Preamble
Regulations for the Diploma in Education (Dip. Ed.) Specialising in Early Childhood Development (ECD) shall apply subject to provisions for both the University and Faculty General Academic Regulations.  General Faculty Regulations shall normally take precedence over specific degree special regulations where both are read together.

Aims
The programme is designed to equip students with theoretical and practical knowledge,
skills, attitudes and values in handling ECD children from diverse contexts and with different
needs.

Objectives
By the end of the programme, students should be able to:

• Care for children aged zero to eight years in different contexts;
• Understand the processes of child development from conception through to eight years;
• Apply psychological, sociological and philosophical knowledge and skills to practice;
• Appropriately contextualize different curriculum models into appropriate contexts;
• Apply gender equity principles in dealing with children aged zero to eight years; and
• Carry out basic and applied research in different settings.

Admissions
Entry requirements:
A minimum of 5 O’ Level subjects, including English, Mathematics and a Science subject.

Duration of Programme
The Dip. Ed. specialising in ECD (Pre-Service) shall take three years full time to complete.  It shall be offered on a semesterised basis.

Programme Structure

• All Dip. Ed. in Early Childhood Development (Pre-Service) students are expected to do a minimum total of nineteen courses.  To meet these requirements, students should undertake nineteen courses and a project on an approved ECD problem (a project is worth two courses).
• In the first year, students should undertake ten courses on offer.  For a student to proceed to second year, he/she should have a cumulative GPA of 2 and above.
• In the second year, students shall be on teaching practice (TP) for three school terms.
• In the third year, students shall undertake 9 courses on offer.
• In order to proceed to register for the project, a student must have passed Introduction to Research Methods in the Third Year First Semester.
• All in all, a student shall normally be required to undertake at least nineteen courses, three school terms of teaching practice and a project (equivalent to two courses).

Assessment of the Students:
Each course shall be assessed based on course work and a final examination.

The weighting shall be as follows:

Coursework                 30%
Examination                70%

Career Opportunities
Graduates of this programme would be able to work in the following different child care settings:

• Primary schools;
• Children’s ECD centres;
• Children’s hospitals;
• Prisons;
• Uniformed forces institutions;
• Civil society organisations;
• Faith based organisations; and
• Non-governmental organisations.

Programme of Study
Dip. Ed. in ECD (Pre-Service) –Three Year Programme