Prepare for your future with a diploma in home-based ECE.
Apply for Semester 1, 2022
Applications for study commencing in Semester 1, 2022 are now open.
For study commencing in 2022, student fees for our Home-based Care programme will be $0 for all domestic students, regardless of eligibility for the government's Fees Free initiative.*
*Please note that if this is your first year of tertiary study you will use up the EFT value of your enrolment for the government’s Fees Free initiative by enrolling in this programme. However, if you withdraw from the programme within 21 days of your course starting, refer our Student Withdrawal and Refund Policy, then you will retain any Fees Free entitlement you may have.
Students completing this early child care education course will gain the New Zealand Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care (Level 5) – Te Tohu Pōkairua Mātauranga Kōhungahunga Manaaki (Level 5).
The online home-based child care course programme has been designed specifically for homebased educators in consultation with the home-based sector with a focus on the theory and practice of delivering quality home-based early childhood education and care in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
The programme is delivered entirely online with no block courses or practicum components. This means that homebased educators can work and study ECE classes at home at the same time.
We offer all our students a strong support network including access to an online lecturer and to learning support. We also encourage students to take full advantage of our 11 teaching bases, where support is available from local academic staff.
Programme delivery
Te ara tuku
Four 30-credit courses will be taught over a 1-year period through online learning. This programme can be completed part-time over a 2-year period if desired.
Two of the courses will be taught concurrently in Semester 1 with the remaining two taught concurrently in Semester 2.
If you are a qualified ECE teacher, you may be eligible for credit for prior learning, which would reduce the programme to 6 months.
Completion of our Level 5 home-based care programme may provide a pathway into our Level 7 Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) initial teacher education programme and the opportunity to further your early childhood career.