Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has been the backbone of Singapore’s push to build an industrialised workforce and is currently responsible for the post-secondary education of 65% of its Primary 1 cohort. Admissions to polytechnics increased from 5% of Primary 1 cohort in 1980 to 40% today while the Institute of Technical Education takes in 25% of this cohort. Under the current nation-wide comprehensive SkillsFuture Singapore initiative, skills acquisition seems to have replaced academic qualifications to become a new byword in Singapore’s education landscape. This paper traces the development of Singapore’s TVET into the current SkillsFuture epoch to analyse the tensions that have been wrought amongst knowledge, skills, habitus and curriculum frameworks. The role and place of vocational education, and its affordance and constraints within the wider hierarchy of what counts as valuable education in Singapore are also explored as questions here, including the complexities and issues around equal opportunities and social mobility, broader talent development, and the formation of life-long learners. © 2020 National Institute of Education, Singapore.
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