Aistear, the Irish word for journey, is the curriculum framework for all children from birth to six years across all early years’ settings; the child’s own home, and junior and senior classes in primary schools. It provides information, ideas and suggestions to help you support children’s learning and development. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCAA) developed Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework in partnership with the early childhood sector: practitioners, children, parents, people in education and training, researchers, and policy makers.

Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework. The Framework uses four interconnected themes to describe the content of children’s learning and development: Well-being, Identity and Belonging, Communicating, and Exploring and Thinking.

Aistear highlights the critical role of play, relationships and language for young children’s learning. In doing this, it provides a guide to using play, interactions, partnerships with parents, and assessment to help children progress in their learning and development. Aistear is for all children from birth to six years.

Aistear has four interconnected themes:

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Principles and Themes

Aistear has 12 principles. Based on these 12 principles, Aistear uses four themes to outline what children learn during their early childhood. The themes are:

1. Well-being 
2. Identity and Belonging 
3. Communicating 
4. Exploring and Thinking 

The Themes describe what children learn. Each Theme has 4 Aims and each Aim has 6 Learning Goals.

The NCCA have developed a range of resources – The Aistear Toolkit which is available online.

These resources are divided into the following categories and include Podcasts, Information Sheets, Posters, Sample Learning Experiences, Planning and Learning Record Templates and much more.

Information on Aistear is available from:

For further information contact

National Council for Curriculum and Assessment
35 Fitzwilliam Square,
Dublin 2,
Ireland.

Telephone: +353 1 661 7177
Fax: +353 1 661 7180
Email: info@ncca.ie

Can I purchase a hard copy of the Aistear book?

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) is pleased to announce that print copies of Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework. English and Irish copies are available through Government Publications at a cost of €5.00 per copy.

Contact details for Government Publications are as follows –
Telephone: 01 647 6834/37 or 1890 213434

For further information, visit the Aistear Section of the NCCA Website or contact: National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

35 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Telephone: +353 1 661 7177 | Fax: +353 1 661 7180  | Email: info@ncca.ie

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