Early Childhood Education
Learn to nurture and inspire young minds from infancy to kindergarten and build relationships with families in our early childhood education program. Our program combines engaging learning experiences in the classroom, online and in the community to help you gain valuable teaching skills you can bring into your own classroom, child care program or home.
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Learn to Help Them Learn
Our early childhood education curriculum prepares you to implement developmentally appropriate practices and teaching strategies using a play-based approach. Learn to plan learning activities and observe, document and conduct assessments to support children's development. Our classes can support you in various roles in the early childhood workforce, from the classroom to administration and support staff roles.
Build upon industry-tailored strategies as you advance through our program to gain deeper understanding and confidence in the field. With supervised practicums in area child care programs, you practice just as you would work after you graduate. You’ll never feel ill-prepared.
In your capstone course, you create a professional portfolio to ensure your readiness to enter the field with a degree in early childhood education.
Are you preoccupied during the day? No worries! We offer evening and online courses with flexibility in mind. We truly design our program with the early childhood workforce in mind!
Our classes are built to support you as a professional along your career path. Our help and encouragement doesn't end when you receive your degree! Check out Career Pathway for Kansas Early Childhood Care and Education Professionals to find out more.
What You Can Do with an Early Childhood Education Degree
Butler will give you the building blocks to eventually start your career right away in positions like:
- Infant teacher
- Toddler teacher
- Preschool teacher
- Childcare center administrator
Classes You'll Take
These are some examples of courses in our Early Childhood Education program.
- Infant and Toddler Development
- Creative Experiences for Young Children
- Child Psychology
- Child Nutrition, Health and Safety
- Child Care Administration
Early Childhood Education (Associate of Applied Science)
Early Childhood (Certificate B)
Early Childhood Business Administration (Certificate A)
Certificate Information
Interested in an Early Childhood certificate? You can earn an ECE certificate after taking just 30 credits. And if you’re looking to take your daycare to the next level or become a childcare center administrator after earning your ECE certificate, our advanced certificate is designed specifically for the business side of childcare.
Quote from Na’Keya Bruner
I was able to really modify my contract and my family handbook. I was able to do a budget. And these were things I didn’t know about prior to going to school. I had no idea about a budget or a business plan. The information that you gain from the classes on the business side gave me so much more.
This stackable 18-credit hour program teaches you accounting with QuickBooks and other childcare business essentials like how to create a family handbook, purchase business insurance and modify contracts. View the Early Childhood Business Administration tab to learn more about that additional business-focused certificate.
Learn to start your own childcare business with strong financial and early childhood education knowledge. You’ll take nine credit hours of Early Childhood Education courses and nine credit hours of Business administration courses to earn your certificate in two semesters. Students may add additional early childhood hours and general education requirements to this certificate to complete an associate degree.
Along with learning the basics of early childhood education, they will meet the following objectives:
- Students will learn to implement the principles of administration and organization of childcare programs.
- Students will build technology literacy skills.
- Students will learn the basic issues, strategies and concepts involved in starting and managing a small business.
- Students will learn about using commercial accounting software to apply principles and procedures of accrual accounting.
Additional Information
