There are a variety of initial teacher preparation programmes offered by NIE that will lead to Diplomas for candidates who will be teaching in primary or secondary schools. There are two versions of the Diploma in Education programmes: the General and the Specialisation tracks. The General track prepares student teachers to become generalist primary school teachers while the Specialisation track prepares student teachers to become specialist before being posted as primary or secondary school teachers.
Diploma in Physical Education (Primary) offers dual-level teacher preparation with teacher certification at the primary level while Diploma in Education specialising in Mother Tongue languages and Diploma in Art/Music Education prepare the student teachers to teach at the primary or secondary level. Diploma in Education Art/Music and Diploma in Home Economics prepare the student teachers to teach at the secondary level.
Candidates who are interested in special needs education can offer a Diploma in Special Education (DISE). DISE is a 1-Year full-time programme that prepares teachers/Allied Educators (Learning & Behavioural Support) to teach children and young adults with a range of disabilities including intellectual, physical, sensory, behavioural and psychological disabilities.
For candidates who are interested in pursuing a career in school counselling, they can apply for the Diploma in School Counselling through MOE. This Diploma provides entry-level training for counselling with children and adolescents. Upon completing this eight-month course, candidates are able to apply evidence-based approaches to help school students to develop their strengths to deal effectively with life issues.
NIE diplomas are the first qualifications towards a meaningful teaching career. They allow holders to pursue further academic and professional growth later in their teaching career.
The Diploma programmes offered are:
- Diploma in Education (Primary) (General) (Two-Year)*
- Diploma in Education (Primary) (Chinese Language/Malay Language/Tamil Language) (Two-Year)
- Diploma in Education (Primary) (Chinese Language) (One-Year)
- Diploma in Education (Primary) (Tamil Language) (One-Year)
- Diploma in Education (Secondary) (Malay Language/Tamil Language) (Two-Year)*
- Diploma in Education (Secondary) (Art/Music) (Two-Year)*
- Diploma in Art/Music Education (Primary) (Two-Year)
- Diploma in Art/Music Education (Primary) (One-Year)
- Diploma in Art/Music Education (Secondary) (Two-Year)*
- Diploma in Art/Music Education (Secondary) (One-Year)*
- Diploma in Physical Education (Primary) (Two-Year)
- Diploma in Home Economics Education (Secondary) (One-Year)*
- Diploma in Special Education (One-Year)
- Diploma in School Counselling (Eight-Month)
*These programmes are currently not offered
For information on the NIE programme that MOE offers to its sponsored candidates, please refer to the MOE website: https://www.moe.gov.sg/careers/become-teachers/pri-sec-jc-ci/diploma-education.
The Associate Dean for Programme Planning and Management (AD/PPM) and Assistant Dean for Diploma (Asst D/Dip) oversee the curriculum review, development and implementation of the Diploma programmes. The team strives to continually ensure the relevance, rigour and overall academic excellence of these programmes.