Integrated Early Childhood
The Early Childhood Education (ECED) program aims to actively engage and thoughtfully and rigorously prepare early childhood educators to develop culturally responsive, anti-bias, and anti-racist teaching practices toward becoming a social advocate for educational equity in the primary grades (Pre-K-3) and beyond. Through coursework, field experiences, and student teaching (Residency I and II), undergraduate and graduate students gain knowledge, skills, dispositions, and strategies needed to advance equity and support young children’s learning across developmental stages (birth to age eight) within diverse contexts, leading to initial Pre-K-3 Tennessee State Teacher Certification.
The ECED program encourages and supports the development and use of culturally inclusive and culturally sustaining critical theories, perspectives, and practices to advance contextually appropriate practices developed in collaboration with local cultures and communities.
Learn More About Integrated Early Childhood
What We Can Teach You:
The Integrated Early Childhood program prepares culturally competent educators to work with young children, from birth through eight-years-old, from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse backgrounds. Our degree programs will help you study:
- Core content and critical early childhood pedagogical skills essential to educating young children from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse backgrounds
- Theoretical and practical experience in typical and atypical development of young children in the context of their families, cultures and communities
- Skills for providing a community environment that is child-centered, as well as being culturally responsive and responsible
- Approaches to adapting curricula, assessments, and learning environments for students with diverse needs and abilities
- Strategies for supporting academic and social-emotional learning at all stages of development
- Techniques for collaborating with families, communities, and other professionals
- Knowledge and skills to advocate for children with or without disabilities
- How to advance equity in early childhood
Experience and Development:
You will have opportunities to participate in field experiences and student teaching in early childhood general, special education, and urban education settings, such as preschools, Head Start centers, and elementary schools within Shelby County and the surrounding area. You will develop expertise in child/human development, curriculum, and instruction; learn to create and adapt environments that help all children develop their promise, possibilities, and their maximum potential; and gain a deep understanding of how children grow and develop intellectually, physically, and socially/emotionally.
As a prospective teacher, you will be immersed in thoughtful discussions and interactions around critical educational issues, primarily developmental, linguistic, cultural, and racial diversity and educational equity. Each course in the program is connected to either fieldwork or student teaching, generating rich and authentic reflections on and about theory, research, and practice as these relate to identity, equity, power, and justice in educational contexts including schools and communities.
Where We Can Take You:
Upon graduation, Integrated Early Childhood graduates will be eligible for initial Tennessee State Teacher Certification at the early childhood level (Pre-K-grade 3) and prepared for career opportunities such as:
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- Lead teacher in public or private childcare centers, preschools, early childhood centers, and elementary schools
- Curriculum specialist, staff developer, or program director in early childhood education
- Public and private schools in a range of capacities
- Preschool and childcare centers as directors, early childhood coordinators and supervisors
- Public and private agencies as early childhood specialists
- Higher education as researchers and faculty