Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood)

The Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) program is a four-year full-time degree program requiring the successful completion of 480 credit points of study. It is designed for both pre-service and in-service students and is offered at Sonoma Adventist College.

The program is designed to be relevant, practical and specific to the educational needs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church throughout the South Pacific. It also accommodates the needs of other students who desire a Christian foundation for their Early Childhood programs of study. It is designed primarily for in-service students. The program has been constructed to develop competent, reflective teachers and graduates and are thus, recognized by the Teaching Service Commission of Papua New Guinea as eligible to teach across the whole curriculum in national primary schools.

Students combine studies in Early Childhood with both theoretical and practical aspects of education. The course requires the completion of a range of specialist subjects in education and professional studies. Each student also completes a core selection of religion studies that integrate moral values and learning. In each year, students develop skills in classroom competence and spend a total of a minimum of 320 hours over a duration of 80 days on supervised teaching practice in allocated primary schools. 

Degree Structure
A minimum of 480 semester credit points of study must be completed to qualify for the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) degree. Nested within the degree is a three year Advanced Diploma of Education (Early Childhood). In order for a student to be invited to continue on into the fourth year of the degree program students must have achieved a 2.2 CGPA by the end of their 6th semester.