Horizon Campus launches internationally renowened early childhood degree
Despite increasing global awareness of the importance of early childhood education, Sri Lanka currently lacks professionally run early childhood degrees of international standards with the right curriculum and the model classrooms faculties to produce competent early childhood specialist teachers. The Montessori, kindergarten, and nursery schools in the country today are little more than play groups and is out of step with pre- schools in most developed countries.
As the early childhood stage lays a foundation for a child’s values, attitudes as well as social and personal habits it should not be left to a hit and miss developmental exposure that can be a retrograde step for developing countries such as Sri Lanka.
In order to meet this skill gap, Horizon Campus has launched a versatile Bachelor’s Degree programme in Early Childhood Education with global acceptance that comprises of many different specialisation tracks. This degree prepares students for education in early child growth and development and early childhood education. Students benefit from an experienced faculty that is made up of some of the key professionals in the field.
CEO of Horizon Campus Mr.Ajitha Wanasighe giving an insight into the programme said “We can define “early childhood” as the period a child goes through the most rapid phase of growth and development. Their brains develop faster than at any other point in their lives, so these years are critical. The foundations for their social skills, self-esteem, perception of the world and moral outlook are established during these years, as well as the development of cognitive skills. Hence, in these formative years children need good teachers to help begin their learning journey in life.”
He added “teachers in early education need to be creative and be highly adaptable to continuously come up with new ways to guide children through their early learning stages. They must think outside their own mature perspective ,be able to place themselves in their students’ shoes and have the right temperament of patience, creativity, sensitivity, communication skills and ability to connect with children , figure out what motivates a very young child and how to hold a toddler’s interest and make their learning fun.”
“Our Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Early Childhood Education offers the qualifications to work as an early childhood education and care teacher and pre-primary education teacher and provides an indepth knowledge of early childhood foundations, development, and learning. The programme is rigorous and includes basic and intermediate studies in education with the co structure of the programme giving a high weightage to a curriculum that focuses on young children’s growth and development including cognitive, social, emotional and perceptual-motor development. Students become familiar with various assessments and developmentally appropriate learning environments for young children. It also includes practical experience, where lessons in the classrooms are very hands-on, involving arts and crafts, storytelling, exercise, educational games and more.””
He further elaborated “Some children have special conditions which require additional expert care. This includes early identification to learning disabilities that can range from Dyslexia to Autism Often, in our country, children with these special needs are not addressed and are separated from normative activities which hampers their growth and abilities. Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Charles Darwin and Sir Isaac Newton all suffered from Autism but the correct guidance given in their early years made them overcome their difficulties and be brilliant personalities of their own right. Our degree provides up-to- date knowledge about contemporary issues in disability, child development and learning and covers specialisation techniques on handling children with special needs, incorporating strategies that can help them read, write and add.”
Students graduating from the programme develop a skill set to be experts on matters related to childhood growth, development, and learning. They will also understand the importance of responsiveness and interaction in education and teaching and will be able to use their knowledge scientifically in their work.
The degree is award by Asia e university Malaysia and is internationally benchmarked and approved by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education and accredited by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). For further information, visit the Horizon Campus
website on www.horizoncampus.edu.lk.