Students in the ECE Online Certificate program are required to complete two Field Placements: FW1605 (5 weeks) and FW1610 (5 weeks). Provincial program standards require that learners must complete a majority of their placements in a regulated child care centre. For the Certificate program, a minimum of 260 hours must be completed in a regulated child care centre, while the remaining hours may be in a regulated family child care home, child care centre, a family child care agency, a kindergarten classroom or a family resource centre.
For those online students currently working in regulated child care, for less than 6 consecutive months from the start of FW1605, a minimum of 1 week must be completed at a College of the North Atlantic (CNA) demonstration child care centre. Written confirmation of work experience will be required. An additional week at a CNA demonstration child care centre (for a total of 2 weeks out of the required 10 weeks) will be mandatory for students not working in regulated child care.
Students will be assigned a CNA demonstration child care centre based on geographical location. Our centres are located in St. John’s, Corner Brook and Happy Valley - Goose Bay. Please note: Students will be informed of the dates and which field placement course (FW1605 or FW1610) the mandatory week(s) will be completed.
Prior to the start of a field placement, students must submit to Student Services, a current copy of at least an emergency level (one day) diploma/certificate in first aid and CPR dealing with children. A list of approved first aid training providers can be found on the Workplace NL website.
Students will be given every opportunity to receive credit for past learning experience through a comprehensive systematic process of evaluation. Once enrolled and active in the program, students will be permitted to submit PLAR applications for any courses in the program for which they believe they have already acquired the appropriate level of knowledge and skills, except: FW1610, FW2605, FW2610, EE1180, EE1181, EE2180, EE1360, EE1290, and EE2255 For further information, please refer to the
Early Childhood Education – Distributed Learning program pages.
The Certificate program graduate is awarded a Certificate of Applied Arts in Early Childhood Education from the College. This parchment indicates successful completion of one year of post-secondary education, combining theory and practical experience in the care, education, and guidance of children. Completion of this program is one of the steps towards provincial CCS Certification through
AECENL. Currently, the Early Childhood Education Certificate is eligible for Level I CCS Certification for preschool and school-age classifications.