Preschool Teacher: architect of personalities
By the age of 6, the child acquires the personality that will accompany him throughout his life. Everything that happens from 6 onwards is built on the background created in preschool. The role of “architect”, the first 2-3 years have the parents and especially the mother. The baton is taken by the kindergarten and the kindergarten, where the child integrates into the social life and learns to have rights in combination with obligations. This is the most critical period of his development, because his psycho-emotional world is formed, his physical and mental health is structured and he acquires social skills. The pedagogical care of this age is a very responsible mission, which requires professionals with complex skills: scientific, mental and emotional.
You have to “have it” to become a preschool teacher. To love children, to see the world with their own eyes, to have patience, tenderness, kindness and to enjoy playing with them. However, you must also know how to interpret the coded messages of each child that transmits with his behavior. The “charismatic”, the “problematic”, the “hyperactive”, the “unruly”, the “indifferent”, the “shy” child is, each, a whole field of study and application of modern pedagogical methods, which include parents. It is no exaggeration to say that, very often, the preschool educator trains with children and parents.
BCA College offers undergraduate (and postgraduate) studies in Preschool Pedagogy, with the BA Early Childhood Care and Education program. The lessons cover the whole spectrum of the “architecture of the child’s personality”: the emerging language and mathematical abilities of the child, the functioning of the senses, the expression, the movement, the communication, the stages of socialization, the transition from family life to school environment, mental and moral development, creativity and possible mental or physical disorders in its development. Students are trained to use appropriate pedagogical “tools” that include play, creative arts, literature and theater, nature exploration, music and movement. At the same time, their observation and communication skills are sharpened in order to evaluate the child’s development and to provide counseling services to the family.
Graduates of the Bachelor’s Degree are awarded the University of West London (UWL) Award for Outstanding Performance. It is exactly the same as the students who attend the courses in London and it is equivalent professionally with the degrees of the Greek universities.
Graduates of the program have many professional options: in kindergartens and pre-school units, as special education professionals, teachers, school psychologists, researchers in relevant fields, educational policy advisors, experts in advocacy for the rights of children and the family , in positions of educational counseling, educational leadership, in the provision of services at home, and even in companies that specialize in products for young children, such as creative toys and educational materials.
They can also pursue postgraduate studies in areas such as child development, educational psychology, learning disabilities and the education of children with disabilities, learning outdoors, learning through play and the expressive arts, school psychology, developmental psychology, occupational therapy, etc.
The excellent students will be recruited by the model educational institutions Melina’s Kindergarten and International School of Athens, which belong to the same Educational Group as the BCA, having previously done their internship during their studies.
