Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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1393. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will indicate policy changes relating to the preschool curriculum; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34080/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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My Department already has a curriculum framework in place for early childhood education. This framework, Aistear, is designed to work with the great variety of curriculum materials already in use in early childhood settings, e.g. Montessori, Steiner, Reggio Emilia. My Department will continue to support the Aistear Framework and at my Department's behest, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment are developing a practice guide to distil the core elements of Aistear and Síolta. This practice guide should be available for use in the early years sector in the next 6 months.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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1394. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures she has taken to encourage preschools to notify parents of details relating to the curriculum; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34082/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the majority of support and funding for preschool provision is provided by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. My Department works closely with the D/CYA on improving educational outcomes for young children in preschool settings and that work has included the development of Aistear, the Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Education. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment developed Aistear and as part of the dissemination produced tip-sheets for parents. These tip sheets were widely disseminated and available in all early years settings and are available on the NCCA's website.