Forum: Help adults overcome pressing issues in lifelong learning

I refer to the commentary “Why not take a shot at your degree or diploma in your 30s?” (Oct 18).

In my years of academic lecturing and training adult learners in skills upgrading, I often come across a few pressing issues that are raised regularly by the learners.

Unlike formal schooling during the formative years of an individual, lifelong learning among adult learners occurs in a heterogeneous environment with many variables at play: access structures (for example, qualification and age), characteristics (duration, funding), and benefits (job security, increase in income).

Adult learners often have to overcome many obstacles before completing their learning journey. A support group manned by peers who have completed similar learning journeys could provide much-needed reassurance and guidance.

Some employers also think that since senior workers have a “shorter runway” in their remaining work life when compared with younger workers, there will be less time to amortise the costs of training older workers.

It is also a common misconception that senior workers are more resistant to change, and thus not receptive to upskilling.

Research has found that companies that retain older workers with the relevant skill sets will gain a competitive edge due to an increased demand for skilled workers against a backdrop of an ageing population and the tightening of foreign work passes.

According to research, adult learners who resume their academic or skills upgrading journey after a long hiatus from formal education, when confronted with a structured pathway to learning, are likely to adopt a survivalist approach and resort to rote learning.

Consequently, learning will be geared towards passing assessments rather than attaining knowledge. Therefore, the methodology for knowledge transfer must go beyond the pure science of teaching adults. Due to their wealth of experience, adult learners expect more than just a rote learning-based curriculum.

Studies suggest that artificial intelligence and robots could potentially eliminate 20 million jobs around the world by 2030. This rather ominous figure does not bode well for the average Singaporean worker, already facing intense competition from workers in developing countries who could be asking for a quarter of the average Singaporean worker’s wages to perform similar tasks.

Skills upgrading could be one way of fortifying Singaporean workers against the relentless onslaught of technological advancement and globalisation.

Jason Goh