Description This Early Childhood Leadership baccalaureate prepares graduates to guide and lead curriculum and pedagogy in Ontario’s early childhood settings. These settings would include child care centres, nursery schools, family drop-in programs (including Ontario Early Years Centres, parenting centres and family resource programs), other family support programs, and early intervention services. It also prepares graduates for positions as Registered Early Childhood Educators, working in partnership with certified teachers in the Full Day Early Learning programs that are replacing junior and senior kindergarten.
The goal of the program is to prepare early childhood professionals with program leadership ability. Graduates of this degree program will have a knowledge and practice base which can help them move into supervisory/director positions in a full range of early childhood programs.
Throughout the four-year program, the academic pillars are grounded in two major fields:
Human Development
- The Human Development field adopts a life-course perspective that incorporates developmental psychology, population health, neurobiology, sociology and anthropology.
- Multiple perspectives on the context of children’s lives and their early learning and development into adulthood create a knowledge base for early childhood research, policy and practice.
- Students have opportunities to consider and generate research across disciplines that supports leadership for quality early childhood programs.
Teaching and Learning
- The Teaching and Learning field includes many dimensions of pedagogical and curriculum leadership in early childhood programs.
- A thorough overview of curriculum planning and design is the foundation for the development of early childhood program leadership capacity.
The areas of focus across the four years:
- YEAR 1: Understanding Children, Early Childhood Programs and Foundation Professional Skills
- YEAR 2: Evidence-based Understanding and Curriculum and Infrastructure Design
- YEAR 3: Leadership for Quality Skills and Professional Specialization
- YEAR 4: Advanced Inquiry and Preparation for the Workforce
The Early Childhood Leadership degree program is delivered in an applied learning environment. Case studies, demonstrations and practice opportunities are integral to most courses. Students have four field experiences, including a fourteen-week full-time placement, that are aligned with the progressive complexity of the course content. Students will be expected to demonstrate abilities to apply their learning in early childhood programs, translating theory into practice.
Required Courses SEMESTER 1
ECL1201 Human Development: Foundations
ECL1202 Personal Wellness
ECL1203 Observing, Recording and Assessing
ECL1204 Interpersonal Communication
ECL1205 Composition and Rhetoric
SEMESTER 2
ECL1301 Human Development: The Early Years
ECL1302 Wellness and the Young Child
ECL1303 Principles to Practice: Social and Physical Environments
ECL1304 Foundations of Inquiry: Reflection and Critical Thinking
ECL1305 Principles of Psychology
SEMESTER 3
ECL2101 Human Development: Adolescence to Late Adulthood
ECL2102 Applied Research Methods
ECL2103 Inclusive Practice with Young Children
ECL2104 Curriculum Planning for Young Children
SEMESTER 4
ECL2201 Human Development: Fundamental Relationships
ECL2202 History and Philosophy of Early Childhood Programs
ECL2203 Curriculum Design for Early Learning
ECL2204 Organizational Structure, Behaviour and Governance
SEMESTER 5
ECL3101 Quality Assurance for Early Childhood Programs
ECL3102 Leadership in Learning Organizations
ECL3103 Leadership in a Technological World
ECL3104 Employment Law and Legislation
ECL3105 Building the Organizational Team
SEMESTER 6
ECL3201 Human Development: Current Topics
ECL3202 Building Healthy Communities: Advocacy and Leadership
ECL3203 Early Childhood Program and System Delivery
ECL3204 Accounting for Non-accounting Managers
SEMESTER 7
ECL4101 Research in Early Childhood Studies
ECL4102 Curriculum Leadership in Early Learning and Care
ECL4103 Managing Projects as an Early Childhood Leader
ECL4104 Business Administration
ECL4105 Non-Mandated Elective
ECL4106 Field 3 and Seminar: Solutions for Early Childhood Leadership
SEMESTER 8
ECL4201 Current Issues – Leadership for Quality (Independent Studies)
GHUM1215 History of Social Policy
For detailed course outlines click here.
For a list of General Education Electives click here.
Your Career Graduates may find work in a variety of early childhood settings, including child care centres, nursery schools, family drop-in programs (including Ontario Early Years Centres, parenting centres and family resource programs), other family support programs, and early intervention services. Emerging Best Start Child and Family Centres will be integrated with existing early childhood programs and graduates will be well-positioned to assume leadership positions within these centres.
Graduates will be eligible to enter Ontario’s College of Early Childhood Educators.
Special Requirements
- Students must submit proof of a satisfactory medical examination upon entering the program.
- Field placement is a mandatory and complex component of the program. Should accommodation issues arise, a Special Needs Consultant may be called upon to assist the applicant in determining whether she/he can meet the requirements necessary for safe caregiving for young children.
- In compliance with requests from our student placement partners, all students in this program must have a police reference check completed before their field placement. These reference checks, which can take several weeks, are done to protect the clientele of these agencies, who are considered “vulnerable persons” under the law. The fees for the reference checks vary and must be paid by the student. Students are responsible for ensuring that the check covers appropriateness for “individuals being employed and/or volunteering who will be working with vulnerable person(s).” Students who are unable to provide a clear police reference check may be unable to complete their field placement and, therefore, be unable to complete the program.
- As a program requirement students must complete a standard first aid course prior to beginning field placement.
Admission Requirements School of Deaf & Deafblind Studies and School of Early Childhood Admission Requirements and Fees 2012-2013Apply To Ontario CollegesBridging - Advanced Study The following is the proposed structure for bridging from an ECE diploma to the Bachelor of Applied Arts, Early Childhood Leadership program. Students would be expected to complete both A and B and additional fees will apply.
OPTION A
Completed by diploma graduates in advance of entering the ECL degree program (i.e., prior to Year 3):
- Two composite courses that will include human development, curriculum, pedagogical leadership, research skills, writing skills and mathematical logic skills. They will also address any gaps in the area of personal wellness. In total, the two composite courses will equal six credits.
- Applied Research Methods
OPTION B
May be done concurrently with the ECL degree program (i.e., during Years 3 and 4):
- One university (degree-level) breadth course or equivalent.
Note: Diploma graduates will have completed significant fieldwork. As such, they may be exempted from some fieldwork but not in Year 3 or Year 4 of the ECL degree program, as the degree level outcome expectations within the work term and last field experience are quite specific and demanding, requiring significantly different, sophisticated analysis and leadership planning.