Aistear:

  • Aistear is the curriculum framework for children from birth to six years in Ireland.
  • It provides information for adults to help them plan for and provide enjoyable and challenging learning experiences, so that all children can grow and develop as competent and confident learners within loving relationships with others.
  • More information on Aistear can be found here

Síolta:

  • Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education, was developed by the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education on behalf of the Department of Education & Skill & was published in 2006.
  • Síolta is designed to define, assess and support the improvement of quality across all aspects of practice in early childhood care and education (ECCE) settings where children aged birth to six years are present.
  • More information on Síolta can be found here


Aistear Síolta Practice Guide:

  • The purpose of the Practice Guide is to support Early Years practitioners in using Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (2009) and Síolta, The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education (2006) together to develop the quality of their curriculum and in doing so, to better support children’s learning and development.
  • The Aistear Síolta Practice Guide is an online resource.
  • More information on the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide can be found here

Department of Education Insights Webinar Series

  • The Inspectorate of the Department of Education have developed a series of webinars that are designed to share the findings, ideas and examples of effective practice that have been gathered during inspection visits to thousands of diverse early years education settings across Ireland since 2016.
  • These settings are primarily Early Learning and Care (ELC) settings providing the Early Childhood and Care Education (ECCE) Programme of free preschool funded by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY).
  • You can access these webinars here