What is the Right Degree or Certification For You?
College degrees in the field of Early Childhood Education have different themes and content than other types of education and teaching studies. Early Childhood education is the foundation for a lifetime of learning. Early childhood is the formative period for language ability, thinking, and social skills. The needs of children in their earliest years are different from the educational approaches needed later in elementary, middle, and high school.
Early Childhood education programs start with the theories of psychology and early child development based on the works of Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, and even B.F. Skinner. ECE courses introduce leading and popular approaches to early developmental learning including the Montessori method, the Waldorf theory, and Reggio Emilia. The coursework covers curriculum development and lesson planning in detail.
Early Childhood Education Degree Programs
Within the framework of early education, ECE grads must be able to teach every subject area, help develop social skills, and support emotional security. Teachers must always be mindful of the physical activity, physical development, and create a safe learning environment. Successful early childhood educators require a solid foundation in the theory of child development, and that foundation, in theory, must integrate with a deep knowledge of early childhood teaching subjects and techniques.
Degree Program Components
Under the leadership of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the Early Childhood Education (ECE) field has several unifying themes that cross the lines between the types and levels of degrees.
When working with young children, ECE degree holders must have a broad knowledge base in development and learning. Young children are defined as ages from birth to age eight or the third-grade level.
Early childhood teachers must demonstrate in-depth knowledge in the periods of early childhood education. They must understand the infant and toddler period, the preschool and pre-kindergarten period, and the early primary grades period up to grade four.
Early childhood degree programs equip graduates to work in an inclusive early childhood learning environment. The settings must include children with learning delays and developmental disabilities.
Degree programs must prepare graduates to work in key roles needed to bring the benefits of early childhood education to the greatest number of families. The below-listed items describe some of the functions ECE graduates must perform.
Early childhood educator roles such as classroom teachers, childcare providers, Head Start teachers, and assistant or paraprofessional positions in public schools.
Home-services family-support roles such as in family advocacy or child protective services.
Professional leadership roles include early childhood administrators, staff trainers, and mentors. These roles include policy advocacy at the local, state, and national level.
Associates Degree
The associate degree is a course of study that students can complete in two years. The curriculum has general studies and a core of early education courses. The associate degree is the shortest educational track to getting a job in early childhood education, and it can be a basis for a bachelor’s degree. Most public-school systems require a bachelor’s degree and a license for teacher positions, but many private schools use other standards, and the associate degree can be an entry-level qualification for some education systems and private employers.
Bachelor’s Degree
Completion of the four-year bachelor’s degree takes about 125 to 135 semester hours, and most students can graduate in four years or after eight semesters. The Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in early childhood education can qualify the graduate for the state licensing exams and a teaching license in a general or specific teaching category. The course of study has about three to four semesters of general education followed by an intensive four-semester run of early education, training, and student teaching. The bachelor’s degree opens the field to graduates, and it is the most widely used credential for teaching.
Master’s Degree
The Master’s level requires about 30 to 35 credit hours and a bachelor’s degree. The bachelor ’s degree can be in the field of early childhood education or some unrelated field. If the undergraduate degree is unrelated, then students will take additional prerequisite education courses. If the bachelor’s degree is in the field of early education, then students can complete the master’s in one or two years of study.
Degree Requirements for Early Childhood Educators
ECE Associate's Degree Requirements and Courses
The associate degree provides early entry into the ECE field as a teacher in limited situations such as preschools and childcare centers. Some public programs accept experienced teachers with Associate degrees. Some Associate degree graduates add a credential like the Child Development Associate (CDA) to add to their skills, knowledge, and options. The associate degree is the platform for a bachelor’s degree. It requires about 60-70 credit hours, about 250 field hours observing and practice teaching.
Graduates should have a solid foundation in early childhood education and management techniques for supervising children up to age nine in a safe, supportive, learning environment.
Sample courses for Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education
Introduction to Early Childhood Education
Classroom Management
Issues in Early Childhood Education
Child Development
ECE Bachelor’s Degree Requirements and Courses
The Bachelor’s degree equips students to take state teaching license exams and get a designated teaching license for early childhood teaching. The graduates will be able to develop and carry out learning strategies for children’s mental development, problem-solving skills, language abilities, motor skills, and social development. Students must complete fieldwork that includes observation, practice teaching, and teaching under observation.
