- APRENDE apprentices work in a licensed or registered early childhood program.
- Time working in the classroom counts toward the early childhood education courses. This reduces college classroom time and enables apprentices to complete their degrees more quickly, ideally in 2-3 years.
- The apprenticeship integrates college course learning with apprentices’ experiences assisting in the early childhood classroom.
- Apprentices receive extensive and ongoing support from early childhood faculty in their early childhood classrooms.
- Apprentices receive ongoing mentorship from an early childhood lead teacher. This long-term mentorship experience ensures that apprentices are ready to become a lead teacher by the end of their apprenticeship.
If you do not have experience working in early childhood and do not have the Early Childhood Development Certificate (CDC), we recommend starting with the pre-apprenticeship program. However, you can choose to apply for either the pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship program.
If you are currently working for an early childhood education program, you should apply for the apprenticeship program. If your employer is not already working with APRENDE, they will need to meet certain requirements and agree to work with the program.
If you already have an Early Childhood Development Certificate you should apply to the apprenticeship program.
Still not sure? Fill out the interest form and we will contact you to discuss it more!
No, if you already have your Early Childhood Development Certificate, you are not eligible to participate in the pre-apprenticeship program. However, you can still apply for the apprenticeship program.
Yes, you can apply to the apprenticeship program if you don’t already have a job at an early childhood program. However, in order to be accepted into the apprenticeship program, you will need to obtain a job with an employer who has agreed to partner with the program. After you apply, APRENDE will send your information to participating employers and will also provide you with a list of participating employers.
It depends. APRENDE welcomes new employers to join the APRENDE program. APRENDE would need to meet with your employer to make sure that they can meet certain requirements.
APRENDE does not directly pay for your college tuition or books. However, by participating in APRENDE, you will be eligible to apply for the ECECD Scholarship. APRENDE will provide you with more information about how to apply, but you must apply for this scholarship directly in order to receive free tuition and reimbursement for books. As an SFCC student, you also have the opportunity to apply for federal financial aid and SFCC scholarships.
Yes! Santa Fe Community College offers the Early Childhood Development Certificate and Associate of Arts in Early Childhood Education classes in both English and Spanish and SFCC Early Childhood Department has a Coordinator specifically to support Spanish-speaking students. Additionally, APRENDE provides program information in both English and Spanish. Pre-apprentices can be assigned to a Spanish-speaking mentor teacher for their field work experience.
