New Academic Program announced at Brevard College: Teacher Licensure Program in Childhood Education with an Early Childhood Concentration.
Brevard College’s Teacher Education Program announced a new Teacher Licensure Area in Childhood Education with an Early Childhood concentration and Birth-Kindergarten licensure or non-licensure option. The program will begin this fall.
The Birth-Kindergarten curriculum follows the mission of Brevard College by providing an experiential liberal arts education that encourages personal growth and inspires artistic, intellectual, and social action. The program offers a curriculum that includes nature-based education, trauma informed practices with training in resiliency, as well as working with family and community partners. Coursework includes classes on Environmental Pedagogy, Methods in Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Theory and Practice of Experiential Education, and Nature-Based Early Childhood Curriculum
Brevard College partnered with Blue Ridge Community College (B.R.C.C.) this past spring to create an articulation agreement so that B.R.C.C. students who have earned their Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree in Early Childhood Education could continue their B.A. in Early Childhood at Brevard College.
The Brevard College Birth-Kindergarten licensure program partners with Transylvania County’s “Get Set Transylvania,” an Early Childhood Initiative (E.C. I.) with over 24 local organizations, all combining efforts to help the area’s youngest children. The E.C.I. also partners with Sesame Street in Communities, a nationwide initiative that supports parents, caregivers, and community providers in their efforts to give all children a strong and healthy start. Teacher Candidates will use Sesame Street’s social-emotional learning materials.
“Research continues to show us that the early years (birth through kindergarten) are the most important time for cognitive and social-emotional development in an individual’s life. It is imperative that we have early childhood educators who have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to facilitate the growth and development of young children. Brevard College, with the help of our early childhood partners in the county and region, look forward to educating these teachers,” said Dr. Betsy Burrows, Director of Teacher Education at Brevard College.
Brevard College partners with Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) Early Childhood Education Scholarship Program. The T.E.A.C.H. scholarship program addresses the issues of under-education, poor compensation and high turnover within the early childhood workforce and offers scholarships and grants to help pay for tuition for working childcare educators who want to earn a degree or license in early childhood education.
Please contact Dr. Betsy Burrows, Director of Teacher Education, at bburrows@brevard.edu or Dr. Megan Keiser, Early Childhood Education (ECE) Coordinator, kesiermm@brevard.edu or Liz Fuller, ECE Instructor, fullerea@brevard.edu for more information.
Brevard College is consistently recognized as one of the best liberal arts colleges. The College’s focus on experiential learning, small class sizes, and location the mountains of Western North Carolina near Asheville makes Brevard a top choice college for students around the world.