March 2023
Price: €125 PLUS VAT
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This conference focused on priorities for the early childhood education and care sector across the island of Ireland.
It brought together stakeholders and policymakers to examine policy developments and their implementation on both sides of the border, including:
- the Republic of Ireland’s First 5: Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families
- the NI Executive’s Review of Childcare Services in Northern Ireland, which aims to inform development of an Early Learning and Childcare Strategy, with calls for it to be a priority for the new Executive
- the recently published State of the Nation’s Children report by Minister O’Gorman TD
- the recent announcement from Minister O’Gorman TD of a €45m Capital Grant for the early learning and childcare sector
It was also an opportune time to discuss the outcomes from the Independent Review of Education in NI, which made a number of recommendations related to early years, including an expansion of early years education, increased training and professional development for early years practitioners, a focus on disadvantaged children, and the joining up of different services between health and education.
We are pleased to have been able to include keynote sessions with: Paul Brush, Director of Early Years, Children and Youth, Department of Education, NI; Dr Glenda Walsh, Head of Early Years Education and Assistant Director, Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement, Stranmillis University College; and Dr Leah O’Toole, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, Maynooth University; and Principal Investigator, Aistear Consultation with Babies and Young Children, The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (NCCA 2009).
The conference was also an opportunity to examine key issues, including next steps for addressing inequalities in accessing provision, affordability and workforce concerns.
Further sessions discussed prospects for developing an all-island approach to tackling educational underachievement, following calls from former Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD for a joined-up approach to addressing the sector’s shared challenges.
The conference was an opportunity for stakeholders to consider the issues alongside key policy officials who attended from DCEDIY, ROI; DoE, ROI; DoE, NI; DAERA, NI; DoH, NI; Department of Finance, NI; ETI; HSE; as well as parliamentary pass-holders from the Northern Ireland Assembly.
