Certificate in early childhood education
Reema Saffarini reports on the new course being introduced this month.
Reema Saffarini reports on the new course being introduced this month
If you want to become an expert in early childhood education, the Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT) Al Ain is providing a programme that begins this month.
The aim to meet the requirements of a variety of childcare institutes such as nurseries, playgroups and out of school care.
"This Higher National Certificate (HNC) course can open the path for many people who are looking for a career in early childhood education but do not have the necessary academic requirements to go directly into an undergraduate or postgraduate degree programme," said Caroline Borthwick, HNC facilitator at CERT Al Ain.
For the past three years, Caroline has been running a similar foundation course in early years education through the Scottish Pre-school and Playworks Foundation in the UK.
"The course provides theoretical and practical experience on how to deal with children. It is a stepping stone for those interested in continuous professional development," Borthwick told Notes.
Admission to the programme is open to students and adults of all nationalities who meet the general admission requirements of the programme.
Applicants can complete the programme within a year as full-time students or in 18 months as part-time students.
"The completion of the HNC course will allow people to either work in the field of childcare and early education, leading them to the Professional Development Award (PDA) or a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Childcare and Education or access to university courses and a degree in childhood studies," said Borthwick.
The PDA is a certificate in Childcare and Education usually awarded to qualified and experienced nursery nurses.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority will be awarding the certificates.
The SQA is a national body in Scotland responsible for the development, accreditation, assessment and certification of qualifications and certificates.
Borthwick added that various assessment techniques would be used such as case studies, investigations and reports.
The curriculum will cover subjects on development and learning, facilitating play-work opportunities, promoting language and literacy in early childhood, working with children between the ages of three and five and other topics relevant to the programme.
The course also requires workplace experience. This course is being promoted at an international conference for early years education to be held for three days in December in Al Ain.
The HNC programme begins in mid-November and next February.
Who can participate?
- Any teacher(s), student(s), secondary school, college or university in the GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE)
- The project must be in use (or being piloted) and involve the use of IT in education
- Projects which are previous winners of the UAE IT Challenge cannot be entered
- For more information log on to www.uaechallenge.com
Project categories
The challenge invites projects from the following GCC educational sectors:
- Secondary schools
- Colleges and universities
- E-commerce
- Organisational and commercial sectors
Project presentation
Student projects may include:
- A student-created website
- A student online newspaper or printed newspaper created using information technology
- An individual student computer project or projects utilising Information Technology
Teachers' projects
- Teacher(s) websites used in classes by students
- WebCT (e-learning software) courses, courses on CD-ROM and video and virtual reality sites
- Projects that involve linking students with counterparts in different schools.
- Remedial programmes that use IT.
Log on to www.uaechallenge.com which has a database of more than 700 projects. Previous winning projects can also be found.
The criteria for judging projects?
Innovation
- How does the project captivate/engage the audience?
- What is unique about this project?
Community
- How many people are developing the project?
- Does the project involve other universities/schools?
- Is the project useful to a wider community?
Educational value
- What are the skills learned from the project?
- How can the project be used to educate others?
- What are the problems this project aims to solve and how does it solve them?
Social impact
- What is the future of the project?
- How does the project address social equality?
- How does the project empower its audience?
- How does the project deal with issues objectively?
Awards ceremony
All finalists and winners will display their projects next April.
Prize
- Best student project
- Best teacher project
- Best E-commerce project
- Best Organisation and commercial project
- Two awards for UAE nationals only
The judging panel
The jury will comprise 100 judges and representatives from the Ministry of Education, the IT industry, education sectors and some members from international IT challenge juries.
The jury is headed by Dr Abdullah Al Karam, CEO of the Dubai Knowledge Village.
