| Presently, the highest degree a person interested in teaching at the early childhood level in Belize is the Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education. The purpose of this project was to design a program of undergraduate coursework in the area of teacher preparation that will meet university qualifications for a Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Program. Since the ultimate goal of this project was to develop an instructional product, the author used the instructional design research method as a form of qualitative research. The researcher began by finding the related literature through an extensive database research followed by a needs assessment. Twelve subjects participated in the needs assessment process done through interviews and focus groups. The participants included members from the Belizean Ministry of Education, Youths, Sports and Culture; and the administration team, and second year early childhood education students from a local junior college. The purpose of the needs assessment was to examine the expectations these stakeholders have for a Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education. The participants provided information that was later included in the design of the program of study. The result of this project is a program of study that offers a coursework sequence not only for the Bachelor's Program, but also for the Associate's Program. It also provides the course descriptions, rationales, course goals and course objectives of all the coursework. |
