Children will inherit the world, which is why, as an early child educator, you’re performing a very important task, making sure the future is a bright one. As an early childhood educator, you support children’s learning and development, responding to their unique interests and needs. You have to be passionate about working with children and families, because it really is a demanding, but very rewarding, career.
In Ontario, there’s currently a shortage of early childhood educators (ECEs), which led to the creation of our special Early Childhood Education program, starting July 4. If it’s a career you’re interested in, here’s why now is the time to take part in this special version of the program.
It’s tuition-free!
This opportunity is funded in partnership with the City of Toronto, The Region of Peel, The Region of Durham, The Region of Halton, the Province of Ontario and Government of Canada under the new Canada-Ontario Early Childhood Workforce Agreement, which provides one-time federal funding to support the retention and recruitment of a high-quality child care workforce. The funding agreement acknowledges that there's a shortage of early childhood educators in the field, and so the program’s supporters are making this intake tuition-free, to create more qualified, work-ready ECEs.
It’s fast!
The fastest you can complete a typical four-semester Early Childhood Education program at Centennial College is 16 months. With this compressed program, you can do it in 14. Just because it’s compressed doesn’t mean it’s simple, though. This program is for students who are self-directed learners, who do well in intense environments, and who can take on a course load of up to 31 hours a week of instruction, plus additional time for readings and assignments.
The program comes with unique hands-on experience
At Centennial College, we operate two of our own lab schools at the Progress Campus Child Care Centre and the East York Child Care Centre. They are fully functioning child care facilities, with infants, toddlers and preschoolers, but they also are learning environments that include observation rooms, on top of opportunities for hands-on learning for students doing field placements there. Participating students will receive more than 500 hours of very practical experience in a busy child care setting.
You’re ready to work by the time you’ve finished the program
Completing our Early Childhood Education program means you come out with a broad range of skills and knowledge, including healthy development, health and wellness, curriculum design, and advocacy. You are very, very hireable.
But most importantly, you come out with all of the documentation you need to start working right away, including police checks. This documentation often leads to a delay in getting hired, so having it taken care of during the program will give you a head start.
Your skills are transferrable, so there’s a lot of different things you can do
One of the big assumptions about early childhood educators is that they can only work in child care centres. In fact, ECEs can do a lot of things. Once you're a qualified early childhood educator, you can work in child care centres, local boards of education who hire ECEs in their classrooms, with children and families at drop-in centres, shelters and community service programs – or you may choose to open your own private child care centre. There’s a lot of places you can go.
There’s bursaries being offered for the longer programs, too
If the compressed program is a bit too intense for you, you can do Centennial College’s two-year Early Childhood Education program starting in September 2022 (at either Ashtonbee or Progress Campus), or the fast-track, 16 month version of the Early Childhood Education Program in January 2023 at Progress Campus. While they’re not tuition-free, both offer bursaries for students taking those specific intakes to help cover their costs.
No matter which option you take, our Early Childhood Education programs can get you into the field by giving you the skills to teach our youngest people what they need to begin their own journey through life. Once you’re in the field, you’ll be helping to make the next generation happy and healthy.
By Anthony Geremia