School of Liberal Arts Faculty
Gain valuable insights from our School of Liberal Arts faculty, who are here to help you every step of the way.
Learn about the developmental needs while exploring your academic interests with a major in Early Childhood Education at Dean College.
Program Overview
The Early Childhood Education program at Dean is designed to provide you with a solid foundation of skills and knowledge in the fundamentals of childcare and education for young children.
Dean College offers an associate degree and bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, which prepares students for certification through the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) as Preschool Teacher, Lead Teacher and Infant-Toddler Teacher.
You’ll study the developmental stages of young children, developmentally appropriate teaching methodologies, adaptive curriculum planning, partnering with families and evaluation of children and programs, and more as you prepare for career opportunities with young children from infancy through age six in the mixed-delivery system outside the public schools.
You will gain valuable hands-on experience in our on-campus lab school, which reflects current research in child development and early childhood education. The student teaching experience requires a minimum of 200 hours working directly with children in an approved placement. You will work with an assigned college supervisor and an EEC licensed, site-based cooperating practitioner, increasingly taking responsibility for managing the classroom, designing learning experiences, and communicating with families and administrators. You’ll also develop a performance portfolio documenting your competencies and attend scheduled seminars.
Requirements for Certification
The Early Childhood program is designed specifically for EEC certification in Massachusetts and certification may not be required for this purpose in other states. The institution has not determined whether this program meets other states’ requirements for certification or professional licensure. Please go to https://childcareta.acf.hhs.gov/licensing or http://ceelo.org/state-map/ for more information on requirements in your state. Dean College’s Program Coordinator of Early Childhood Education is available to work individually with out of state students who are considering certification to review the information from their state. For further information, please contact Joanne Hogan, Program Coordinator of Early Childhood Education at 508-541-1525 or jhogan3@dean.edu. Students should verify whether this program will meet their home state’s or their intended state’s practice requirements for licensure and/or certification.
Beyond the Classroom
Practice your skills and put your knowledge to use in the world. At Dean, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get hands-on childcare experience.
You'll have the opportunity to immerse yourself in a 14-hour-per-week practicum at the Dean College Children’s Center, an accredited laboratory school right on campus. Through the practicum, you'll:
- Develop your teaching and childcare skills while working alongside the Children's Center professional instructors.
- Plan and teach lessons.
- Learn about behavior management, schedules and routines, problem-solving with children, observation and assessment, how to develop a curriculum based on children’s interests and what’s developmentally appropriate, and more.
- Meet with parents to discuss their children's development.
- Build relationships with families by participating in events such as parent orientation, parent nights and social programs.
- Receive guidance, feedback and support from faculty members and professional instructors.
Graduates of our Early Childhood Education program can enjoy careers as preschool teachers, childcare assistant directors, educational administrators, early childhood education curriculum coordinators, child life specialists and more.
Get Involved
Learn more about how to get involved with our student-run organizations and experiential learning opportunities.-
Internships & Experiential Learning Gain hands-on experience through practicums, internships and early childhood education programming. -
Community Service Give back to the community on campus and in Franklin.
-
Student Clubs & Activities Join one of our 40+ student organizations or start one of your own.
Uniquely Dean
Discover the unique programming that the Early Childhood Education program has to offer.
- Gain hands-on experience through the completion of an on-campus practicum at the Dean College Children's Center.
- Hear from guest speakers who visit Dean to share stories of their professional journeys, offer advice and counsel, and provide valuable networking contacts.
- Learn firsthand from experienced faculty and professional teachers at the Children’s Center.
- Participate in early childhood programming at the Franklin Public Library, just steps from campus.
- Interested in teaching dance or incorporating creative movement as an educator? Learn about creative movement for children with our Dance program.
Dean helped me prepare for my career by offering classes that are relevant and crucial to my fields of study. Having a degree in both Dance and Early Childhood Education is tremendously helpful because I have more of an awareness of what is developmentally appropriate and possible for a young child, as well as methods of classroom behavior management that I currently use in my both dance and preschool classes.
I completed my student teaching at the Tobin Children’s School, where I had the opportunity to create lesson plans, do activities with the children, meet and converse with some of the families, and learn a new way of observing and assessing children’s development. I am now returning to Tobin to work as a Pre-K teacher, where my role is to provide a positive, developmentally appropriate environment for young children.
Having the lab school on campus creates a real-life environment to practice the skills we learn in the classroom by building up hours each semester and putting lesson plans in action. Being able to spend so much time observing the lab school teachers and speaking with them also helped me feel more comfortable in a classroom setting. I am now working at a job that my professors recommended me for, because they were able to see my classroom skills in the lab school.
I’m able to be very hands-on in both Theatre and Early Childhood Education, working both in the Children’s Center and on Main Stage shows from the get-go. I love that the experience I’m getting will one day help me give students the ability to express their feelings through theatre.
Recent Stories
Check out the news and stories below to learn more about being an Early Childhood Education major at Dean.