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Academic Advising Centre

Early Childhood Education diploma

This guide has been prepared with the information you need to successfully register for your first year at UFV. Please review the information provided on this page thoroughly before contacting your academic advisor with questions.

 

Overview

After completing the certificate program students can continue their education and take advanced courses in more specialized areas. The diploma courses are offered in the evening (except practicum) giving students the option of working in the daytime. Two program options are available for diploma students. The two programs share a common set of core courses and each requires a different set of specialty courses. Completion of the three core courses and one set of three specialty courses leads to registration as a special needs or infancy (under-three) supervisor. Check the timetable or contact the program coordinator for information about the current offerings.

 

 

Program structure and requirements

Required courses

CourseTitleCredits

ECE 213

Atypical Development

3

ECE 223

Administration of Childhood Centres

3

ECE 224

Working with Families

3

Special Needs specialty

CourseTitleCredits

ECE 242

Practicum: Special Needs

6

ECE 260

Foundations of Working with Exceptional Children

3

ECE 281

Programming for Special Needs

3

Infancy specialty

CourseTitleCredits

ECE 243

Practicum: Infancy

6

ECE 269

Foundations of Infant Caregiving

3

ECE 282

Programming for Infancy

3

Where can I find a list of courses for the program?

You can access a list of all approved and required courses for your program in two ways:

 

First time using MyGRADplan?

Visit MyGRADplan website to get login instructions and review tutorials. Specifically, you will want to learn about the 'What if' and 'Look ahead' features as they will be most helpful in your course planning.

 

Workload

Given that 3 classes correspond to approximately 20+ hours/week of schoolwork both in and out of the classroom, it is very important that you consider your workload capacity carefully.

It is much better to start with less and add more coursework in future semesters than to start out feeling overwhelmed in your first semester.

Ultimately, the number of courses you take each semester is up to you, below you will find a recommend schedule for first-year students:

 

 

Pick
3 courses per semester

 

Expect
9 hours per week in class

 

And at least
9 hours per week
for homework

Practicum

As part of the program, you also have one practicum to complete:

Note: You must complete prerequisites and submit required documents to take practicum.

Questions about the practicum?
Visit the Practicum Centre or email Sandrine.Trichard@ufv.ca

 

Suggested course plan

Important:

  • Not all courses are offered each semester, and you need to complete some courses in a particular order to continue in the program.
  • You can take this program one course at a time but this will create a delay in practicum and graduation.

Meet with your advisor to create a completion plan for the remainder of the program.

Students who took the ECE certificate outside of UFV may need to take additional electives to meet the 60 credits required to graduate from the diploma.

 

 

Orientation

The Child, Youth and Family Studies department provides an orientation in March of each year for interested applicants and accepted students. Email CYFSinfo@ufv.ca to request your invitation.

The program information package can be found on the Child, Youth, and Family Studies website.

 

Next steps

Prepare for registration

Watch tutorials, review information on fee payment, important dates, and more.

Explore courses of interest

Find official course descriptions and outlines in the Academic Calendar.

Track your degree progress

Access your program audit & identify the requirements that are needed for graduation.

 

 
Still have questions?

Book an appointment with an academic advisor or email your questions to advising@ufv.ca.

If you are starting in the fall, book your next appointment prior to the winter registration (October).

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