Early Childhood & Family Policy Graduate Certificate

This course focuses on the practice of ECEC, as well as the role of families and policymakers in altering practices and policies. Beginning with sessions that are designed to provide rich background, the course offers an analysis of the critical forces that shaped contemporary ECEC. Following this, current services and policies are examined, as are inventive theories about how to organize such services to achieve optimal quality, equity, sustainability, and efficiency. With this background in mind, sessions turn to more detailed examination of the diverse challenges that characterize the field. Positioned to be both realistic and optimistic, the sessions confront the issues and unveil some of the thinking and efforts to redress them. In so doing, the course focuses on quality and diverse efforts to achieve it; the lack of equity; the need for more effective approaches to the workforce, funding, and governance; and the importance of parental voice. By its conclusion, you will have familiarity with policies governing and shaping ECEC, as well as challenges and potential solutions. You will be given diverse opportunities to apply your learnings through a series of individual and group projects.