5.1 Degree programmes and requirements
Undergraduate study
The Institute offers a variety of programmes leading to a range of qualifications from diplomas to bachelor degrees to postgraduate degrees.
The bachelor’s degree programmes aim to provide rigorous university education and to produce graduates with the skills to teach in schools. The programmes lead to the award of the following degrees:
- Bachelor of Arts (Education) [BA (Ed)] (Full Time)
- Bachelor of Science (Education) [BSc (Ed)] (Full Time)
- Bachelor of Education [B Ed] (Part Time)
Candidates may be awarded honours degrees based on excellent overall performance in these programmes.
Structure programmes
The BA (Education) / BSc (Education) / B Ed programmes comprise the following areas of study.
a) Education Studies*
Student teachers will learn the key concepts and principles of education that are necessary for effective teaching and reflective practice in schools. They will also have the opportunity for in-depth study of some significant aspects of education.
b) Curriculum Studies
BA (Ed)/BSc (Ed) student teachers will specialise in the methodology for teaching at either the primary or secondary school level. These are designed to give student teachers the pedagogical skills in teaching specific subjects in Singapore schools. The choice of Curriculum Studies subjects depends on the track and strand to which the student teacher belongs.
c) Subject Knowledge
This group of courses helps to reinforce subject content mastery for primary school teaching. Student teachers in the primary track must offer Subject Knowledge courses aligned with their choice of Curriculum Studies subjects.
For each CS subject, there will be two Subject Knowledge (SK) courses for those in the primary track in Option B while those who select Option A will have three SK courses for further deepening their subject knowledge. In the case where the student teacher’s Academic Subject (AS) is related to the CS subject, he/she will only be required to do only 2 SK courses if Option A is selected and either 1 or 2 SK courses if Option B is selected as determined by the Academic Group.
For PESS specialization in the primary track, student teachers will offer SK courses aligned with the CS2 and CS3 subjects and will read 3 SK courses per subject.
Those in the Secondary track will not be reading SK courses as it is assumed that they would have obtained this knowledge from the 2 AS subjects offered.
d) Pedagogical Content Knowledge*
In this area of study, student teachers are to offer English, Math and Science but can opt to exchange one of these subjects with Social Studies, Special Needs, and Gifted and Talent Education.
e) Essential Course* +
There will only be 1 essential course that introduces student teachers to the implications of living in a diverse society entitled ‘Multicultural Studies: Appreciating and Valuing Differences’.
f) Practicum
Student teachers will be attached to schools for 2, 5, 5, 10 week blocks so that they can develop teaching competencies in a variety of contexts and at different levels.
- School Experience (SE): This is 2 weeks long, with 1 week in a primary school and 1 in a secondary school. The purpose for this is to provide student teachers opportunities to observe lessons in the primary and secondary classrooms.
- Teaching Assistantship (TA): This comprises 5 weeks and its purpose is to provide student teachers opportunities to observe their Cooperating Teachers (CTs) teach and to reflect on the roles and responsibilities of a teacher.
- Teaching Practice 1 (TP1): This is 5 weeks long and its purpose is to help student teachers to begin to teach independently. They will learn to plan their own lessons to teach, prepare relevant resources and to mange pupils independently while still being able to consult their CTs and to observe their CTs teach.
- Teaching Practice 2 (TP2): This is the final component and it lasts for 10 weeks. Besides focusing on independent teaching, TP2 allows for a more holistic school attachment experience which could include exploring other aspects of a teacher’s life, such as, the management of CCAs.
For all 4 school attachments, student teachers will be closely supervised by NIE’s lecturers and will also learn from experienced teachers in the schools about the schooling process. They will use the knowledge and skills obtained from the Education Studies and Curriculum Studies courses to integrate theory with practice.
g) Language Enhancement and Academic Discourse Skills*
The courses in this component equip student teachers with the basic language and voice skills that they require for teaching, as well as for successfully engaging in academic writing of assignments and theses.
h) Group Endeavours in Service Learning
Group Endeavours in Service Learning (GESL) Project is a compulsory project work that all student teachers are required to undertake. Student teachers in an assigned group are to collaboratively complete a project in a community service within the programme. Student teachers will benefit from the GESL experience in acquiring generic knowledge and skills of project management in service learning. Groups will showcase their completed projects and a record of student teachers’ involvement in GESL will be issued at the end of the programme.
i) Academic Subjects
This area of study covers knowledge of the content and fundamental concepts and principles of either one or two subjects depending on the programme enrolled for.
In the case of a BA (Ed) (Primary) student, the choice of the first Academic Subject must be an Arts subject while in the case of a BSc (Ed) (Primary) student teacher, the Academic Subject must be a Science Subject.
All BA (Ed) (Secondary) student teachers must read an arts subject as Academic Subject 1 but can choose an Arts or Science subject as Academic Subject 2. Similarly, all BSc (Ed) (Secondary) student teachers must choose a Science subject as Academic Subject 1 but can choose an Arts or Science subject as Academic Subject 2. However, due to the nature of workload for some subjects, the subject combinations allowed will have to be necessarily limited.
j) General Electives
Only BA (Ed)/BSc (Ed) student teachers in the Secondary track have the option of taking 3AUs of General Electives.
* Part-time B Ed student teachers are only required to do these areas of study.
+ Part-time B Ed student teachers have to read 3 essential courses as below:
- Integrated Arts Approach which aims to introduce the key concepts in an integrated art, music and drama approach with primary school children;
- Education Research Methodology which serves to prepare student teachers to conduct education research; and
- There are two Prescribed Electives of which student teachers will have to select one:
- Action Research Project which prepares the student teachers to continue to develop as reflective practitioners and to investigate issues in their teaching;
- Inter-disciplinary Approach which looks at how student teachers can teach a subject matter in an integrated fashion across different subjects.
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