Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies - Ontario

Workplace learning

The aim of the Professional Experience component of the Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies program is to enable students to put into practice advanced knowledge and skills developed through the program and to reflect critically on their practice and the knowledge that informs it. This approach to Professional Experience is designed to facilitate the development of a community of practice within the University program and beyond, and provide a model that students may continue to work with following graduation. It sets up an initial local community of practice with the potential for graduates as expert practitioners and critically reflective professionals to be members of a much broader community of practice: provincial, national and international.
                            
There are two Professional Experience placements in the Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies program. The first is associated with the course Communities as Contexts for Professional Practice and will be undertaken in Term 1 of the second year. This experience period is of 21 days' duration, made up of two days per week for three weeks, followed by a 15-day block placement.

The first Professional Experience will be undertaken in an early childhood service where students will be able to work directly with children, families and the community in which the service is located; for example: regulated and/or licensed full-day and half-day childcare, nursery schools, early years programs and junior/senior kindergarten.

The second Professional Experience is associated with the course Leadership in Early Childhood Education and will be undertaken in Term 2 of the second year of the program. This experience period is of 20 days' duration, made up of two days per week for five weeks, followed by a 10-day block placement.

The second Professional Experience will be undertaken in an early childhood service where students will be able to take on a leadership and management role. It could include the types of services listed above, but the student will not be working directly with children; rather, the focus will be on leadership and management skills. Other possibilities include resource centres, research centres, private home childcare agencies, and government agencies.

For either Professional Experience, alternative models may be negotiated with individual students and services to meet the needs of part-time employed students in the program.

The Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies is offered under the written consent of the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities for the period from 17th April 2009 to 17th April 2014. Prospective students are responsible for satisfying themselves that the programs and the degrees will be appropriate to their needs (e.g. acceptable to potential employers, professional licensing bodies or other educational institutions).