I refer to the article, “Workers need help to identify skills they lack, but info is scarce: Experts” (Nov 8). SkillsFuture chief executive Tan Kok Yam said the agency will work on empowering individuals to help them find out what skills they need to learn.

Speech and drama programmes are offered at many different educational institutions, including pre-schools, primary schools and special education schools.

The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) and Lasalle College of the Arts offer training courses that let participants earn a teaching certificate in speech and drama. The two courses are subsidised and can be paid for using SkillsFuture credits.

But while Lasalle’s course requires participants with no experience in or understanding of speech and drama to enrol in a separate pre-foundation course first, Nafa’s course has no prerequisites, so anyone can sign up regardless of experience.

After several checks with Nafa, I learnt that its course is a hybrid programme with Zoom sessions, and any study materials provided are uploaded to Google Drive and a WhatsApp group chat.

As part of the assessment, students are expected to pen their own notes in the form of learning journals during the lessons, submit lesson plans and schemes of work, and carry out micro-teaching.

Would 16 of these weekly sessions be able to turn a novice into a certified speech and drama teacher? This should be addressed so that applicants can make informed decisions, and to protect the interest of future students.

Irene Fong