Bachelor’s in Early Care and Education (BECE)-Early Childhood Education

The Bachelor’s in Early Care and Education (BECE) degree is offered jointly by the Department of Special Education and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. The main feature of this degree is that it blends the field of early childhood and early childhood special education, preparing personnel to serve the needs of young children with and without disabilities or delays. The degree is designed to prepare high-quality teachers and related personnel for employment in the fields of child care and children's services, working with young children from birth to age five.

Our Bachelor’s in Early Care and Education degree is based on the most up-to-date professional Standards (i.e., Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)-Division for Early Childhood, National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAYEC) Standards for personnel preparation). In addition to core coursework in teacher education and early childhood, students are able to tailor their program of study to meet their intended career goals through the selection of specific electives.

This is a four-year degree program; however, students who enter with a completed Associate of Arts degree are able to complete this degree within 2-2.5 years. Students are able to complete their degree full-time, or part-time by completing three courses per semester, or two courses per semester. Courses leading toward the BECE degree are offered in a variety of formats (e.g., fully online, hybrid, face-to-face) and the tuition costs at FAU are among the lowest in the nation (view full details about tuition rates), making the degree accessible to many.

Field experiences are required in all core early childhood education courses. Students apply new knowledge and build skills in many different areas, to include child observation/evaluation, curriculum planning, instructional delivery, self-evaluation, and modification of instruction. With the approval of course instructors, field experiences are largely completed within local early childhood centers, and related service agencies or settings. If employed within early care settings, we make every effort to allow students to complete their field requirements within their place of employment. Click here to learn more about our field experience program.

Once admitted, students are assigned a college and department faculty advisor, who will advise and guide them through program development and degree completion.

Note: This degree program does not fulfill the Florida Department of Education Teacher Certification requirements. Students completing the BECE degree are eligible to pursue alternative teacher certification after completing their degree. For more detailed information regarding alternative K-12 teacher certification, visit Alternative and Traditional Certification.

Program Overview

Consult the FAU Course Catalog for course descriptions and other details.

How to Apply

APPLICANTS

Applicants must first apply to FAU as a First year/freshman (applying immediately after high school) or transfer student (already earned 12 or more college credits after graduation; earned an Associates degree, or seeking a 2nd Bachelor's).

Once admitted to FAU, students who have earned 60 Credit hours, a cumulative 2.5 GPA and have passed all sections of the General Knowledge Test are invited to apply to the College of Education (COE) and the Department of Special Education (DSE) - Bachelor’s in Exceptional Student Education degree program.