Academic Programs - Early Childhood Education
Undergraduate Degree and Certification Program
Early Childhood Teacher Education for P-5 Certification: The B.S.Ed. Program
The Early Childhood Education program faculty hold a deep commitment to three principles that guide and shape its work as both scholars and teachers: intellectual work, collaborative inquiry, and active involvement and advocacy.
The faculty believes that:
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To teach is to engage in lifelong intellectual work through the merging of academic theories and research, classroom research and practice, living in the social and political world, and studying the intellectual work of children to produce practices and knowledge in the best interest of children in a socially just, democratic society.
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To teach is to be persistent in learning through inquiry into something or someone; such inquiry is richer and more generative when done collaboratively.
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To teach is to act on part of something or someone; such action should be conscious, purposeful, well informed, and ethical.
The Early Childhood Teacher Education Program takes four semesters to complete. Every semester, students spend time in local elementary classrooms, primarily in the Clarke County School District. In those classrooms, students are able to actively observe, assist teachers, and tutor individual children and small groups before they eventually take responsibility for all planning and teaching in their final semester of student teaching. All clinical experiences are linked to content pedagogy and early childhood specific education courses. Successful completion of the entire program leads to teacher certification in the State of Georgia.
The Early Childhood Education B.S.Ed. program admits students in every fall and spring semester, with most students beginning the program at the start of their junior year. Because of its intellectual and professional excellence, the Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Program is classified as a high demand major–attracting far more applicants each year than it has the faculty or placement resources to admit. The Early Childhood Education Program faculty has developed a rigorous application process to select each new cohort of students; you can read more about the admissions process here.
