Post-Secondary Students
it takes a big heart To shape Little Minds
Whether you are a graduating or current secondary school student exploring your career choices, early childhood education would definitely be a meaningful journey where you get to help future generations build a strong foundation for learning.
Here’s a guide to NIEC’s early childhood courses and the early childhood sector to help you kickstart this meaningful journey! If you have a child considering a career as an early childhood educator, we’ve got a handy guide to help you support them too.
More Reasons To Join The Sector
Growing Demand for Early Childhood Educators
The 24,000-strong early childhood workforce will require over 2,500 more educators by 2025.
Great Career Progression
With the right qualifications and competencies, you can go on to be in leadership positions.
Support from the Government
The Government’s annual spending on the sector has increased from $1 billion in 2018 to $1.8 billion in 2021 and is expected to double over the next few years.
What Makes A Good Early Childhood Educator?
Our Courses
We conduct our early childhood courses in collaboration with Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) and Temasek Polytechnic (TP) at the NIEC (ITE), NIEC (NP) and NIEC (TP) campuses respectively.
This means that you get to be a student of both NIEC and your chosen ITE or Polytechnic. Regardless of which campus you choose, you will receive the same quality training and will graduate with a certification/diploma recognised by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA).
Click through to learn more about our courses!
What’s Life As An NIEC Student Like?
Hear more from our students about our campuses!
Student Testimonials
The theories behind early childhood are so interesting! It amazes me how different theories explain children’s behaviour and how it might affect their future. I want this generation to be even better than ours!
One of my favourite parts about being in NIEC is having schoolmates not just from my campus, but from NIEC (ITE) and NIEC (TP) too! We get to exchange tips and notes about what we learn from each other!
PRACTICUM & INTERNSHIPS
Practicums and internships are where you get field experience in early childhood centres. I really enjoy being in the centre as you get a feel of what being a preschool educator is like and you get to put what you learn to use in a real-life setting!
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Our campuses have infant care practice stations and dedicated rooms for modules such as Music & Movement and even Motor Skills Development! This allows us to learn in really authentic environments, with equipment that exist in preschools too!
EXPERIENCED LECTURERS
Despite how busy they are, my lecturers always make time for me, especially when I have one too many questions about my assignments! They come with a wealth of EC experience and are so open to share their personal experiences, relating it to what we learn in school.
VIBRANT CAMPUS LIFE
While I receive EC training, I get to enjoy the campus necessities such as the canteens, book stores and even the skateboard park and BBQ pits! I also love having friends from courses outside of EC!
EC educators can progress into diverse roles. Here’s the breadown of starting salary ranges for EC educators:
*The information is gathered from ECDA’s press release, 29 Oct 2022. The above is an indication of the expected gross monthly starting salary ranges for EC educators in Anchor Operator (AOP) centers by 2024.
A career in early childhood education can blossom into many possibilities! This includes Center Leaders, Special Needs Educators, Child Support and Family Services , Curriculum Specialist and many more! Visit here for more information.
Graduates of our diploma programmes are also eligible to apply for full-time degree programmes offered by the Autonomous Universities (AUs) or overseas universities. You may find the full university accreditation list here. Additionally, you can take up NIEC’s post-diplomas or continuing professional development courses to continue upgrading yourself!
Get your course fully sponsored and receive monthly allowance under the ECDA Training Award!
Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents enroled for our early childhood courses can enjoy perks like course sponsorship, grants for study-related expenses and professional development and networking opportunities. Read more for the full details here.
The ECDA training award has helped me to cope financially with my daily expenses as a student and also there are personal development and coaching classes that I have attended which has benefitted me in terms of knowledge wise.
What Our Graduates Have To Say...
As a preschool educator, our roles and responsibilities are definitely beyond routine care! I teach lessons which are integrated in subject areas such as Numeracy and Language & Literacy. I even help them develop their fine motor skills!
I will never get bored of [being a preschool educator]! The children bring me so much joy and challenges each day, no day is the same as before. I love dramatic storytelling and I’m looking to find different ways to engage children through fun and animated storytelling. That is one path I want to discover too!
When Do You Apply?
Graduating O-Level Students
Graduating N-Level Students
Graduating ITE Students
Applicants who are ineligible to apply through the above admissions exercises may apply under the Direct Admissions Exercise (DAE) for admission to our full-time diploma courses. For more information, you may visit:
