On September 09, 2019, the Philippines and Singapore signed a Memorandum of Understanding among the Department of Trade and Industry, TESDA, and SkillsFuture Singapore during the celebration of 50th Year of Diplomatic Relations between the two countries. Both nations agreed to collaborate in enhancing the skills of Philippine workers to prepare the country for the requirements of Industry 4.0, specifically through (i) sharing of information, relevant frameworks and competency standards, policies and best practices; (ii) conduct of training programs, certification, and capability transfer projects, and (iii) support of human capital development, among others. This MOU signing became the cornerstone which precipitated the creation of the Philippine Skills Frameworks.

What are the Philippine Skills Frameworks?

The Philippine Skills Frameworks  are essentially a written plan, usually consisting of matrices, that put together information on employment, career pathways, occupations, job roles, and existing and emerging skills and competencies.   It is a reference guide on how the various stakeholders can make use of the information and choose, if you will, even mix and match in different ways, the various components.  It is like a baseline or a snapshot in time, of the career paths, jobs, competencies, and skills. From them, relevant education and training programs are created.  

The relevance of the Philippine Skills Frameworks is that they are, in a sense, the “voice of industry” and constitute a new industry standard that enhances and  improves the career and expertise development of the Philippine workforce, in each particular industry.  Functional PSFs in cross-sectoral areas also exist, such as Business Development and Human Capital Development, and will be created to improve performance in these areas that cut across industries and can be found in almost all organizations.

The stakeholders who can benefit from the PSFs are numerous:

(1) Individuals – They are equipped to make informed decisions about career choices, as well as take responsibility for personal skills upgrading and career planning.  

(2) Companies and Employers –  These can assess their logistics manpower requirements and can modify their guidelines for work performance for purposes of recruitment, hiring, job rotation and promotion.

(3) Schools and Training Institutions – They are able to educate students and learners about the  needs of industry  as well as make curricula for the learning of required skills and competencies that are more aligned to industry needs.

(4) Government – They are more aware of relevant industry skills needs and can thus craft policies that are aligned and attuned to meeting these needs.

Eleven completed PSFs currently exist, which were undertaken by various government agencies, industry associations, and ten of them, with Thames International as the private sector academe partner responsible for developing and managing the process.  These PSFs are, namely:

Sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry, with their launch dates:

(1) Philippine Skills Framework for Supply Chain and Logistics ( PSF-SCL ):  June 2021

(2) Philippine Skills Framework for Digital Art and Animation ( PSF-DAA ):  March 2022

(3) Philippine Skills Framework for Game Development  ( PSF-GDE ):  March 2022

(4) Philippine Skills Framework for Business Development  ( PSF-BDE ):   December 2021

(5) Philippine Skills Framework for Human Capital Development  ( PSF-HCD ):  May 2022

Sponsored by the Department of Information and Communication Technology, with their launch date:

(6)  Philippine Skills Framework for Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (PSF-AAI):  May 2024

(7) Philippine Skills Framework for Software Development and Security (PSF-SDS):  May 2024

(8) Philippine Skills Framework for Contact Center and BPM (PSF – CCB):  May 2024

(9) Philippine Skills Framework for Global In-House Center (PSF – GIC):  May 2024

(10) Philippine Skills Framework for Healthcare Information Management (PSF- HIM):  May 2024