The Early Childhood Assistant Program is designed to equip students with all the necessary skills to become successful educators and leaders in the ECE field. Students will learn how to support the holistic development of children in a variety of environments. Students will learn about every developmental milestone of infants, toddler, preschoolers, and school-aged students.
- Program Highlights
- Learning Outcomes
- Program Info
- Coop Placement Service
- Semesters & Courses
- Timetable
- Course Descriptions
- Career Opportunities
- Textbooks
Acquire a solid foundation in Early Childhood Education and how to support the holistic development of children in a variety of inclusive environments.
Throughout the program, students will learn about the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-aged children.
Pertinent Early Childhood skills to meet the demands of today’s Childcare Centre environment
The program structure provides experiential learning for the students as they apply the theory learned in class in their field placements.
Focus on English communication throughout program
Paid/Unpaid Field Placement
Partners for field placements in various daycare center settings.
ECA Roles and Responsibilities
Child Care and Education
Child Development
Interpersonal Communication
Behavioral Guidance
Workplace Fundamentals
Toronto Campus
Credential Upon Graduation
Ontario College Diploma
Admission Requirements
- Completion of UMC ESL Level 11 or IELTS 5.0
- Wonderlic -17
- High School Diploma evaluated by WES / PLAR
Start Date
2024: January 2nd, April 22nd, July 15th, October 7th
Program Options
Early Childhood Assistant Diploma
- Academic Study: 30 weeks (Total 791 hours)
- Total Length: 38 weeks (Includes Study Break)
Students that successfully complete all required program materials will benefit from a paid/unpaid field placement for practical experience. Although the school will provide you with such a placement, we encourage students to assist in identifying placement opportunities in fields or locations of specific interest. Students may need to participate in field placements that are within a reasonable distance to the College. Travel costs are the responsibility of the student. The College has partnered with several businesses throughout the Great Toronto Area to have a variety of settings available for our students to complete their placements.
Resume Clinics
Mock Job Interviews
Canadian Workplace Culture
Career Development Workshop
Networking Events & Job Fairs
Ongoing Placement Support
Introduction to Child Care and Education
This course is designed to introduce students to Canada’s Early Childhood Education, which includes the philosophies being used in different childcare settings, class routines, and current practices. It also introduces principles f child education that will facilitate the general understanding of typical behaviors that pertain to specific age groups.
The Early Childhood Assistant Roles and Responsibilities
In this course, students will focus on the roles and responsibilities of an Early Childhood Assistant in the ECE world in Canada. Students will research, reflect and discuss the different environments and examine how ECA’s contribute to the childcare settings. Students will also learn how to create a professional portfolio for an Early Childhood Assistant. In addition to the above, students will also design a career path with specific goals.
Introduction to Child Development
In this course, students will be introduced to different learning environments within childcare centers and outline quality in Early Childhood Education Settings. Students will also be able to identify current challenges in the Early Childhood Field. Students will also be able to design a classroom routine that involves arrival, departure, washroom routines, nap, playtime, lunch/snacks and supervision as well as compare and contrast specific age group behaviors.
Infant and Toddler Setting
This course covers the study of infant and toddler’s development, behaviors, strengths, and skills. Students will learn about the roles of an educator, methods of observation, and interpretation, setting goals, building responsive relationships, and setting supportive environments. It brings a variety of strategies to be applied in childcare settings during daily routines, but it also addresses social emotional, physical, and language development in different contexts.
Pre-school Setting
In this course, students will learn about preschoolers’ social, emotional, physical and language development through a variety of contexts, as well as different program models currently present in today’s early learning settings. The course also focuses on how to build goals and objectives for this age group and how to implement meaningful activities that will help preschoolers develop specific skills.
Field Placement/Practicum
Field Placement is the practicum portion of the ECA program. Students will attend 320 hours of unpaid placement in a licensed childcare setting, community services or EarlyOn Centers in Ontario. It is recommended that students attend placements with exposure to the infant and toddler age group to learn about their routines, development, and manner of interaction. Students will have the opportunity to interact with children, role-model appropriate behaviors, implement learning opportunities, learn about families, ministry-requirements, policies, and have their first experience of the role of an Early Childhood Assistant.
