Early Childhood Education

Program objectives

This program trains individuals to become early childhood educators.

Early childhood educators work with children between the ages of 0 and 12. Their main task is creating an environment that fosters the physical, psychomotor, cognitive, language, socio-emotional and moral growth of children by nurturing an emotionally positive relationship with them. They are also responsible for creating, organizing, conducting and evaluating educational activities that contribute to the overall development of the children in their care.

Early childhood educators must work closely with parents and other concerned parties to ensure that everyone involved agrees with the care being provided to the child and that everyone can be consistent in their efforts to maintain such care. They must also actively and regularly work as part of a team with other early childhood educators. This particular job requires excellent listening skills, open-mindedness, creativity and a good sense of organization.

Early childhood educators can work in various types of childcare settings: facility or home-based centres for early childhood (CECs), school childcare services, for-profit daycares, drop-in centres and nurseries. Educators must have the versatility required to work in any of these environments.

This program meets the two main requirements of collegial training—the mastery of a specific technical function and versatility. Mastery of a specific technical function stems from the acquisition of skills required to work in different childcare settings. Versatility stems notably from the acquisition of general skills that provide educators with strong basic training related to overall child development, sociological concepts that allow them to understand the needs and behaviours of children in different age groups and environments as well as the application of principles and techniques related to communication and teamwork. Versatility also stems from an understanding of the specific skills required in different settings. This allows graduates to work in a variety of environments throughout their careers.