Program Description

You can make a difference in the lives of children, families, and communities. The eight-month (full-time) Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) Certificate program prepares you to provide quality child care in a wide variety of settings and plan emergent play experiences for the children in your care. You will gain knowledge of child development, family dynamics, play, and program planning that will equip you to support the healthy development of children through child-centred learning experiences.

This program combines theory and practice and graduates are eligible for Child Development Worker certification from Alberta Human Services.

Interested in advancing even further in ECED?

Bow Valley College also offers a two-year ECED diploma program.

Innovative learning lab and practicum project

The Early Childhood Education and Development learning lab combines classroom space with interactive children’s learning centres that include an artist studio, a reading centre, a dramatic play centre, and a sensory motor centre. This innovative and engaging environment supports the transition of theory to practice as students have an opportunity to engage with children in the lab space.

Practicum project

Learners have the opportunity to participate in the practicum project. You will take your practicum in our lab classroom, mentored by Bow Valley College ELCC instructors, and work alongside educators, children, and parents from the YWCA at Bow Valley College Child Care Centre. This practicum focuses on emergent, child-centred, and play-based curriculum. You will focus on building strong and healthy relationships with the children and with all parties involved in the practicum experience. You will be involved in observing, documenting, and planning the curriculum to meet children’s individual needs, interests, and development. By focusing on the belief that children, by nature, are unique and competent, we join children in their learning by encouraging exploration and creative expressions in richly designed environments that you create.

Award-winning curriculum

• Program Excellence Award – Association of Canadian Community Colleges, 2010
• Innovation of the Year – League for Innovation in the Community College, 2009

International practicum

You can put your knowledge into practice in an overseas community working with community schools and agencies. In June 2012 and May 2013, learners went to rural Uganda. In 2014, learners went to Jamaica, and in 2015 and 2016, they went to Guyana, South America. Learners will be returning to Guyana in 2018.

Scholarship for high school students

Alberta Children and Youth Services provides a $2,500 post-secondary scholarship to successful Career and Technologies Studies learners.

Delivery options

The ECED Certificate program is offered full-time or part-time in a traditional classroom setting.

It is suggested that learners registered in the traditional full-time Early Childhood Education and Development Diploma program to write the Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES) assessment in term one.

Admission Requirements

Academic Requirements

*Currently subject to change

• Credit in either English 30-1 or 65% in English 30-2 or equivalent

OR:

• Successful completion of the General Educational Development test (GED) test, that consists of five tests, with a minimum score in the following sections:
  • Writing Skills: 520 minimum standard score
  • Interpreting Literature and Art: 520 minimum standard score

OR:

• Satisfactory results on the BVC Admissions Test

Pre-Practicum Requirement

• A current Police Information Check (PIC) with a Vulnerable Sector Search (VSS) must be submitted prior to practicum placements. The existence of a criminal record may postpone or prevent clinical, practicum, or field work placements and, subsequently, successful completion of the program.

English Language Proficiency Requirements

• See English Language Proficiency Requirements for details.

Transferability

*Currently subject to change

Graduates of this program may be accepted into:

• Bow Valley College - Early Learning and Child Care Diploma Year 2
• Grand Prairie Regional College - Early Learning and Child Care Diploma Year 2
• Lakeland College - Early Learning and Child Care Diploma Year 2
• Medicine Hat College - Early Learning and Child Care Diploma Year

Some transfer available from:

• Calgary Board of Education
• College of the North Atlantic
• Heritage College
• Lethbridge College
• Medicine Hat College
• Mothercraft College
• Mount Royal University
• Prairie College of Applied Arts and Technology
• Red Deer College
• St. Joseph College