The Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education is a degree program for undergraduate students at U.S.C.B. who are seeking South Carolina teaching certification. Early childhood education majors benefit from engaging hands-on experiences, opportunities to integrate theory with teaching practice, and extensive field and clinical experiences in child care settings, Head Start centers, Montessori schools, and local public schools. This program provides students with a broad academic background and the professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to work with young children, ages birth through eight.
The early childhood education program is a 123 semester-hour program. All students seeking to complete the B.A. in Early Childhood Education degree must be formally admitted into the Professional Program when they have completed a minimum of 46 semester hours, 30 of which must be completed at U.S.C.B., and met other requirements. The Pre-Professional and Professional Program sequence for early childhood education requires 67 hours of coursework focused on the development of pedagogical and content knowledge.
National Accreditation
The Department of Education is nationally accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). In August 2013, U.S.C.B.'s Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education program received "National Recognition" by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), This recognition is also part of the NCATE accreditation requirements.