Sample courses for Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education
Cultural and Social Foundations of Education
Educational Psychology
Assessment, Evaluation, and Diagnosis of The Young Child
Early Social and Emotional Development
Language and Literacy Development
Integrated Math and Science in Early Childhood
ECE Master’s Degree Requirements and Courses
Graduate-level coursework prepares graduates to work in early childhood pedagogy or teaching methods, technology-assisted learning, education administration, community collaboration, or childhood education policy analysis. The curriculum includes practical experience, in-person work with young learners, and interactions with families.
Sample courses for Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education
Psychology of Learning and Development for Education
Human Learning from Conception to Early Childhood
Introduction to Research Methodology
Educational/Psychological Measurement
Education and Society
Teaching Children in Inclusive Classrooms
Teaching Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers
Specialized Degree
The field of Early Childhood Education has a large number of specializations, and each school labels its concentrations and specializations according to their ideas of best practices. The themes for specialization include special education, inclusive learning environments, language literacy, and English as a Second Language. Special Needs Education is becoming an in demand position with an increase in Autism, Cerebral Palsy, hearing impairment, speech impairment and many other learning disabilities.
Skills & Attributes Needed to Be Successful
The most necessary ability is to be able to work with students and families with respect and dignity that every person deserves. The driving motivation for Early Childhood Education is one of service to others. A successful career in ECE requires self-development, reliability, and dependability. Education does not end with the classroom and graduation; it begins with the lessons learned in interaction with young learners, their families, and their communities.
Listening and Communications are the basic skills that make all the education, training, and experience work together towards a high level of performance. ECE educators must be able to listen and absorb information and inputs from young children, families, and members of the community. They must also listen attentively to peers, colleagues, and leaders. The ability to listen involves patience, attention, and a willingness to share another person’s perspective. In a similar way, ECE educators must communicate thoughts and ideas to young learners, their families, and the community. Confident oral presentation and excellent written communications skills are essential to succeed in this field.
Multitasking and Flexibility are traits that help teachers in classroom and administrative functions. The classroom can be quite busy and demanding both physically and for continuous focus. Teachers that work with very young learners must provide a level of care, observation, and concern with safety at all times. There is never a focus on a single thing, and children can be physically active and unpredictable. One must not forget that administrative tasks are an important part of ECE educator duties. This type of work ranges from notes after class to review of child performance and official reports of progress, problems, family communications, and recommendations.
Creativity is a beneficial trait in early childhood education. When working with young learners, teachers must continuously work to find engaging learning assignments and meaningful lesson plans. Curriculum development must be carefully tailored to the strengths and needs of each student group, and one-on-one work must address the situation of the student and family. Creativity is a valuable asset that is expressed in basic tasks, curriculum development, planning, and interactions that ECE teachers must perform.
Adaptability helps when working in classroom settings. Young children can be quite active, and outcomes of planned lessons and activities can be unpredictable. Teachers must be flexible and adapt easily to changes in circumstances. On a longer view, teachers may work in many different types of settings such as public institutions, private schools, and for-profit companies that provide childcare and education. Adaptability is a trait that helps teachers maximize their opportunities rather than narrow them to a small subset of the market.
Critical Thinking is also vital to success in early childhood education. Educators that work with young children and their families must often work through complex situations and solve multi-layered problems. Critical thinking enables objectivity which can be important in a field that also requires close relationships and empathy.
These degrees are fairly wide, additionally they should certainly be, preparing students for occupations as varied as a preschool educator, childcare chauffeur, kid case worker, and also additional. For those that simply aren't certain regarding what every one of their options will absolutely want they have in fact made either a two-year or four-year degree in extremely early young people education as well as knowing, it is worthy of discovering a lot more relating to the job leads, line of work opportunities, and additionally even the lifestyle of a very early childhood years instructor.
