings, and put an end to disputes over whether skillsets are transferable.

Speaking to reporters at the launch of the framework at the Social Service Institute, Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin said: “We have had different competency frameworks and different areas of speciality. But as we began to evolve the space and try to professionalise it a lot more, we realised that there was actually a need for us to harmonise the work across the different areas of speciality, because social workers share a lot more in common than not.”

Within the Government, there is often overlap, particularly between the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and Ministry of Health (MOH) “because you can’t look at health issues without the social issues”, he added.

Ms Chee Liee Chin, the co-chair of the Steering Committee and a senior principal social worker at MSF, said: “Over time, (we) recognised that it’s important to recognise the training and skills of a social worker, even as they move from one sub-sector to another, and we should not be penalising those who decide that they want to experience working in a different setting.”

Her co-chair, Jurong Health Services head of medical social services Long Chey May, noted that there have been grouses over the transferability of skills and knowledge within the sector. “But essentially, we realised … as you move from one setting, for example from the Family Service Centre to a healthcare setting or vice versa, we can have very similar competencies,” she said. 

The framework, supported by the MSF, MOH and the National Council of Social Service, will help human resources departments in social work organisations to recognise these common competencies, said Ms Long. An estimated 1,600-plus social workers are expected to benefit from it. 

For a start, Ms Chee hopes to have at least six organisations adopt the framework. It spells out 80 per cent of the knowledge and skills needed by social workers. The remaining 20 per cent are specific to specialised fields. 

Social workers can refer to the framework to identify their development needs, and address these gaps through on-the-job experiences, coaching and mentoring, and short courses. 

Complementing the framework is a new five-day programme — offered by the Social Service Institute with the MSF and MOH — catering to social workers with less than two years’ experience. The programme, which kicked off on Monday, gives participants an overview of social work within the social service and healthcare sectors, and the relevant government policies, schemes and resources for their work. Other courses are being developed and will be launched gradually over the next year.

Social workers were supportive of the new framework. “There’s a misconception that we’ll be stagnant once we’re in this, and it’s hard to move on to other sectors of social work,” said Ms Noorhayati Md Taib, 28, a social worker in prison support services. “I’m glad to see this — it instils confidence in the sector.”