Seneca School of ECE students will adhere to the expectations of the College of Early Childhood Education Policy Statement Regarding Practicum. The total amount of time that students spend in practicum is at least 500 hours. This is an absolute minimum and programs are expected to require students to complete more practicum hours. This is a Seneca School of ECE requirement.

All Field Placement students are expected to complete a minimum of 500 hours in total. Students are to arrive at their placement on-time and ready to work for their scheduled shifts. Regular and prompt attendance is essential to a student’s success at Field Placement, including the ability to complete the co-requisite assignments (ECE Pedagogy and Care curriculum courses or BCD Integrated Seminars). Placement hours are tracked by the student and signed by their Field Mentor prior to submission to their respective Field Placement Coordinator. On the Time Sheet & Task Tracker, students are to record their start time and finish, and total hours for the day. Students are required to attend the scheduled shift of the placement agreement. A one hour lunch time is included in the 8 hour shift. Students must make up all missed days.

📢 PA Day Placement Guidelines - ECE416

• Students placed in FDK classrooms must discuss when and how many PA Days are during their field placement days at the first week of field placement. Students can participate in PA Day activities (staff meetings, prep, workshop, etc) where possible. Students will discuss these options with their Field Mentor at the beginning of the semester.  If unable to participate in PA Days, students will need to make up the hours during Reading Week. 

• Students placed in after-school programs that continue to run regular programming on PA Days are expected to attend their placement as usual.

• If a school age program is running a full-day program and invites the student to attend, they may choose to do so. This can be a valuable opportunity to gain additional experience, build relationships and participating in a full school age day. Attendance for the full day is not required, students can attend their regular shift in the afternoon. This full day is considered one field placement day, additional hours are not to be used for make up days or to complete hours earlier than the 12 week field placement duration. 

• Important: Any extra hours worked on PA Days cannot be banked to shorten the overall placement duration.