Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership

Fanshawe’s Honours Early Childhood Leadership (ECL) baccalaureate prepares graduates to take a leadership role in Ontario's early childhood settings, family support programs or early intervention services. The goal of the program is to prepare childhood professionals with program leadership capacity to move into supervisory/director positions in a full range of early childhood programs and/or to further their studies in graduate programs such as the Bachelor of Education and Master of Education programs.

Did you know Fanshawe consistently ranks high in graduation employment rates among large colleges in Ontario? 

Here are some examples of career opportunities for graduates of Fanshawe’s Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership program:

Early Childhood Educator
Enthusiastic and passionate about working with children aged three months to four years.

Au Pair
Care for children working with private families in a variety of international locations including England, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, China, Australia and New Zealand.

Early Childhood Educator

Collaborate with a classroom teacher to plan and implement an early learning program.

The first two field experiences in Level 2 and Level 4 are completed concurrently with course work.  Students will be expected to demonstrate their ability to apply their growing knowledge of children's early learning and development taking into account the context of their daily lives in families and residential and cultural communities. They will also demonstrate increasing abilities to design, implement and to evaluate curriculum for individuals and groups of children. 

The third field experience is a 14-week work term in an early childhood program, related child and family service, or relevant government department.  The focus of the work term is on the students' growing understanding about the conditions that guide and promote effective curriculum and pedagogy.  Students’ preparation and acquisition of their internship placement is supported via a seminar in level 6 before the work term.

The fourth field placement is concurrent with Level 7 and aligns with courses in early childhood studies, curriculum leadership, and managing projects. Students will continue in their work term site and complete a project related to pedagogy or curriculum. They will work with the site to identify an issue and collaborate with appropriate staff and families to complete the project.

Steps to Pursue this Pathway:

1. Students will need to first meet one of the following requirements:

• Students completing semester 4 of the Fanshawe ECE diploma program before the May start of the bridging semester who will have a minimum GPA of 2.5.
• Graduates of Ontario Colleges ECE programs who graduated with a minimum GPA of 2.5.

2. Students can apply for the bridging semester as follows:

• Fanshawe ECE grads may apply to the bridging semester of the Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership program (ECL1) by completing Fanshawe's Program Transfer Form. Copied below are steps to help students complete the Program Transfer Form for entering the bridge term.    
• Contact admissions@fanshawec.ca at the Office of the Registrar for more information.  The bridging semester is offered during the summer term.  Students will enter level 5 of the ECL program in the fall term after completing the summer bridge. 
• Non-Fanshawe applicants please apply via ontariocolleges.ca under Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership Degree Completion Ontario College Two-Year Diploma Grads.

3. Students will need to then successfully complete the four bridging courses during the May to August term:

• Two composite courses (Bridging Course #1 Evidence Based Practice in Early Childhood and Bridging Course #2 Introduction to Early Childhood Leadership) for a total of six credits
• PLUS Composition & Rhetoric from the Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership program
• PLUS One Degree Level Breadth Course Elective (it is recommended that this be a subject other than an SOSC course)

4. Successful bridging students will enter Level 5 of the Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership degree in September.

Steps for Completing the Program Transfer Form (Fanshawe Graduates Only):

For More Information:

Please contact Sandra Lackenbauer, Program Coordinator (slackenbauer@fanshawec.ca).

1.  To apply to the bridge program please complete this form: https://forms.fanshawec.ca/readmission_program_transfer, it does require that you log in with your Fanshawe ID (same as FOL)

2.   Select 'No' to indicate that you are not applying to level 1.

3.   Select 'No' to indicate that you are not wishing to return part-time.

4.   Select 'Yes' to indicate that you are applying for a Fanshawe internal pathway.

5. On the next page of the form, select

   • ECL1 – Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Education

   • Summer term (May start)

   • 2023

   • 4

   • London- Oxford Street

   • Online

   • Feel free to add notes if you wish – you can add “application bridge program” if desired

Students may further their studies in B.Ed. programs (Teachers College) at Canadian universities, as well as internationally. Graduates may also pursue their Master of Education, Master of Social Work, or Master of Arts degree.

Fanshawe’s Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership grads have gone on to successfully pursue:

• Bachelor of Education – Teachers' College
• Master of Education
• Master of Social Work- Children’s Hospital
• Ministry of Education – Early Years Consultant
• Ministry of Education- Policy Analyst
• International Work- Supervisor Children’s Museum
• Women’s Community House
• Supervisors, R.E.C.E. Early Years Settings

Pathway opportunities include:

Western University, Queens University, Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, Brock University, Trent University, Ryerson University, OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, York University, Sligo (Ireland), Griffith (Australia), major universities across Canada.