Family Child Care certificate
The Family Child Care certificate program provides training for people who want
to provide care for young children in a home setting. People who are currently
providing child care are also welcome to take the program.
Because of the variety of child care arrangements being offered in the
community, this program provides training for family child care providers as
well as nannies and parent aides. These are the people who provide care in a
home-setting for small groups of young children.
In the summer of 1988, UCFV
conducted a survey of family child care providers to help determine the
educational interests and needs of individuals providing in-home care for young
children in the UCFV region. In 1993 UCFV wrote the provincial curriculum for
all B.C. Colleges.
The B.C. Child Care Facilities Act
(1978) defines family childcare as:
“The provision, in a home environment of child care, including an opportunity
for social, emotional, physical and intellectual growth, for children from birth
to school age.”
The Provincial Act regulates the
physical conditions under which a family childcare can operate. Trained
providers give potential consumers of this form of childcare the reassurance
they need, in order to carefully select the type of care they desire. With
well-trained family childcare providers, children can be cared for in their own
neighbourhoods, in their own home, or near a parent’s workplace, in groups of
less than five children, at reasonable cost. At present there is a critical lack
of licensed and available child care spaces.
Program goals
• To increase the number of present
and potential family child care providers.
• To increase the skills and
knowledge of providers.
• To raise public awareness and the
expected standard of quality.
• To encourage providers to create
a network and climate of professionalism.
• To promote continued professional
development through knowledge in the area of readings, organizations
and other
information available to other early childhood educators.
• To bridge the gap between formal
and less-formal child care providers and arrangements.
• To provide prospective employers
of parent aides or nannies with a training opportunity as a condition of
employment.
• To achieve a common professional
understanding of liability arrangements and legal concerns in terms of
care for
young children.
• To provide a laddered educational
program with transferability to the ECE certificate program.
Entrance requirements
Participants in this program:
• Need to
be able to read and write at a post-secondary level
• Need to
be in good physical and mental health.
Non-smokers preferred.
• Must have
a keen commitment to working with young children.
Individuals applying for the Family Child Care training program should plan to
take courses in the 10-month time frame. Spaces if available will also be
offered to individuals wishing to take only some of the courses listed.
Students will need to arrange for time in which they can observe a variety of
family child care settings.
UCFV reserves the right to cancel any course for which there is insufficient
enrolment. Maximum class size is 24 and minimum class size is 12.
Please Note:
• This program also qualifies graduates as preschool or childcare assistants.
• Completion of this program with grades of C+ or better in all courses will be
considered as six credits of advanced standing toward an Early Childhood
Education certificate. Successful completion will also result in preferential
admittance into the ECE program for qualifying applicants. It will also result
in a letter of Licensing Board equivalency to enable one to work as an assistant
in a childcare setting.
How to register
Students may usually register two weeks prior to the course start date. Consult
the UCFV Continuing Studies booklet for course start dates and the program head
for more information.
Note: Registrations will be received as long as space is available. If
enrolment is low at the Mission, Hope, or Chilliwack campus, students will be
referred to the Abbotsford campus.
Fees and additional costs
Fees stated are in effect for 2004/05 and are subject to change for 2005/06.
Fees are approximately $125 per course, including books.
Program content and outline
In addition to classroom instruction and observations, students will be required
to read and study outside of class approximately three hours per week. Guided
observations require four hours per course. Each course is 21 hours of
instruction, plus four hours of guided observation.
Course | Title | Credits | |
FAM 01 | Introduction to Family Childcare | 1.5 | |
FAM 02 | Understanding Child Development | 1.5 | |
FAM 03 | Understanding Children’s Behaviour | 1.5 | |
FAM 04 | Nutrition | Health and Safety | 1.5 |
FAM 05 | Planning Children’s Experiences | 1.5 | |
FAM 06 | Operation of Family Childcare–and Administration/Parent Interaction | 1.5 | |
Total | 9 |
Family Child Care students are welcome to attend workshops and seminars as
available through Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia, or UCFV.
Evaluation
Assignments will be given during each course. Participants will also be required
to maintain a journal and resource file throughout the program.
Course listings
For complete details on courses see
Course descriptions.
Instructors
Gwen Clarke
Isabel Hay
Bev Higgins
George Melzer
Barb Presseau
Website: www.ufv.ca/ece
Back to
Faculty of Science, Health,
and Human Services index page
Calendar home page/index
|