SINGAPORE - A national training scheme which focuses on industry-specific skills will help those who have completed basic studies at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and polytechnics deepen their knowledge and progress in their careers.

Under the scheme, frameworks will be drawn to specify the industry-relevant skills required for workers to advance, and can be used to establish benchmarks for hiring and promoting workers.

Courses developed under this training scheme should be based on industry-wide standards. This will ensure that the skills are recognised by all companies in a sector and give workers greater job mobility.

This is a key recommendation in a report by the Applied Study in Polytechnics and ITE Review (Aspire) committee. The committee said on Monday that the training programmes should also cover all job levels so that workers can deepen their skills to take on bigger job roles.The training should be conducted in modular courses which workers can take up while working.

This training scheme will build upon the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) system by national training body the Singapore Workforce Development Agency. Since 2005, 34 WSQ frameworks have been developed, but they do not cover all sectors.