Many colleges within western Canada give credit for knowledge that has emerged through direct practice in early learning and child care settings. The process for recognizing this type of learning experience is called prior learning/flexible assessment. Most colleges will assess up to 50% of its early childhood education coursework, providing the learning that is being assessed 1) achieves all of the predetermined course objectives and 2) meets the college's prior learning/flexible assessment criteria.
The Expedited Early Childhood Educator Certification initiative speeds up the provincial certification process by assisting groups of individuals who work within a particular location to develop quality professional practice portfolios that meet provincial occupational standards. Early learning and child care centres that register in this initiative receive 30-hours of support for each course. This support includes two 10-hour on-site professional practice workshops, private online relational space during the professional practice portfolio development phase, and feedback on each person's portfolio before it is submitted to the receiving college.
Please note the cost of having each course assessed by a college is not included in RCECI's expedited early childhood educator certification initiative. These costs include, but are not limited to, college registration fees, course tuition fees, resource material, binders, labels, and printing.