Family Child Care certificate

The Family Child Care certificate program provides training for people who want to provide care for young children in a home setting. People who are currently providing childcare are also welcome to take the program.

Because of the variety of childcare arrangements being offered in the community, this program provides training for family childcare providers as well as nannies and parent aides. These are the people who provide care in a home-setting for small groups of young children.

In the summer of 1988, UCFV conducted a survey of family childcare providers to help determine the educational interests and needs of individuals providing in-home care for young children in the UCFV region. In 1993 UCFV wrote the provincial curriculum for all B.C. Colleges.

The B.C. Child Care Facilities Act (1978) defines family childcare as:

“The provision, in a home environment of childcare, including an opportunity for social, emotional, physical and intellectual growth, for children from birth to school age.”

The Provincial Act regulates the physical conditions under which a family childcare can operate. Trained  providers give potential consumers of this form of childcare the reassurance they need, in order to carefully select the type of care they desire. With well-trained family childcare providers, children can be cared for in their own neighbourhoods, in their own home, or near a parent’s workplace, in groups of less than five children, at reasonable cost. At present there is a critical lack of licensed and available childcare spaces.

Program goals

• To increase the number of present and potential family childcare providers.
• To increase the skills and knowledge of providers.
• To raise public awareness and the expected standard of quality.
• To encourage providers to create a network and climate of professionalism.
• To promote continued professional development through knowledge in the area of readings, organizations and other information available to other early childhood educators.
• To bridge the gap between formal and less-formal childcare providers and arrangements.
• To provide prospective employers of parent aides or nannies with a training opportunity as a condition of employment.
• To achieve a common professional understanding of liability arrangements and legal concerns in terms of care for young children.
• To provide a laddered educational program with transferability to the ECE certificate program.

Entrance requirements

Participants in this program:

• Need to be able to read and write at a post-secondary level
• Need to be in good physical and mental health. Non-smokers preferred.
• Must have a keen commitment to working with young children.

Individuals applying for the Family Childcare training program should plan to take courses in the 10-month time frame. Spaces if available will also be offered to individuals wishing to take only some of the courses listed.

Students will need to arrange for time in which they can observe a variety of family childcare settings.

UCFV reserves the right to cancel any course for which there is insufficient enrolment. Maximum class size is 24 and minimum class size is 12.

Please note:

• This program also qualifies graduates as preschool or childcare assistants.
• Completion of this program with grades of C+ or better in all courses will be considered as six credits of advanced standing toward an Early Childhood Education certificate. Successful completion will also result in preferential admittance into the ECE program for qualifying applicants. It will also result in a letter of Licensing Board equivalency to enable one to work as an assistant in a childcare setting.

How to register

Students may usually register two weeks prior to the course start date. Consult the UCFV Continuing Studies booklet for course start dates and the program head for more information.

Note: Registrations will be received as long as space is available. If enrolment is low at the Mission, Hope, or Chilliwack campus, students will be referred to the Abbotsford campus.

Fees and additional costs

Fees stated are in effect for 2003/04 and are subject to change for 2004/05.

Fees are approximately $125 per course, including books.

Program content and outline

In addition to classroom instruction and observations, students will be required to read and study outside of class approximately three hours per week. Guided observations require four hours per course. Each course is 21 hours of instruction, plus four hours of guided observation.

Family Childcare students are welcome to attend workshops and seminars as available through Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia, or UCFV.

Evaluation

Assignments will be given during each course. Participants will also be required to maintain a journal and resource file throughout the program.

Course listings

For complete details on courses see the Course descriptions section.

Instructors

Gwen Clarke
Isabel Hay
Bev Higgins
George Melzer
Barb Presseau

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