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Bachelor's in Early Care and Education (BECE)

TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF CHILDREN

ENROLL IN THE BACHELOR OF EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION DEGREE PROGRAM

Who Should Apply to Our Program

  • You believe in teaching and learning with your mind and your heart
  • You are passionately committed to the education of young children, birth to five years of age
  • You intend to make a difference in children’s lives and you recognize that all children deserve the best education we can provide

What You’ll Learn

  • To teach young children from birth to five years of age, with a range of skills and abilities, including young children with special needs
  • To understand child development, to create high quality curriculum and learning environments and to work successfully with parents, families, and communities
  • To effectively develop children’s innate talents and strengths; to include children from all cultural, socio-economic, and linguistic backgrounds; and to provide children with math, literacy, and social skills necessary for future school success
You’ll grow in confidence as a teacher, as you learn the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed in today’s early childhood classrooms and programs.

Meet your CCEI Faculty

Dr. Nancy Brown

Nancy Brown Dr. Brown is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education. She also serves as Faculty in Residence at the Karen Slattery Educational Research Center for Child Development, FAU’s early childhood demonstration lab school. She teaches courses in the BECE degree and in the graduate program.

Dr. Brown is recognized as a leader and innovator in the field of early childhood education, and is the author of a book entitled Internationalizing Early Childhood Curriculum: Foundations of Global Competence. She is a child advocate at the United Nations where she represents the Association for Childhood Education International, and she works with the NGO Committee on UNICEF. Dr. Brown is on the editorial board of the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education. She is a national and international professional developer, researcher, educational consultant, and keynote speaker. Her expertise is in early childhood curriculum, leadership, child development, and the arts in early childhood education.

She has been employed as an early childhood lead teacher, director of preschools, Graduate Dean, writer, faculty member and consultant. Her greatest pleasure and passion is in mentoring her students to become outstanding, successful, contributing members of the early childhood professional community. She believes in creativity, inspirational leadership and innovation, and she is enthusiastic about the future of early childhood education for young children around the world.

Dr. Brown earned her doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University, and her Master’s degree at Bank Street College of Education. She additionally completed post-doctoral studies in educational leadership. You can read her full resume at https://www.fau.edu/education/faculty/nbrown29/.

Dr. Yash Bhagwanji

Yash Bhagwanji Dr. Yash Bhagwanji is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education. He advises and mentors students as a Faculty Advisor and teaches required and elective courses in the BECE and graduate programs.

Dr. Bhagwanji’s expertise covers early childhood development, early childhood curriculum, early intervention, and family involvement. He is also a leading innovator in the field of early childhood environmental education. His Early Childhood Environmental Education Rating Scale: A Formative Evaluation Tool to Help Programs Improve Nature Education for Young Children (https://naaee.org/eepro/resources/early-childhood-environmental-education-rating-scale-eceers) has received national attention and assisted many programs in charting new innovations in programming. As a founding member of the Natural Start Alliance (https://naturalstart.org/), he advocates children’s connections with nature and champions places of nature as important settings of learning for all children. He is recipient of a national award from the North American Association of Environmental Education, which recognized his contributions in advancing Early Childhood Environmental Education as an important element of children’s curriculum. Dr. Bhagwanji is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education (https://naaee.org/eepro/resources/international-journal-early-childhood-3).

Prior to becoming a professor, Dr. Bhagwanji was an Infant/Toddler Teacher at a pioneering early childhood center that served children with and without special needs in Oklahoma City. He received his Ph.D. in Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In his capacity as a professor, he has been the recipient of many state and national grants related to improving early education as well as family services. For more information about Dr. Bhagwanji’s experiences and credentials, please see https://www.fau.edu/education/faculty/bhagwanji/.

How we Support Student Success

Faculty actively engage in supporting student success from the time they enter the BECE program to their graduation and beyond. Relationships with students respond to and promote individual student interests and needs. Some examples are:

  • Encourage cutting edge teaching practices
  • Visit community-based educational and related sites with students
  • Promote a positive, supportive learning community of diverse students
  • Engage community leaders in supporting the career development of our students
  • Provide connections with established sources of scholarship funding (Strong Minds, T.E.A.C.H.)
  • Nominate and recognize student excellence in the College, University and the community
  • Assist students in seeking employment, and
  • Explore opportunities for continuing higher education

How to Apply

The advisors at the Office for Academic and Student Services (OASS) are the first point of contacts for all students and there are three locations to serve you. Please visit or contact the advisors at:

Undergraduate Student Advising/Admission Contacts for the College of Education

Please see these websites for additional information about the BECE program of study