EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION ( ECCE) – 1 YEAR

The role of a primary/elementary teacher is to lay the foundation for the maximum development of children and provide them with a secure and positive learning environment. An elementary teacher makes a lot of difference in the lives of the young learners because a child’s preschool experience is his or her experience into the world of education. Primary/Elementary teachers should inspire young learners to develop an interest in learning and to do so they need to be thoroughly trained in the teaching methods. Pre primary teachers training programs focus on lesson planning and timetabling skills, preparing delightful materials for the children who could be engaged in playful activities like craft and drawing. Therefore, it is essential that the teachers get properly trained before they start working as a primary/elementary teacher and provide sufficient learning opportunities that facilitate maximum growth and development.

A child experiences remarkable growth before the age of five and early childhood nutrition has a great impact on a child’s physical and emotional development. An early childhood educator also called a pre-school teacher plays a significant role in helping children aged below five years by making them aware of good nutrition and develop healthy eating habits for a lifetime. This shows that an early childhood educator should have a fair idea of a child’s needs and should help in the smooth transition between home and school by providing love and care and at the same time maintaining the natural rhythm of the growth of young children. Knowledge about food, health and nutritional needs has become a prerequisite to becoming an accomplished early childhood educator. Nutrition education in early childhood plays a key role in establishing healthy attitudes and therefore, it should be age appropriate, interactive and interesting.

Pre-school education and early childhood care is mostly offered in the unorganized sectors. Most of these institutions in the country are run by individuals, private bodies and NGOs. By and large, teachers and tutors are found to be under-qualified and untrained. Therefore, there is pressing need to provide opportunities to these personnel for adequate vocational training. Since they are unable to join regular institutions, it is necessary to provide required orientation and training through open and distance learning system. Hence this course is designed and offered by the Central Institute of Open Schooling as a Certificate Course in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) as a vocational education programme at + 2 level through open and distance learning.

The course in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) consists of the Vocational Package comprising of the following three subjects:

Paper I - Understanding the Child

Paper II - Early Childhood Care & Education Principles & Processes

Paper III - Early Childhood Care & Education Principles & Processes