National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore

Important Note:
Visit our Open House on 1 March 2014. Click here for details.

Details

The Doctor in Education (EdD) programme, one of NIE's latest university-approved programmes, is designed for professionals in education and education-related fields, who would like to extend their expertise and training and develop skills in research, evaluation and reflection on practice. It is of value to academic staff in universities and colleges, school teachers and professionals working in international organisations. It is also suitable for senior administrators in schools, universities and educational and government bodies. It has the rigour and expectations of a PhD, but with a professional focus. One of the major aims of the EdD is to develop professional leaders who are able to identify and solve complex "field based" problems. Professional doctorates stress the application of research, development of professional knowledge and creation of knowledge within the profession.

NIE's EdD programme, benchmarked against educational doctorates from international universities with highly reputable graduate schools of education, has the following key design and delivery characteristics:

• A view of learning as located within communities of knowledge and practice, through the deliberate building of a cohort community among students,
• A teaching programme with a clear purpose and coherence,  staged in such a way that it takes students' rich and diverse professional knowledge and expertise as a starting point for their academic investigations into professional practice, and scaffolds, through carefully staged and incrementally organized coursework and assignments, their capabilities to critically examine and to research dimensions of this practice,
• A course-intensive programme (in which the coursework component makes up a substantial portion of the degree) that prepares students for, and eases the passage into dissertation research,
• Rather than a one-size-fits-all curriculum, the provision of flexibility, choice and focus through a programme that offers both core courses as well as four concentrations (Learning & Motivation, Curriculum & Teaching, Educational Leadership & Change and Technologies & Technology-Mediated Learning Environments),
• Both extended (i.e. 12 week) and compressed (two weeks intensive in inter-semester) course delivery, ensuring that the coursework component can be completed within one-and-a half years (full-time) and two years (part-time), and that the necessary content and research capacities for the dissertation component have already been built up by the time the final course is completed, so that the degree can be realistically finished within three or three-and-a-half years, and
• A capstone project in the form of a dissertation that demonstrates students' mastery of the skills of rigorous and in-depth research into their professional context and a specific aspect of their practice, and provides original insight and improvement in practice.

Entry Requirements

1. You must hold a Bachelor's and Master's degree with good grades from an approved university which we judge to be of satisfactory standing, plus at least four years' relevant experience in Education or a related field.
2. If you do not possess an approved Master's degree, you may be considered if your general education, scholarship, training and experience are deemed suitable for the course and if you are deemed as well qualified as those who are able to satisfy the normal entrance requirements. Such applicants would be considered on an individual basis, taking into account a portfolio of work and any publications.
3. You may, in addition, be required to pass an approved English language test at a specified level and other tests prescribed by the Institute as a condition of administration for the degree.

You will be interviewed by the Academic Group that offers your selected concentration courses and you may be required to have gained educational and work experience as a prerequisite to these courses.

For international applicants, more information on the entry requirements can be found here. 

Structure

The programme comprises 30 Academic Units inclusive of 5 core courses, 3 required courses in one of four concentrations of your choice, 2 elective courses and a dissertation.

Core Courses

• NEDD 800 Professionalism, Ethics, and the Self
• NEDD 801 Critical Inquiry in Education and Professional Practice
• NEDD 802 Answering Questions with Quantitative Data
• NEDD 803 Answering Questions with Qualitative Data
• NEDD 804 Conceptualizing and Writing the Research Proposal

Concentration Courses

Learning & Motivation Concentration

• NEDD 810 Theory, Research, and Practice in Teaching and Learning
• NEDD 811 Understanding Learner Motivation
• NEDD 812 Trends in Motivational and Learner Studies

Curriculum & Teaching Concentration

• NEDD 820 Inquiry into Curriculum and Teaching I
• NEDD 821 Inquiry into Curriculum and Teaching II
• NEDD 822 Curriculum Policy and Reform

Educational Leadership & Change Concentration

• NEDD 830 Current and Emerging Theories and Practices in Leadership and Management
• NEDD 831 Values and Ethics for Leaders
• NEDD 832 Teacher Professional Development and School Leadership

Technologies & Technology-Mediated Learning Environments Concentration (offered from 2013)

• NEDD 840 Trends and Issues in the Use of ICT in Education
• NEDD 841Theoretical Foundations of Technology-Mediated Learning Environments
• NEDD 842 Designing Technology-Mediated Interventions in Education

General Electives
Two elective courses from the general graduate offerings at NIE, to be chosen in consultation with the Student Advisor.

Dissertation
A 50,000 word research-on-practice based dissertation.

  Download the course descriptions for Doctor in Education

 

Period of Candidature

The Doctor in Education is is offered on both part-time and full-time basis. The candidature periods are as follows:

Full-time		Part-time
Up to a maximum of 5 years		Up to a maximum of 7 years

Application for Admission

There is generally only one intake for this programme, in January. You are advised to visit the website and look out for NIE’s announcements in May to confirm if the programme will be open for application at any particular intake.

Applications are to be made online. More information on application details can be found here.