Growing and learning for the future - Suraiza Surani

For Ms Suraiza Surani, the social service sector has been a part of her life for the past 27 years. First joining NCSS in 1996, she has worked across the organisation in different roles, as a clerical officer in various departments since 2011, as lead executive in Social Service Institute (SSI).

Established in 2003, SSI is a Continuing Education and Training (CET) centre for social service and aims to develop skilled professionals for the sector, through partnerships with stakeholders and agility in providing relevant and quality training. As part of her role, Suraiza oversees the administration and operations of training programmes in SSI. To help social service practitioners build their learning pathways, Suraiza offers a keen listening ear to advise them on courses aligning with their interests and career goals.

As the needs of learners evolve, SSI has also transformed the way it administrates and operationalises its training courses. SSI uses the Integrated Learning management System for learning and learner management. The portal hosts e-learning content and provides end-to-end automation of learner management right from the registration of learners and courses, disseminating course information, accessing learning materials, submitting assessments, to grading and receiving feedback. To allow learners more flexibility and to streamline workflows, SSI also makes course materials available online. Training sessions are also held in both online and hybrid modes with all training materials digitalised for learners.

Suraiza takes pride in her contributions to the sector and wider society – by helping social service professionals keep up with the latest trends and developing more well-rounded practitioners with cross-cutting skillsets to meet the needs of the community and service users. Suraiza has been able to leverage on SSI’s digital transformations to better serve the needs of learners which is key to continuing professional education, and helping sector professionals continuously upgrade and grow to meet the changing needs of social service.

As SSI celebrates its 20th anniversary, it envisions a social service sector that is strengthened by a skilled and capable workforce, achieved through ongoing transformation efforts.