Better Start
Better Start National Early Years Quality Development is a national initiative to promote and enhance inclusive high-quality Early Learning and Care (ELC) for children from birth to six years of age in Ireland.
Better Start provides mentoring and coaching based on the Síolta, Aistear and Quality Regulatory Frameworks, to Early Learning and Care settings in a coherent and consistent way, so that those settings are of high quality and deliver positive outcomes for children. For further information please click https://www.betterstart.ie/

Aistear the Early Years Curriculum Framework
Aistear, The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework
Aistear is the early childhood curriculum framework for children from birth to six years in Ireland. It provides information to help you plan for and provide enjoyable and challenging early learning and care experiences so that all children can grow and develop as competent and confident learners. For further information please click https://curriculumonline.ie/Early-Childhood/

Síolta, The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education
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 and Skills.

Síolta is designed to define, assess and enhance quality across all aspects of practice in early learning and care settings where children aged birth to six years are present. For further information please click https://siolta.ie/manuals.php

Aistear Síolta Practice Guide
This is an online resource developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) helps Early Learning and Care settings and mentors to bring Síolta and Aistear together to develop, reflect on and extend curriculum to support all children’s learning and development. Take a look at the Introduction Video to the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide for more information. Click on https://www.aistearsiolta.ie/en/ for further information

The Practice Guide consists of Curriculum Foundations and 6 Interconnected Pillars of Practice.

Curriculum Foundations are an important starting point when thinking about curriculum. Curriculum Foundations are rooted in the principles, values and attitudes that shape each practitioner’s work and that of the setting. The Foundations include the following four elements:

Element 1: Developing your Curriculum and Curriculum Statement

Element 2: Principles including Rights of the Child and Practitioner Image of the Child

Element 3: Themes in Aistear

Element 4: Professional Practice

The 6 Interconnected Pillars of Practice are

• Building Partnerships with Parents
• Creating and using the Learning Environment
• Learning Through Play
• Nurturing and Extending Interactions
• Planning and Assessing, using Aistear’s Themes
• Supporting Transitions

Each Pillar is presented in the same format and includes

• An Overview
• Self-Evaluation Tools (This section includes a number of Elements. Each element has a series of statements to assist the service to reflect on their current practice.)
• Examples and Ideas for Practice
• Resources for Sharing (Tip-sheets, Templates and Sample Presentations)
• Action Planning Tools
• Gallery

The Practice Guide includes a range of resources, to help practitioners to critically reflect on their curriculum, and to identify what works well. Additionally, the resources can help practitioners to identify priorities for development and to plan actions for positive change. For further information visit www.aistearsiolta.ie

Roscommon CCC support services in the implementation of the Aistear Siolta practice guide. If your services wish to avail of RCCC pillars of practice training/workshops please contact us at 094 962 2540 or email info@roscommonchildcare.ie

The Quality Regulatory Framework-
Tusla Early Years Inspectorate has developed a Quality and Regulatory Framework (QRF) to support registered Early Years Services to comply with the Early Years Services 2016 Regulations. The QRF brings together evidence-based, national and international research and best practice in Early Years. It aims to support registered providers in achieving compliance with the regulations and enhance the safety and care of children who attend these services. It does this does this by setting out the core regulatory requirements in a transparent way. The QRF is child-centred, with a specific focus on the quality and safety of the care provided directly to children using the services. For further information please click https://www.tusla.ie/services/preschool-services/early-years-quality-and-regulatory-framework/