Tuesday, July 26—CASTLETON — Castleton University will host the sixth annual Early Childhood Educators Institute on July 26, 28, and August 2. The event will be held synchronously online with an optional on-campus session and celebration on August 4. The program’s live, interactive Zoom meetings allow early educators to participate from a location convenient to them.
The Early Childhood Educators Institute is for anyone providing support, services, and education in the Vermont early childhood field. This includes early childhood educators (birth through grade three) working in public schools, private early childhood and after-school settings; Early Head Start and Head Start professionals; early childhood special educators, developmental educators, specialized child care providers, home visitors, related service providers including speech language pathologists; and the administrators who supervise and support them.
“We are proud to offer affordable, accessible professional development to all those who work so diligently to assure that our youngest, and sometimes more vulnerable, citizens are safe and healthy,” said Ric Reardon, institute planning committee chair and director of the Castleton Center for Schools. “Each year we offer a variety of sessions ranging from trauma-informed practices to outdoor education with the hopes that our participants take what they have learned and apply it to their own working environments. We have been delighted to see how often that has happened in past years and are excited about the possibilities for future success for those attending the 2022 institute.”
The Early Childhood Educators Institute promotes Vermont’s core early education values and emphasizes strands that deepen practice, meet childcare professional development requirements, and assist teachers in obtaining related licenses and endorsements.
“We are proud to be offering 13 credited courses aligned with the institute strands this year. We have many courses that are back by popular demand and a handful of others that are new this year. These three-credit courses are designed specifically for the early childhood education audience and can be taken for graduate or undergraduate credit,” said Tara Lidstone, planning committee member and assistant director of the Castleton Center for Schools.
A preeminent feature of this institute is the cooperative spirit of Vermont’s colleges and universities, parent and child centers, childcare institutions, and state agencies, many of whom are taking responsibility for offering a course.
For more information, visit castleton.edu/early-childhood-institute.
