We Are Here for the Children

The early years are important years when it comes to the development of children. As part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to uplift the preschool sector, the Ministry of Education (MOE) set up the National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC) in 2019 – that’s us!

Since opening our doors, we have poured ourselves into raising the standard of preschool educator training, working together with our key partners, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) and MOE. We offer courses taught by lecturers with deep early childhood (EC) expertise, and serve students at various points in their EC career. As the national training institute for EC educators in Singapore, our mission, vision, and values are our cornerstone.

EC Training, the NIEC Way

Quality Courses by Experts in Early Childhood

Being a preschool educator is a privileged profession, and the mission to care for and educate young minds calls for specialised skills and professionalism, in addition to a big heart. From the beginning, we have worked to enhance the EC courses we offer, ensuring that our content reflects latest industry practices, is practice-oriented, and caters to a myriad of learners at different stages in their EC journey. 

Our robust curriculum is informed by national direction and specialist input in various EC areas. We ensure that our courses are aligned to MOE’s Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) Framework and the Skills Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education jointly developed by ECDA and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG).

Of course, a top-class line-up of courses is nothing without stellar lecturers to deliver it. Our lecturers serve to impart EC knowledge, and are excellent role models who are able to tap onto their deep familiarity with the sector to engage, stimulate and inspire students. 

To allow our lecturers to continue to be inspirational guides for our students, we constantly extend opportunities to develop our faculty’s EC training capabilities. With our wide range of EC training resources, our lecturers are able to try their hand in different niche areas, or even specialise in their expertise of choice, allowing them to continually design, test, and refine our EC courses for the Singapore context.

Through our training, we develop individuals to be a Reflective Practitioner, a Relationship Builder, and a Resilient Learner to thrive and grow in the EC sector.

Our Unique Family

Our diverse range of EC courses – whether at certificate, diploma or post-diploma level, for pre-service or in-service educators – attract profiles that are equally varied, making the NIEC fraternity full of zest!

In our first year, we served over 2,500 students in our full-qualification courses, made up of post-secondary students, mid-careerists and existing EC educators. We also offered Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses to over 2,300 existing educators looking to upgrade and deepen their professional expertise. Our student fraternity includes:

Pre-service Educators 
We provide foundational training for pre-service educators, with our courses having the same quality and content, regardless of the campus that the students are in. Our pre-service educators are either post-secondary students or mid-careerists. 

• POST-SECONDARY STUDENTS

  Post-secondary students who take up full-time courses in our NIEC (ITE), NIEC (NP) or NIEC (TP) campus have “dual-identity”, where they are both a student of NIEC and the poly/ITE they enrol in. Their vibrant life on campus includes access to campus facilities, student support services and overseas opportunities too!

   

  In 2019, we warmly welcomed our first batch of post-secondary students into our new harmonised Diploma in Early Childhood Development & Education (ECDE), offered at NIEC (NP) and NIEC (TP), and the Higher Nitec in Early Childhood Education (ECE).

• MID-CAREERISTS
  For mid-career switchers just embarking on their EC journey, they can take up our courses under Workforce Singapore’s (WSG) Career Conversion Programme, allowing them to work and study at the same time. On top of securing a spot in an EC centre, under this programme, mid-careerists can enjoy full course sponsorship and draw a salary from their employers while they train with us.

In-service Educators 

In-service educators (or existing educators) can deepen and upgrade their EC skills with our post-diplomas and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses. 

In-service educators now have more courses tailored them to gain knowledge in niche EC areas. These include the below courses that were launched recently, and more courses in other specialised areas are on their way!

• Chinese language versions of the Advanced Certificate in Early Years (ACEY) (with exemptions) and the DECCE-T (Conversion)
• Post-diploma Certificates in Preschool Mother Tongue Language (MTL) Teaching - Malay, Tamil, and Chinese
• Outdoor Learning CPD courses in English and Chinese for EC educators and centre leaders

Working with Strategic Partners

Finally, we cannot do what we do without the close relationships we’ve forged with important strategic partners. Collaborating with ECDA, our training is shaped by national directions to better serve the sector. We work closely with them to address training needs in different areas to strengthen the capabilities of preschool educators in the centres.

In addition, engaging operators, and organisations such as Workforce Singapore (WSG) and Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) have put us closer to the ground when it comes to understanding the EC landscape. We align ourselves with sector insights, achieved through regular feedback sessions and centre visits. This in turn fuels our ability to review our courses to remain updated and ensures that the educators we train are equipped for the evolving roles in the sector.

We also team up with e2i and WSG to connect with mid-careerists looking to switch to a career in EC, while NP/TP/ITE and MOE’s Education and Career Guidance Counsellors bridge us to post-secondary students interested in pursuing EC after their diploma.

Working with the National Institute of Education (NIE), we leverage their branding and expertise as a teacher training institute, collaborating closely to strengthen resources in research, training and education, and share faculty expertise. Our Headquarters are strategically positioned within their premises in the Nanyang Technological University campus.

Shaping our Future

The NIEC path is still being paved, with ongoing and future plans in place to further uplift preschool educator training. The dynamism of the EC sector inspires us to be nimble with our approach to serve, guide and develop preschool educators -- for the good of our children.