As an umbrella body in the active ageing landscape, C3A administers 2 national initiatives – National Silver Academy (NSA) and Silver Volunteer Fund (SVF), curating learning and volunteering opportunities that cater to different learning needs of seniors from all walks of life. Beyond the 2 initiatives, C3A is involved in curating other learning opportunities for seniors to kickstart their learning journey and to age well.
National Silver Academy (NSA) is one of the initiatives under the Action Plan for Successful Ageing. Launched in 2016, it comprises a network of post-secondary education institutions (PSEIs) and community-based organisations offering a wide range of learning opportunities subsidised for seniors aged 50 years and above to learn for interest and stay active. Most courses are also SkillsFuture Credit eligible. See the full list of courses at www.nsa.org.sg!
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Aims to encourage intergenerational bonding by pairing youths and seniors in a group learning environment.
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Conducted online and at partners' locations, bite-sized courses aim to introduce NSA to seniors in the community and allow them to get a taste of different topics. Topics include mindful caregiving, IT, financial literacy and more.
Packaged courses have been designed for seniors who are unsure of how or where to kickstart their learning journey. These packaged courses are specially curated and bundled at a discounted rate, covering different themes like digital skills, ageing well, caregiving and more.
To provide more accessible learning opportunities for seniors, NSA courses were held at Senior Activity Centres which are conveniently located in the neighbourhood.
Volunteering allows seniors to share their experience, knowledge and skills and contribute back to society. In doing so, it brings about a sense of fulfilment and meaning to their silver years. They can take up different roles such as being a befriender, facilitator, interpreter to organising activities and counselling, through various volunteer opportunities available at community organisations across Singapore.
With increasing digitalisation in today's world, technology will become a vital part in seniors’ learning journeys and their daily lives. Besides ramping up courses and resources on IT skills that seniors can tap on, C3A also held virtual roadshows so that seniors can participate in online activities and learning opportunities to stay active while staying safe at home.
The NSA e-Nuggets Series was first launched during the circuit breaker in 2020, with the purpose of keeping seniors engaged while at home and allowing them to pick up new skills along the way. Conducted on Facebook, it is a series of live talks covering wide-ranging topics from health and wellness, IT, finance and crafts. Besides picking up useful tips, seniors can post questions and comments during an interactive Q&A segment at each live talk.
0 live talks were run in FY20, garnering over 0 views (C3A's Facebook & Youtube)C3A organised two NSA Virtual Roadshows from 27 July – 2 August 2020 and 15 – 21 March 2021. The first NSA Virtual Roadshow was a first-of-its-kind 360° virtual roadshow experience where visitors could explore four different zones - Learn, Inspire, Fulfil and E-nuggets. In March 2021, we ran the second edition of the NSA Virtual Roadshow, themed “Live to Learn, Learn to Live”.
By bringing the National Silver Academy (NSA) Roadshows online, seniors got to discover learning and volunteering opportunities through virtual booths, join online talks, and play interactive games to keep active and engaged.
NSA online courses were introduced to allow seniors to learn from the comfort and safety of their homes. The array of online courses covers topics from IT, finance to language and hobbies. Participants who were less tech-savvy were guided by trainers on the setup process for online platforms such as Zoom so that they would benefit more from the learning experience.
Seniors are unique individuals with distinct characteristics and learning needs. In the longer term, C3A aims to create and facilitate more learning and volunteering opportunities that are diversified and accessible to all, as well as work closely with our partners and stakeholders to help catalyse positive changes in the active ageing landscape.
The Council for Third Age (C3A) launched the first Geragogy Guidelines on 15 March 2021 at Lifelong Learning Institute, with Ms Rahayu Mahzam, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Health, gracing the event. The guidelines were developed in collaboration with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) to enhance overall training and delivery standards for senior learning in Singapore.
The introduction of the Geragogy Guidelines is only the beginning of the journey to help enhance the senior learning landscape. Besides working with Enterprise Singapore (ESG) for the guidelines to become a National Standard, C3A will look into having more training sessions to help more trainers in the market, and encourage trainers and organisations to adopt the guidelines.
The C3A website is a one-stop digital resource platform which aggregates senior-related news, activities, deals and schemes to cater to the needs and interests of seniors.
In order to enchance the user experience of the C3A website, it will be revamped with a brand new look and new features. These include a convenient access to senior-related learning and volunteering resources, improved search filters, course comparison and a personalised user experience.
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