Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My Department is supporting the implementation of Aistear through the Aistear tutor initiative and the Aistear-in-Action initiative. Through the Aistear tutor initiative, Aistear tutors (primary teachers) deliver a suite of workshops to enable junior and senior infant teachers develop their use of play as a teaching and learning methodology. To date, almost 10,000 primary school teachers and principals have participated in Aistear workshops and summer courses.

Through the Aistear-in-Action initiative, the NCCA worked with Early Childhood Ireland to support practitioners in using Aistear to enrich their preschool curriculum and to develop on-line resources for the Aistear toolkit. The €2.75m that will be available in 2014 for a quality support service for the early years sector means that the early years sector will have access to a professional support service to facilitate the implementation of Aistear. I have asked the NCCA to develop a practice guide incorporating the core elements of Aistear and Síolta to assist with this service.

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