Early Childhood Education

Quality early childhood education (ECE) is critical in preparing children for future learning. As an early childhood educator, you will have an integral role in promoting children’s development from birth to age 12 within the following five domains: cognitive, social, emotional, language and physical.

In the ECE program, you will engage in theoretical studies along with practical applications. Moreover, professional practice and ethics will guide you in working with families, understanding pedagogy and fostering belonging and well-being in children.

Upon completion of your program, you will apply to the College of Early Childhood Educators, the provincial regulatory body, to become a Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE) in Ontario.

What You’ll Learn

• Create learning contexts to enable, build, and maintain caring, responsive relationships in partnerships with children, families, and communities that value and respect social, cultural, and linguistic diversity including Indigenous peoples’ worldviews and Francophone identity.
• Co-create, facilitate, and reflect upon inquiry and play-based early years and child care programs and pedagogical approaches to support children’s learning, holistic development, and well-being following children’s capabilities, interests, ideas, and experiences.
• Co-design and maintain inclusive early learning environments to value and support equitable, accessible, and meaningful learning opportunities for all children, their families, and communities in a range of early years and childcare settings.
• Collaborate with children, families, colleagues, agencies and community partners to create, maintain, evaluate, and promote safe and healthy early learning environments to support independence, reasonable risk-taking, and healthy development and well-being.
• Use observation strategies to identify children’s strengths and challenges and to ascertain when children and families might benefit from additional support or community resources.
• Use professional communication in interactions with children, families, colleagues, employers, the regulatory body, government authorities, and children’s service agencies to meet the legal and ethical standards of the early years sector.