Temasek Aviation Academy takes off under Singapore's SkillsFuture movement

The first two batches of trainees under the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme (ELP) for the Aerospace Engineering Sector received their course completion certificates at the official launch of the Temasek Aviation Academy on Friday (Jan 8). 

The 12-month programme targets fresh graduates from the polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education, and aims to offer them an accelerated career progression as qualified technicians in the aerospace sector.

Trainees undergo a two-month WSQ Higher Certificate in Aerospace course at Temasek Polytechnic before going for on-the-job training for 10 months. 

All 14 trainees from the first two batches are from Rolls-Royce Singapore. The first batch of nine trainees started their programme in August 2015.

The 6,000sqm facility at Temasek Polytechnic houses aircraft technical training workshops, an aircraft-access hangar and unmanned aerial vehicle development facilities, among others, all under one roof. Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo, who gave out the certificates on Friday, also toured the facilities. 

An aircraft parked at Temasek Aviation Academy. (Photo: Chan Luo Er)

The academy will train both diploma students and working adults with the aim of meeting the manpower needs of Singapore's growing aerospace industry. At present, the nation's aviation sector generates over 6 per cent of GDP and employs an estimated 55,000 people.

Those who attended the academy's opening said it is not just the technical skills that matter. 

"Communication is key in the aviation industry because on your shift, you can only complete certain operations and for handover, you need proper communication. And with a breakdown in communication, you are unable to carry out the engine process efficiently," said SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme trainee Siti Mariani Ahmad Dawood.

Mrs Teo said the programme is designed to allow students to learn in a different way. "Designing the training to cultivate active learning is in itself a challenge, because it is less prescriptive than what we are used to. Instead of telling a person exactly what to do - where you have a manual, step 1 to step 10 - instead of just doing that, the programme must now inspire a deep understanding of the key principles to be applied again and again with adaptation, because the technologies and the tools to enable productivity improvement may be different," she said. 

Temasek Polytechnic started its aviation and aerospace programmes in 2003.