Our Mission

Prepare early childhood teachers and leaders with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to provide children a stimulating and developmentally appropriate inclusive early education and care program that is arts ­integrated; responsive to the uniqueness of each child, family, and community; and consistent with current best practice. 

Program Philosophy

Northampton Community College's Early Childhood Associate Degree Program Prepares students to recognize and respect each child's unique characteristics while engaging in responsive, caring relationships.  Students learn that young children use multiple symbol systems to construct and express knowledge and attitudes while they are actively engaging in their social and physical environment.  Responsive teaching and caring of young children requires thoughtful and continuous planning based on observations and assessments of children’s learning.  College students learn to foster relationships with families, professional colleagues, and community programs in support of, and advocacy for, children’s learning and well-being.

All ECE courses are based on principles of child development and include information about children with disabilities.  Interacting with children and families in various field placement settings is integrated into all curriculum courses.  We believe that students of all ages learn to build and express knowledge and feelings using multiple symbol systems, in particular, the arts.  As a result, arts expression and interpretation is included in the pedagogy of all ECE classes as a form of literacy.  Engagement in the arts also provides a process for developing thinking skills and gaining the ability to apply multiple perspectives to appreciate and value others.

Guiding Principles

The ECE faculty will help you develop your:

• ability to use multiple perspectives
• ability to be reflective
• ability to be an advocate
• ability to be professional
• artistic awareness and abilities

Program Standards

Program Standard 1:
Students use knowledge of child development and learning to understand that each child’s learning and development is unique based on multiple interacting influences including exceptionalities to create inclusive, responsive environments and experiences that are healthy, safe and arts-integrated. 

Program Standard 2:
Students use knowledge about the complex characteristics of families and communities and demonstrate the ability to use multiple perspectives to build respectful and reciprocal relationships with those families and communities. 

Program Standard 3:
Students use knowledge about systematic observation and the goals, benefits and appropriate uses of assessment to make informed decisions about environments, meaningful curriculum, and interactions with all children and families. 

Program Standard 4:
Students integrate knowledge of child development, families and communities, observations and assessment (Standards 1, 2, and 3) with knowledge of effective teaching strategies and early childhood content areas to design, implement, and evaluate learning experiences for all young children.
 
Program Standard 5:
Students use knowledge of ethical guidelines and professional standards to be continuous, collaborative learners that demonstrate knowledgeable, reflective, and critical perspectives on their work, make informed decisions that integrate knowledge from a variety of sources, and advocates for sound educational practices and policies.