Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Education

Learn from highly experienced teachers with an industry-connected curriculum designed in consultation with industry partners and delivered by La Trobe's award-winning School of Education*. You'll gain the skills and knowledge to support the next generation of pre-school children develop foundational skills across social, emotional, physical and academic areas. Explore key areas of early childhood education through core subjects exploring early childhood development, assessment and reporting, teaching strategies, and safety and ethics as you put your knowledge to work in the real world with work-based learning, integrated placement and an embedded professional mentoring program. You'll graduate ready to start your career in early childhood education environments or advance directly into La Trobe's Master of Education, further preparing you for leadership or specialist positions within the sector. By studying La Trobe's Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Education, you'll learn: Foundations of child development Investigate the social, emotional and educational needs of children and gain a core understanding of child development and evidence-based pedagogies to develop teaching strategies. Early childhood leadership Explore the complexities of early childhood leadership, such as policy, legal requirements, political influences, professional ethics and operational management. Theories of cognition and play Examine the role of fundamental role of play and play-based learning in the development of skills in science, creativity, literacy development and mathematical thinking. Assessment and reporting Investigate the authentic use of assessment in early childhood education, including examining the way that assessment is used to inform understanding.