School-Age and Kindergarten Setting
This course focuses on child development theories and its applications to school agers (from 6 to 12 years of age). Students will examine different observation tools, portfolios, and class management. In addition, this course will analyze the before-and-after-school system programs, its functionalities, class routines and educator roles. This course will also introduce students to the Kindergarten Years in Ontario schools and how it differs from early learning centers. It will examine current legislations under the ministry of education, curriculum, classroom dynamics and the Registered Early Childhood Educator’s role.
Health, Safety and Nutrition
This course will cover concepts of a healthy and safe environment for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school agers. Students will reflect on current legislation and best practices to support quality health, safety, and nutrition for children. The course emphasizes on the prevention of injuries, illnesses and offers strategies to promote well-being. It highlights the importance of self-care of children and themselves as future educators.
Behavioral Guidance
This course is an in-depth study of children’s behavioral guidance that focuses on early learning settings. Students will examine various strategies to guide and support challenging behaviors depending on the child’s age and needs. In addition, students will familiarize themselves with different behavioral assessments, planning strategies, and interventions that can best support children.
Introduction to Interpersonal Communication
This course provides students skills to improve communication in a variety of contexts with focus on professional settings and childcare centers. It will give students the ability to work collaboratively in groups. Learn strategies to avoid conflicts and interact efficiently with others. It will help build interpersonal skills through theory, dialogue and practice.
Understanding Families and Communities
This course introduces strategies that will help students work collaboratively with families and communities. The course focuses on building effective partnerships among educators, families and communities within early learning and care programs. Students will be encouraged to use a strength-based approach to analyze their own communities and find effective ways to build partnerships with families in the early learning settings.
Introduction to Interpersonal Communication
This course provides students skills to improve communication in a variety of contexts with focus on professional settings and childcare centers. It will give students the ability to work collaboratively in groups. Learn strategies to avoid conflicts and interact efficiently with others. It will help build interpersonal skills through theory, dialogue and practice.
Observation and Documentation
This course will introduce the different techniques of observation and documentation used by Early Childhood Educators. Students will observe and document children’s (birth to 12 years old) behavior, skills, interests and organize information to set pedagogical goals. The goals involve planning of learning opportunities, portfolios, and specific developmental strategies based on different styles of observation and documentation.
-
Early Childhood Assistant ($19/per hour)
-
Early Childhood Educator ($21/per hour)
-
Technology-at Your Service (McGraw Hill- ISBN: 13: 9780073516875)
-
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
-
Professional Approach 2007 WORD Lessons 1-19
-
Microsoft Excel 2007 Professional Approach Lessons 1-17 (McGraw Hill- ISBN:13: 978-0073519210)
-
Microsoft PowerPoint Quick Steps Lessons 1-10 (McGraw Hill- ISBN: 10 : 0072263709)
-
SuperService: Seven Keys to Delivering Great Customer Service Lessons 1-17 (McGraw Hill-ISBN: 978-0-07-162769-6)
-
College English and Business Communications: Tenth Edition Chapters 1-11 (McGraw Hill Higher Education- ISBN-10 : 0073397121)
-
Student Activity Book to accompany College English and Business Communications
-
College English and Business (Mcgraw Hill Higher Education- ISBN: 10 : 1260287130)
-
Communications: Tenth Edition Chapters 12-20 (McGraw Hill Higher Education- ISBN-10 : 0073397121)
-
Student Activity Book to accompany College English and Business Communications (Mcgraw Hill Higher Education- ISBN:
10 : 1260287130)
-
Financial and Managerial Accounting: The Basis for Business Decisions, 17th Edition Chapters 1-5 + Comprehensive (Mcgraw Hill Higher Education)
Your Future Starts Now
Take the next step to plan your future!
Upper Madison College – Designated Learning Institution Number (DLI #) O19529728922