Early Childhood Education Degree

This traditional four-year early childhood education bachelor’s degree prepares you to teach children from birth through third grade in settings like public and private schools, preschools, Head Start programs and childcare centers. The program emphasizes a strengths-based, constructivist approach where you’ll learn to create child-centered, culturally sensitive curriculum. 

The B.S.ED. requires a minimum of 126 credit hours, including early childhood education courses in: 

• Child development
• Classroom management
• Constructivist curriculum practices
• Trauma-informed teaching
• Culturally responsive pedagogy
• Early childhood special education

The Northwest early childhood education major also includes immersive field experiences that begin in your first year and culminate with student teaching, preparing you for Missouri teacher licensure/certification. This program also offers an early childhood special education certification, which allows you to teach in settings with diverse special populations from birth through third grade. 

• View the Academic Catalog
• View the 4-Year Plan

Early childhood education focuses on the learning and development of children from birth through age eight (typically third grade). It’s a specialized field that recognizes these years as a unique and critical period when children develop foundational cognitive, social, emotional and physical skills that influence their lifelong learning and well-being.

Early childhood education teachers use developmentally appropriate practices to create play-based learning environments that nurture children’s natural curiosity and support development.

Early childhood education is crucial because the first eight years of life represent a period of extraordinary brain development – children form more than one million neural connections every second. Quality early learning experiences during this time establish the foundation for all future learning, behavior and health. Research consistently shows that children who receive high-quality early education demonstrate better academic achievement, social skills and even long-term outcomes like higher employment rates and better health in adulthood. 

While daycare provides necessary childcare services, true early childhood education offers intentional, developmentally appropriate learning experiences guided by trained professionals. 

At Northwest, we teach a constructivist approach where children actively build knowledge through meaningful play, exploration and social interaction. Our early childhood education major prepares you to design environments that foster critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills while contributing to children’s social-emotional development. This builds a foundation for lifelong learning that goes far beyond supervision.

With an early education degree from Northwest, you’ll be qualified for career paths such as pre-kindergarten teacher, elementary school teacher (K-3), early childhood special education teacher, childcare center director, early intervention specialist, child development specialist, family resource coordinator and early childhood program administrator. 

Our graduates find early childhood education jobs in public and private schools, Head Start programs, community centers, childcare facilities and early intervention services. The current teacher shortage, particularly in early childhood, means Northwest graduates are in high demand across our four-state region and beyond.

Trauma-informed care is essential in early childhood education because adverse childhood experiences can significantly impact brain development, behavior and learning capacity. At Northwest, we prepare future teachers to recognize signs of trauma, create safe and supportive classroom environments and implement strategies to help students regulate emotions and build resilience. 

Our specialized early childhood education courses in trauma-informed practices ensure you’ll be equipped to support all children, including those who have experienced difficult circumstances, helping them develop the security and confidence needed to thrive academically and socially.