Considering that preschool educators function almost half of the human resources of a lot of normal lines of work, the pay is quite healthy and well balanced. It's typically mentioned that an excellent teacher never ever retires, which is definitely genuine of those who are charged with informing children before primary college. Early childhood teachers are commonly made use of part-time, which at first feels like it manages experts a great deal of cost-free connection.
They spend much of their time in your home, or collaborating with co-workers, producing brand-new jobs that combine engaging understanding tasks with creative and hands-on lessons. Early childhood instructors require to subsequently be interested not only in really young students and also advisors, yet also in sharing imagination and also conceptualizing lessons in brand-new ways which reverberate with young minds.
Developing joint lessons is a massive component of this occupation, merely as it is for even more typical teachers in elementary as well as additionally high schools. As a result of the reality that the job is part-time, the majority of very early youth educators choose to check out 2nd operate in the area of assistant mentor, child situation handling or likewise running their very own daycare service.
Though it may seem as if training young kids could be done by any person, that's simply not the instance. Youthful children have really detailed needs and likewise really distinctive discovering styles that can make them a difficulty to inform as well as attach to. Early childhood years education occupations usually need at the very least a two-year degree in the field from a local community college, while the considerable majority do require a four-year degree from a college.
Occupations in this area typically do not ask for a state certificate, though there have in fact been conflicts in numerous states concerning changing this. Particularly as preschool becomes an important part of education and learning reform in the United States, it is vital to stay up to date with brand-new developments and also licensure demands. Those very early childhood educators that desire to transform their line of work right into key or high school training will definitely need to take Practice evaluations as well as pass any type of demands needed to acquire a state permit in education.
Nevertheless, there are lots of jobs that involve working together with children for which a bachelor's degree-holder might be gotten. These tasks include preschool administration, program supervisor, children's gallery manager and also social worker, amongst several others. An ECE master's degree program will certainly help present teachers acquire new abilities that they can take back to their classrooms, effectively boosting the education and learning students are already obtaining.
If you delight in dealing with kids, an extremely early young people education and learning and discovering degree could be for you. In this broadening location, Read on to learn what an early youth education and learning and also learning level entails, the major distinctions in between a very early childhood years education and also discovering associate degree and additionally a bachelor's degree, as well as likewise whether you as a matter of fact require a graduate degree in the field.
Its primary emphasis is with a focus on social degree of sensitivity, child-centered methods, values, inclusivity, location, and relative. The total purpose of an early young people education and learning and also discovering degree is to which normally comprises the following kinds of work: Instructor (preschool, kindergarten, or primary school) Trainer assistant Child care supplier Child care center employee or supervisor Baby-sitter Unique education and learning teacher English Language Student (ELL) teacher Kid life expert Education and learning professional Below is a testimonial of the median revenues, task overviews, along with regular minimal needed degrees for various jobs in the field of early young people education and learning and also knowing.
Although there's generally lots of overlap in the programs needed for affiliate and bachelor's level programs, the latter normally requires We have actually talked about the distinctions and likewise similarities in between an early childhood education and learning associate level and additionally a bachelor's degree in early childhood education and learning and also discovering. As you most likely discovered with the initial table, a lot of work in very early youth education does not require much more than a bachelor's degree.
This distinction is mirrored in incomes, as well. According to 2013 BLS data, preschool in addition to preschool instructors that have a master's level than those with only a bachelor's degree. Right here's what United States News claims concerning the worth of getting a master's level (vivid emphasis mine): "Together with an increase in pay, making a master's degree in really early childhood education as well as finding out such as a primary school principal or training coordinator." So what type of graduate degrees in very early youth education and learning and also discovering are around? Several, as it transforms out.
Acquiring a level in Early Young people Education (ECE) is normally the preliminary step toward a work working with children young, in this circumstance, defining babies to 8 years of age. The careers that are offered to ECE professionals vary generally as well as additionally consist of public and exclusive pre-k programs, day care facilities, as well as youngster care resources and also education companies.
