College Diploma - Early Childhood Education

The Early Childhood Education diploma is a two-year program leading toward registration as a Registered Early Childhood Educator in Ontario.

Students cover child development from infancy through school age, play-based and emergent curriculum design, observation and pedagogical documentation, guiding children’s behaviour and social development, inclusive practice and supporting children with additional needs, infant and toddler care, health, safety and nutrition in childcare settings, partnerships with families, Indigenous perspectives in early learning, and professional ethics and regulation. Placements in licensed childcare settings run through both years.

Ontario’s childcare expansion under national funding agreements has created sustained demand for registered educators, and the sector has a documented staffing shortage. Registration with the College of Early Childhood Educators is required to use the RECE title and work in most licensed settings.

The work placement is a graded part of the program, so you finish with documented Canadian experience and a referee rather than only a transcript.

Humber Polytechnic — formerly Humber College — is Ontario’s largest public college and a Designated Learning Institution (DLI O19376943122). The North campus in Etobicoke is its main site, running technology, engineering, health science, business and skilled trades programs in purpose-built labs and shops rather than lecture halls, with three intakes a year and the deepest employer network in the Greater Toronto Area.

Its field maps to CIP 13.1210 (Early childhood education and teaching). Important: this is a college credential rather than a degree, so it is not exempt from the November 2024 PGWP field-of-study restriction — eligibility depends on this CIP field appearing on IRCC’s eligible list when you apply. Humber publishes a PGWP-eligible program list with CIP codes; check it, and confirm with an Apply Study Visa counsellor before committing. IRCC makes the final decision.