Your Future Career
in Education

Working with young children full time is a noble calling; and there are many ways to pursue that calling. With a degree in Early Childhood Education, you’ll have the knowledge and the skills to follow whatever path you choose. Below are a few of the careers requiring a bachelor’s degree that will open up to you:

• Public or Private Universal Pre-K Teacher
  Universal pre-kindergarten education, or UPK, is a nationwide, government-funded initiative to provide crucial early education for four-year-old children. Pre-K teachers use play techniques to help young children develop their motor skills, language skills, and social skills. Storytelling, rhyming games, cooperative play: they may all seem simple to the untrained eye, but they’re all carefully constructed to create an essential foundation for healthy childhood development. 

• Public or Private Early Childhood Teacher (Kindergarten, Grade 1, or Grade 2)
  Whether you choose to work in private or public schools, it’s also important to stay in communication with parents and guardians about upcoming assignments, events, and grades; as well as any particular learning or behavioral issues with individual students.

• Childcare Center Director
  As a childcare center director, you’ll supervise a staff of pre-K teachers and childcare workers to create a nurturing, positive educational environment for young children. You’ll oversee all of a center’s day to day activities (which may include both before- and after-school care). You’ll also do the work to make sure everyone — children and adults alike — has what they need to make every day great. You’ll develop educational program plans and standards; prepare budgets; meet with parents, guardians, and staff to review each student’s progress; and make sure all facilities are in full compliance with state-mandated regulations and educational requirements. 

• Childcare Worker
  The title of “childcare worker” covers a wide range of jobs. You might work with a preschool teacher at a childcare center; you might be a family childcare provider, taking care of other people’s children during the standard workday; you might even work for a single family. The responsibilities are many and varied. You’ll supervise children to make sure they are safe at all times; organize activities that foster early childhood development; develop schedules and routines for the children under your care; and provide dependable support to children, teachers, and parents and guardians. 

• Special Education Teacher
  Disabilities come in many forms. Some students may have physical disabilities that require the use of a wheelchair or other devices; some have learning disabilities; others, sensory disabilities like imparied vision or hearing; and still others may be on the autism spectrum, or have emotional disorders like anxiety or depression. Whatever a student’s issues may be, special education teachers are there for all of them. 

  Special education teachers can wear many different hats. They may work one-on-one with students, or in a classroom setting. They may adapt general education lessons for students with mild to moderate disabilities, or teach basic skills to students with more severe disabilities. They also develop Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, for each student.

• School Counselor
  School counselors help young children develop essential skills for successful lives, both socially and academically. They may help students build good decision making and study skills, and meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children’s progress. As a school counselor, you’ll also identify any special needs that a child may have, so that you can help teachers and administrators develop an appropriate curriculum.

• Home-Based Service Provider
  Home-based service providers are a type of childcare worker that works with children outside of an institutional setting. They may work with children in either their own homes or the child’s home. Home-based providers are responsible for creating a safe environment for children, as well as a stimulating one. They take the lead in planning appropriate activities — both educational and recreational — and nutritious meals.

• Childhood Development Researcher
  As a child development researcher, it will be your job to make sure every child under your watch receives the care they need to thrive, both in school and in life. You’ll use the knowledge you’ve gained to identify developmental and psychological disorders in young children, and then act as an advisor to teachers, administrators, parents, and guardians. You’ll help develop therapy plans that include counseling, nutritional planning, and educational programs. You’ll then take steps to ensure that all the adults in a child’s life know how to follow those plans to create a safe, healthy environment. As they progress through their careers, childhood development researchers may also go on to earn their masters degrees as well.   

• Changing Lives — Including Your Own
  If you want to help young children develop their full potential, then a degree in Early Childhood Education may be just what you need to achieve yours. Whether you work in a classroom, a school administration, or in the home, there will always be a need for talented, qualified people in childcare and education. Whatever career path you choose, you’ll feel secure in knowing that there will always be a demand for your skills. And the rewards you reap will amount to far more than just a dependable salary: you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve changed young lives for the better.

  Kindergarten or early elementary school teachers work with students as they learn multiple subjects throughout the day, including English, social studies, math and science. They may also choose to specialize in a particular subject like art, music, or physical education. 

You never forget the teachers who believed in you. They were the ones who did more than just teach you the basics; they taught you to believe in yourself. For some of us, that memory is so powerful that it inspires us to do the same — to make a difference in the lives of young people. 

A degree in Early Childhood Education will give you the skills you need to lift up young minds. Maybe you’ll do it as a teacher; as a counselor; or maybe you’ll do it by pioneering new research in childhood development. 

Want to show others that there’s no limit to what they can achieve? With a degree in Early Childhood Education, there’s no limit to what you can achieve. Your degree will be just the beginning. Read on to discover the many ways you can help others fulfill their potential.

Early childhood is an incredible time of life. From birth until grade 2, changes come at a rapid pace; and no two children develop quite the same way. Educating young children means being able to anticipate these changes, and respond to them in the moment.  With a degree in Early Childhood Education, you’ll master the diverse cognitive, cultural, developmental, and linguistic needs of young children, so that you can help give them the kind of start in life that everyone deserves.

With a faculty of educators, teacher trainers, active and retired teachers, superintendents, and education directors, your degree program will explore:

• The foundational principles of education
• Curriculum design
• Educational and developmental psychology
• Creating an inclusive teaching environment
• Literacy and numeracy in early childhood
• English language learners and multicultural issues
• Parenting perspectives and issues
• And much, much more.

Just as valuable as what you learn in your classes will be what you learn in someone else’s. From your very first semester at Monroe, you’ll be assigned a real teacher to observe — and assist — in their classroom. Guided fieldwork will be a key component of your degree program, and you’ll have plenty of other internship opportunities after that. You’ll see firsthand how the concepts you’ve learned apply to real-world scenarios.