We develop everything a training course needs, the lesson plans, the slides, the trainer and learner guides, and the assessments. Then we prepare and submit it for SWDA's review, and stay on hand for every query it raises.
Curriculum is skilled work that ends on paper. Structure is what holds a course up over time, and structure is what an auditor reads first.
Every funded course in Singapore takes one of three routes, each asking for different evidence. Choosing the right one is the first decision, and we make it with you before development begins.
Examinable programmes accredited under the Workforce Skills Qualifications framework, mapped to the Skills Framework and eligible for Tier 2 funding. Since 1 May 2026, new courses sit within the sharpened WSQ 2.0 scope described below.
Examinable courses with clear learning outcomes, built for employment or upgrading. To qualify, a course must address an industry skills shortage, must not be an academic degree course, and must meet SWDA's Adult Educator Qualifications Requirements.
Short, employment-relevant programmes that sit outside the WSQ framework but address an identified industry skills need, for company-sponsored or self-sponsored learners.
Under SWDA memorandum SIPD/2026/2, the WSQ 2.0 scope took effect on 1 May 2026 and the moratorium on new courses lifted with it. The framework now rewards two things, training tied to regulatory and safety standards, and credentials that carry across employers.
The change has teeth. Whitelisted courses keep their accreditation; those left off lose the WSQ designation when their funding validity ends. New courses face a higher bar, an endorsement from the sector's Course Endorsement Body, or confirmation that a full qualification sits within scope.
What this means for you. Whether a course belongs in WSQ 2.0, crosses to the non-WSQ route, or was never a WSQ matter is now a design decision, made with you at scoping, in writing.
Since 1 April 2026, every adult educator who trains or assesses on an SWDA-funded certifiable course must meet the qualifications threshold that has long applied to WSQ. The threshold has two parts.
Adult educators assigned to the course must be registered with the National Adult Educator Registry, managed by the Institute for Adult Learning at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Each AE who trains or assesses must hold the WSQ Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment, the WSQ Advanced Certificate in Learning and Performance (ACLP 2.0), or an equivalent recognised by SWDA at its sole discretion.
The requirements have applied to SWDA-funded non-WSQ certifiable courses since 1 January 2021, and were refined under SWDA Circular MIPD/2026/2, effective 1 April 2026. Assessors read the trainer file at every audit.
IAL operates Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and Credit Exemption pathways. We assist long-standing practitioners in assembling the evidence to be recognised under them.
2birds keeps a working community of credentialled Adult Educators. Where your project cannot be matched from our community, we source candidates through the usual recruitment channels, and prepare the supporting evidence for SWDA.
Each form has its own route through TPGateway. We prepare a complete and accurate submission, then stay on hand for SWDA's clarifications until the review is closed.
We sit with you to understand the learner, the sector and the standard. From this we draw a single competency map, to the Technical Skills and Competencies of the relevant Skills Framework, or to the Course Approval Skills List where the course sits outside WSQ. The map holds the rest of the programme together.
We draft the Course Proposal (CP) Form, lesson and assessment plans, trainer guide and learner materials, all version-controlled and submission-ready. Every assessment instrument traces back to the competency map, which is precisely what the Course Quality Check reads for.
Where required, we pair the course with adult educators who meet the SWDA AE Qualifications and are registered on the National AE Registry, and we prepare the supporting evidence file that SWDA expects to sight.
We submit the course through TPGateway with a written submission guide, and remain on hand for SWDA's clarifications until the review is complete. Where the review returns queries, the response is drafted by the people who developed the courseware.
It begins with a scoping consultation, where a Partner or the Founder sits with you to confirm the course and its standing on the CASL. An Associate then drafts your courseware in full, a Partner reviews and improves the draft against SWDA standards, and the Founder gives the final sign-off before submission. When auditors raise queries, the Partner answers them and the Founder assesses the merit of each point raised. On approval, the Partner and Associate finalise every document, and the Creative Producer provides one artwork for your course advertisement in a digital format.
A curriculum project leaves behind printed instruments, not a slide deck. At its narrowest, the Course Proposal Form, the lesson and assessment plans, and the trainer guide. At its broadest, for a full WSQ pathway, the competency map, assessment rubrics, trainer reference pack and moderation procedures.
Every artefact carries a version line and change log, and every assessment traces back to the competency map, and from there to the approved Course Application. This is what the Course Quality Check reads for, and what holds a programme together long after the first cohort. Where a project calls for it, marketing collateral is included at no extra charge.
Every engagement covers the complete set, developed in-house by our own developers and built to satisfy SWDA's approval standards.
We lock the course concept, the target sector and the CASL fit together.
The service agreement is executed, naming the deliverables and the schedule.
The Course Proposal and the course developer CVs are released to you.
Once SWDA approves the course, the slides, the Assessment Plan and the facilitator and learner guides are handed over.
Where we cannot match a sector from our own community of subject-matter experts, the training provider sources the SME. We do not subcontract the courseware itself.
The CASL is SWDA's register of the skills that support good growth jobs. For a non-WSQ course to draw Tier 2 funding, at least half the skills it delivers must appear here. Browse it below, pin what you are weighing, and send us your working list.
