Course

Professional Growth and Communication

Faculty
Applied Community Studies
Department
Early Childhood Education
Course Code
ECED 1211
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
Flexible delivery ranging over 1 to 15 weeks
Max Class Size
30
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Online
Typically Offered
Winter

Overview

Course Description
In this course, students will apply their knowledge of self and interpersonal skills to early childhood education settings. Emphasis will be placed on enhancing communication within the staff team, creating meaningful partnerships with parents, valuing diversity and working effectively within the professional community.
Course Content

The following global ideas guide the design and delivery of this course:

  1. To function fully as an early childhood Educator, one must work from a well-defined set of personal values, be familiar with the professional code of ethics, and understand the process of applying values and ethics in the workplace.
  2. In the role of early childhood educator, one works cooperatively with others, thereby modeling the desired team approach to children.  The development of effective skills for relating interpersonally is essential to fulfilling that role.
  3. Understanding and valuing diversity means that all children and families are encouraged to develop to their full potential and are appreciated for their individual gifts and abilities, culture, race, gender, ethnicity, age and social class.
  4. Those who value diversity adapt the whole child care environment to reflect an understanding of, and appreciation for, the developmental, social, cultural and lifestyle realities of the families in the program and of the larger community.
  5. The early childhood educator takes every opportunity (both formally and informally) to communicate with parents for the purpose of establishing and maintaining strong partnerships between families and ECE centre staff.
  6. To be successful in helping families who are seeking information and support, early childhood educators must understand the limits of their professional roles, and know when and how to refer parents to appropriate community resources.
Learning Activities
  • Lecture
  • Discussions
  • Group Work
  • Audio-visual Aids
  • In-class Exercises
Means of Assessment

This course will conform to Douglas College policy regarding the number and weighting of evaluations.

  • Written Reports
  • Interviews
  • Group Projects
Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Learn and practice skills for effectively working within the staff team.
    • Describe the role of collaboration in working with children, families, colleagues and the community
    • Describe the characteristics of effective and ineffective groups
    • Identify obstacles to group functioning
    • Describe effective leadership qualities
    • Examine personal leadership style.
  2. Learn and practice a range of interpersonal skills for use in ECE settings, including:
    • Effective listening and responding skills
    • Assertive communication skills
    • Interpersonal problem solving skills
    • Basic conflict resolution skills.
  3. Gain knowledge about child care in British Columbia
    • Identify and apply the provincial child care regulation to early childhood settings
    • Identify and describe the types of child care programs found in BC
    • Examine the roles and responsibilities of ECE practitioners.
  4. Gain knowledge about working in partnerships with families
    • Setting the tone and sharing information during initial meetings with families
    • Helping the child and family to make the transition from home to child care centre
    • Identify societal and other factors affecting today’s families
    • Demonstrate knowledge of a diverse range of family situations (e.g., living in poverty, divorced parents, recent immigrants to Canada, etc.) and identify strategies used by caregivers to support these families
    • Describe family-centred, culturally sensitive child care
    • Describe effective practices or establishing relationships with families, including:
    • Describe ways in which parents can be encouraged to participate in the child care program
    • Identify the steps involved in planning and implementing parent-teacher conferences.
  5. Demonstrate writing in the workplace, including:
    • The centre brochure
    • The parent handbook
    • Documentations for families
    • Parent newsletters
Textbook Materials

T.B.A.

Requisites

Prerequisites

No prerequisite courses.

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for ECED 1211
Capilano University (CAPU) DOUG ECED 1211 (3) & DOUG ECED 2320 (3) = CAPU EDUC 178 (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) No credit
Simon Fraser University (SFU) No credit
Trinity Western University (TWU) No credit
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV ECE 1XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) No credit

Course Offerings

Summer 2024