What you will study
Hone your teaching strategies and boost your early childhood teacher qualifications
with graduate coursework based on research and best practices. UCM’s master’s-level
ECE degree program will also ensure that you can apply your classroom knowledge in
a variety of early childhood education teaching environments, serving students with
diverse educational needs. To strengthen your early childhood teacher qualifications,
you can choose from a variety of electives, including:
- Teaching Strategies and the Classroom Environment for Active, Engaged Learning
- Multicultural Education: Beliefs, Curriculum and Pedagogy
- STEM in Early Childhood Education
The combination of core courses and electives offers well-rounded perspectives and
insights on how to better assess students, integrate STEM into your curricula and
create active, engaged learning environments as part of your early childhood education
teaching.
Excellence in Early Childhood Education
- The longest continuously CAEP-accredited public institution in Missouri.
- A Best Value College for Elementary Education (College Factual, 2022)
- Top 15%: Most Focused Colleges for Education (College Factual, 2022)
- A Most Popular College for Teacher Education (College Factual, 2022)
- Top 10%: Most Popular Master’s Degree Colleges for Teacher Education Grade Specific (College
Factual, 2022)
- Top 6%: Most Popular Colleges for Education (College Factual, 2022)
- A Most Popular Master’s Degree College for Education (College Factual, 2022)
- Top 10%: Best Colleges for Education for Non-Traditional Students (College Factual, 2021)
- A Best Online Masters in Online Teaching Degree Programs (Intelligent, 2021)
- Top 50: Masters in Elementary Education Degree Programs (Most Flexible Admissions) (Intelligent,
2021)
- Among the Best Online Masters in Elementary Education Degree Programs (Intelligent, 2021)
Unique learning opportunities in teaching early childhood education
Gain meaningful early childhood education teaching experiences in the field and personalized
instruction in the classroom that you can apply in your own career:
- Professional skills: Our master’s in Teaching ECE degree program is designed to help you adapt, enhance
and improve classroom instruction for children from birth through grade 3.
- Informed teaching strategies: A master’s in Early Childhood Education from UCM will give you the tools to serve
as a teacher-leader and apply research-based practices in your classroom and school.
- Diverse learning settings: Prepare for a successful and rewarding career that can take you many places, from
an early childhood center to public or private preschools or elementary schools.
- Early childhood education teacher certification: In addition to your master’s degree for Teaching Early Childhood Education, you can
earn professional credentials through the graduate program coursework that further
enhance your early childhood education teacher qualifications.
What can you do with a master’s-level ECE degree in Teaching from UCM?
This UCM master’s degree in Early Childhood Education will sharpen your early childhood
education teaching strategies and build on your work experience in the classroom.
ECE teachers with early childhood education teacher certifications can find jobs in
a variety of childcare and classroom settings, especially public and private schools
teaching grades K–3.
ECE teacher jobs
Use the interactive tool below to find more information on salary potential, job growth
and career possibilities in early childhood education teaching.
Financial assistance options for your master’s in ECE degree for teachers
You can build upon your early childhood teacher qualifications and pursue your graduate
ECE degree in Teaching affordably. As a university recognized for its low student
debt, UCM offers plenty of resources to help working graduate students finance their college education. Our College of Education also offers scholarships to ECE students.
You can learn more about program-specific scholarships with the UCM Scholarship Finder.
Meet Stephanie Jackson
Principal, Parkview Elementary in Sedalia, Missouri
“Parkview Elementary has been fortunate to work closely with the UCM Early Childhood
program and hire multiple graduates over the years.”
Pursue Early Childhood Education Teacher Certification
Earn an extra credential along with your master’s degree
If you aren’t already certified to teach grades K–3 in a public school, the master’s-level
ECE degree in Teaching gives you the flexibility to add coursework and experiential
learning to help you achieve this goal. Take classes online or at our Warrensburg
campus to fulfill requirements for your teaching credential.
Benefit From Faculty Mentors
Personalized attention for career success
At UCM, you don’t have to navigate your graduate ECE degree on your own. Our experienced
faculty will help you pull from your experiences and encourage you to develop your
own teaching style and philosophy. Whether you wish to obtain early childhood education
teacher certification or become a lead teacher in your preschool, our faculty provide
personal career advising each step of the way.
leftright
Student Learning Outcomes
With a Master of Science in Education degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE), you
will use the knowledge and skills obtained in the program to achieve the following
professional skills:
- Demonstrate and apply understandings of early childhood development, including theoretical
perspectives on how children learn through play collaborating with a diverse population
of peers to create meaning in today’s society.
- Acquire fundamental knowledge of a play-based curriculum for support and advocacy
in implementation in the early childhood setting.
- Develop a strong sense of ethical conduct within early childhood teaching, learning,
and business.
- Identify significant issues specific to early childhood education in research and
address through practice.
- Better understand the impact of pedagogy and exposure to diversity for teaching in
an increasingly complex and diverse society.
Admission Requirements
To be accepted into the Master of Science in Education in Early Childhood Education
(ECE) degree program, you must: (a) have a minimum cumulative undergraduate grade
point average of 2.75; (b) submit proof of teacher certification or professional endorsement
from any of the 50 states or territories and have graduated from a CAEP or regionally
accredited university; (c) submit a copy of your last summative teaching evaluation,
or a letter from a school superintendent, principal, director, or professor attesting
to teaching skills and/or graduate studies potential.
Required Core Courses
The following courses are required by all three options within the Master of Science
in Education degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE):
- ECEL 5710 Early Childhood Education: A Constructivist Approach (3 credit hours)
- ECEL 5740 Play in Early Childhood Education (3 credit hours)
- ECEL 5920 Childhood Research and Development (3 credit hours)
- CFD 5500 Research Methods (3 credit hours)
- CFD 4580 Resilience (3 credit hours)
- ECEL 5750 Curriculum and Pedagogy in Multicultural Education (3 credit hours)
- ECEL 5790 Collaborative Practice in Early Childhood Education (capstone) (3 credit
hours).
Leadership Option Courses
The Early Childhood Education Teaching option is focused on preparing early childhood
educators for teaching in the field of early childhood education. Coursework and content
focus on birth through grade 3. In addition to the core courses, you will select three
of these courses for this option:
- ECEL 5730 Exemplary Instructional Practices (3 credit hours)
- ECEL 5780 STEM in Early Childhood Education (3 credit hours)
- ECEL 5785 Teaching Strategies/Classroom Environment for Active, Engaged Learning (3
credit hours)
- CFD 6410 Equity and Cultural Diversity in Early Childhood Education (3 credit hours)
- INST 4100 Technology and Computer Literacy in Early Childhood Education (3 credit
hours)