By end June 2026 the CASL Dashboard is replaced by the Integrated Insights Tool on the Jobs-Skills Portal, folding the skills list into a wider labour-market view. Learn more here ↗
Every approved skill, grouped into fourteen sectors. The grouping is our own reading, not an SWDA classification. Select a sector to filter the register below.
All 369 approved skills are searchable below. Each one is a course we can develop for you, from learning outcomes through to funding submission. Pin what you are weighing, then send the list across.
A place on the CASL means SWDA will consider a course proposal against the skill. Whether the course fills a classroom is a different question. These are the three readings we take before any courseware is developed.
The chart above shows where the register concentrates. The sectors holding the deepest bench of approved skills are where SWDA has opened the most approval lanes, a useful first proxy for demand.
A listing is an approval lane, not an audience. Who pays for the course, and how often the skill renews, decide whether it fills. We test this with you at scoping.
The course you can credibly deliver beats the course with the largest market. Your AE bench, assessment capacity and track record set how fast you reach a first cohort, and how well it withstands TPQA.
Pin skills to a working list as you browse, then send it across. We reply with a frank assessment of marketability and the right funding route, within two working days.
Before any curriculum is developed, the course has to qualify for support. SWDA funds a Tier 2 course through one of two routes, and we advise on the right one at scoping. Current as at 1 July 2026.
For courses built on skills from the register above. No endorsement from a Course Endorsement Body or sector agency is required, and at least half the skills the course delivers must appear on the CASL.
For courses built from the relevant Skills Framework and offered in WSQ or non-WSQ form. The sector's Course Endorsement Body must endorse the proposal before any course application is submitted, and it may request further information before it does. Endorsement is not a guarantee of funding. SWDA makes the final eligibility assessment, audits the application as part of it, and funds an approved course at the 50 or 70 percent support level.
Both routes lead to Tier 2 funding, subject to an enrolment cap of 200 places for face-to-face delivery or 350 places online. On reaching the cap, SWDA runs two checks before the funding is renewed.
SWDA notifies the provider, and the documents listed in the notification are furnished, including the following.
Four measures, read across the course's funding validity period.
The enrolment cap is lifted, and the course continues to be funded for the remainder of its validity period.
A 30-day grace period follows, in which the course is taught out.
A WSQ or non-WSQ course is endorsed by the CEB for its sector. Twelve are appointed, per the SWDA list updated 22 April 2026.
The team has developed, and secured funding approval for, close to one hundred courses.
Where the difference shows, read alongside a typical curriculum vendor.
A typical curriculum vendor describes the common market alternative, not any particular provider.
2birds is led by Keith Ho, founder, in-house legal counsel and courseware developer. He took Adept Academy to a Grade 1 rating at the Training Provider Quality Assessment, an outcome awarded to fewer than one in ten providers in the industry, and he remains the Singapore Productivity Centre's preferred curriculum development partner. At the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants he worked with the Civil Service College to co-develop ethics modules for the public sector, and his earlier career in learning and development was spent at TungLok Restaurants and The St Regis Singapore. Read the full profile.
This register reproduces, for ease of reference only, selected fields drawn from the Course Approval Skills List (the "CASL") as published and amended from time to time by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency ("SWDA") on TPGateway. It is an unofficial working aid. It possesses no official standing and confers no right, benefit or legitimate expectation of any kind. In the event of any inconsistency between this register and the CASL as officially published, the latter shall prevail in all respects.
This register is furnished strictly on an "as is" and "as available" basis. 2birds makes no representation, and gives no warranty or undertaking of any kind, whether express, implied or statutory, including as to the accuracy, completeness, currency or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented. All skill titles, descriptions and effective dates remain liable to amendment by SWDA at any time and without notice.
The "industry" and "intended participants" fields, together with all counts, rankings and market observations derived from them, represent the editorial interpretation of 2birds and are provided solely as an aid to navigation. They carry no regulatory significance, are not SWDA classifications, and must not be relied upon as such. The appearance of a skill in this register does not signify that a course is, or will be, eligible for funding or approved by SWDA, such approval residing at all times in the sole and absolute discretion of SWDA, nor does it constitute an endorsement or recommendation by 2birds. Nothing in this register constitutes legal, financial, regulatory or other professional advice.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, 2birds disclaims and excludes all liability for any loss, damage, cost or expense, whether direct, indirect or consequential, howsoever arising, suffered by any person acting or refraining from acting in reliance upon this register. The responsibility for verifying every particular against the officially published register, before acting, rests in every case with the reader alone.
Most courses reach submission in six to ten weeks, depending on the funding route and how quickly we can sit with your subject-matter expert. SWDA's own review then takes its course. The proposal you sign names the schedule, and we keep to it.
It is useful, but not required. Where you have an expert, we work with them. Where you do not, we pair the course with one from our own community, and we prepare the evidence SWDA expects about their qualifications.
We answer them. Clarifications are part of every submission, and the response is drafted by the same people who developed the courseware, which is why it comes back in days rather than weeks. This is included in the engagement, not billed as an extra.
That is the point of how we build. Every assessment traces back to the competency map, every document carries a version line, and the whole set is arranged the way the Course Quality Check reads it. Auditors are calmer when the paperwork already speaks their language.
Tell us the course you have in mind, and we will tell you the form, the funding route and the fee, candidly, within two working days.
