High Quality Field Experiences through Mentorships

In our ECE associate or bachelor degree programs, students are required to participate in quality fieldwork or practicum experiences which represent the wide array of ECE settings or programs in Hawai‘i serving diverse B-8 children and families. This array of settings include Family-Child Interaction Learning (FCIL) and Family Child Care programs and school and center-based programs. Ideally, these field experiences also need to reflect Hawai‘i’s unique cultural context, the different program settings, and be coherent with the degree programsʻ courses. For every field experience students will need mentor teachers who model effective practices and will be well-supervised in their field placements by college faculty who teach courses and advise students. The ECE3 Project will strengthen the systems of support required to provide practice-based and field-based learning experiences for students in high-quality ECE programs In through two strategies. One strategy is to have affiliate agreements with quality ECE programs who are consistently meeting NAEYC early learning accreditation standards; and the second strategy is to develop a guide for effective mentoring of college students pursuing their associate or bachelor degrees in ECE and by working closely with a group of ECE teachers who are interested in developing their knowledge, skills, and dispositions as effective mentor teachers.