BACHELOR of EARLY CHILDHOOD CURRICULUM STUDIES
Field Placements
Apply classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios, gain experience working with children—in Early Childhood Curriculum Studies you gain practical experience starting in the first year of the program.
Field placements are hosted by child care programs as well as by family support agencies, government offices and a variety of community organizations. Whether you exit the program with a two-year diploma or go the distance with the degree, future employers know you have the hands-on experience that will make you an asset to their program.
First- and second-year placements
In the first two years of the program, you complete four field placements and accumulate enough hours to meet Alberta Child Care Staff Certification requirements for Level 3 Early Childhood Educator certification through Alberta Children’s Services.
During your field placement, you are supported by both an on‐site supervising mentor and a MacEwan faculty member.
Your on-site supervising mentor helps you take part in the daily life of the setting, reflect on your experiences and build your understanding of early learning and professional practice.
Early Childhood Curriculum Studies faculty visit you regularly to provide guidance, answer questions and support your reflection on professional practice, including your planning for children’s play. You also receive detailed information about placement policies, procedures, expectations and assessment requirements.
A MacEwan field education facilitator finds a placement for you.
Senior internship and capstone project
In the final year of your degree, you work for 150 hours as a senior intern at an early childhood organization. The internship (ECCS 455 Senior Internship in Research, Policy, and Practice) focuses on curriculum development and implementation, research in early learning, advanced practice with children and families and pedagogical leadership. As a senior intern, you integrate the skills and apply the knowledge you’ve developed throughout the program.
The experience you gain and the research you undertake during the internship is distilled in a capstone project, which is produced in ECCS 450, a required, three-credit, end-of-program course. Your capacity for independent intellectual work and professional responsibility are demonstrated through the capstone project.
Upon completion of the capstone course and your senior internship, you are well positioned to function with integrity in the field guided by professional principles, values, ethics and expectations. You are prepared to advocate for social justice, policy change and sustainability issues related to children and families and for advancing the field of early childhood.
Your MacEwan faculty coordinator is responsible for finding you a senior internship; however, you are invited to be part of the process for selecting the internship and the correlating capstone project.
International students must have a valid study permit with authorization to work on campus written on their permit before starting their field placement, clinical practice or practicum. If you plan to work with vulnerable populations in a health, community or medical field, you need an up-to-date medical exam by an IRCC-approved panel physician before starting the work placement.
You must contact MacEwan International to check your student work placement eligibility.