ECE is an appealing career selection for trainees that delight in working together with children. The ideal ECE specialist has a diverse capacity collection; they have the ability to be both innovative as well as also regular, both logical as well as creative, both patient and additionally controlling. Given that teaching young youngsters needs a numerous approach than that pertaining to older children, ECE professionals require to have a firm understanding on the developing phases of very early young people.
They will certainly similarly be expected to take various upper division training courses focused on the abilities required to thrive in an ECE line of work. Upper division courses may cover: really early childhood development, partnerships in between homes and likewise youngsters, the duty of a youngster's area, social policy, art for kids, in addition to modern problems in day care as well as likewise education.
While ECE is a competence for many main education and learning programs, ECE programs could have their own field of competences, such as a focus, as well as also a certification, in distinct education. On top of that, ECE experts may focus on a range of subjects, including physical health and fitness, tunes, art, history, math and also science. Having an unique skill set will certainly make you a much more functional ECE specialist, along with might improve your chance of getting a job after college graduation.
An early childhood education degree definition is that one's education includes the ability to communicate in written, spoken, and visual forms. One must be able to communicate effectively with students, parents, school officials, and other people who are involved in the process of teaching and educating children.
This is very important because it helps a student understand and learn about a subject and to identify what is important to their child's development. A good example of an education course would be how to write a story or how to read, but these skills can be applied to many areas of the classroom including math, science, history, geography, reading comprehension, and so much more.
Once a student has learned how to communicate in these ways, the learning process goes on from there. The student will learn how to analyze information and how to apply it in real life situations.
An education degree should include subjects like the basic language of English. It will teach the child what the rules are when speaking to someone. This is important because all people do not speak the same language, and there may be misunderstandings in what is spoken.
Another skill that an education course can teach a child is how to analyze a situation and what it means to the child's mind and heart. It also teaches them to think logically and use critical thinking skills.
A child's needs for an education are different from those of a child who is an adult. This is because of the fact that the child has changed physically and mentally and is now ready to face the world.
If a student is able to show their abilities, they can easily earn an education degree in order to better their chances of gaining success with their career or their academic growth. This is especially important if one plans to become a teacher's aide or some type of educational worker. Because of the growing need for these types of jobs in the United States today, many employers prefer to hire people with education degrees over people who lack one.
The first step to earning an early childhood education degree is to search for an accredited school to enroll in. It should be a school that is well known and has many years of experience in teaching and educating children.
Before enrolling in any program, make sure you are not only interested in the program, but also in learning about the child's interests and abilities. There are a lot of different things that can influence this such as the number of siblings the child has, the size of the family, and the neighborhood in which the child grew up.
When you have chosen a school that you think will best suit your child's interest and learning style, start by enrolling in a class. This is where the basic educational concepts that the school is teaching can be learned.
What to Look for and Program Accreditation
When selecting a school for early childhood education, students should examine a few features. Accreditation is a key, and the school should be fully accredited. The student’s choice of major is important. Many schools offer specialized early childhood education degrees. For example, the ECE degree might be a BS in Early Childhood Development /Special Education. If the student wishes to have a general education or a specialty in literacy, then the program selection should take some deeper thought. The student should determine whether the school has the desired major and if the degree program aligns with their career goals.
Accreditation is an independent assessment of a school, its curriculum, faculty, facilities, and educational resources. The goal of accreditation is to ensure that graduates know the things they need to know and that they can do the tasks required of them in the positions they will hold. Accreditation affects the value of a degree in the marketplace and it determines the available ways to pay for the degree.
The US Department of Education requires accreditation for participation in its loan, grant, and scholarship programs. The accreditation must come from an authorized accreditation agency. Employers look for accreditation when reviewing applicants for positions. Accreditation is a guarantee that the school offers high-quality education.
National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA) is a national accreditation agency that can accredit schools of early education that are not part of colleges and universities; NECPA can accredit all types of programs including private, faith-based, home-based, and for-profit schools.
Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) is the most prominent accreditation agency for bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. They also oversee certifications at those levels. The CAEP works closely with the NAEYC.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the leading advocacy and standards agency in the field of Early Childhood Education. They conduct research and maintain a continuous assessment of early education program standards.