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Supervision Training for Managers
Get PDFPosterSupervision supports the delivery of high-quality services to children and families. Good quality supervision keeps organisations in touch with the work on the ground. It helps staff to focus on the quality of their practice, whilst offering them support and an arena to ask questions or raise concerns. This training aims to generate positive relationships between supervisor and supervisee and, through these, to inspire and motivate staff in their work
Reflective Practice for Early Years Professionals Training
Get PDFFlyerThe aim of this training is to assist participants to begin or continue to reflect on their own practice as they engage with clients and colleagues. Participants will have the opportunity to look at several examples of reflective tools and exercises where they can practice identifying some of the characteristics of different types of reflection
The Key Person Approach: Positive Relationships with Children in the Early Years
Get PDFBookletThe care and education of young children in Ireland has changed in the last two decades, with many children spending more time in their early years being cared for by people other than their parents, whether this is by childminders, nannies or crèches. Shared group care, such as in crèches, is now quite common and this may be full day care, part time or sessional care. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Ireland in 1992, refers to a child’s right to learn and develop. For children to reach their full potential it is essential that the environment they are in is warm and responsive, one where they feel secure and have formed a bond or attachment with the adults taking care of them. One way of achieving this bond in an early years setting is by introducing a key person approach, where each child is assigned one person to be their primary carer, with this person also acting as the link between the service and the child’s parents. The key person approach is primarily focused on the relationships and communication between educator, parents and children. Having a secure relationship with one person in shared care supports children’s emotional wellbeing and enables them to become familiar with and confident in the setting. In some countries such as the UK, the use of a key person approach has become mandatory as an understanding of the importance of individual special relationships in shared group care has come to the fore (Department for Education UK, 2014). While this approach is not mandatory in Ireland, both Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education (CECDE, 2006), and Aistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (NCCA, 2009) refer to the importance of key relationships between educators and children and parents. This booklet is for all those working in early years services that provide shared group care. It provides information on what the key person approach is, the benefits of this approach and what needs to be considered to ensure it works effectively. It will support both managers who are introducing the key person approach and the staff working in those services
Quality Early Years Care and Education: What to Look for in an Early Years Service
Get PDFBookletThis booklet is written as a guide for parents and carers of young children to provide information that can support you in making decisions about the best care and education setting for your child outside the home. In Ireland, young children are cared for and educated in a range of early years settings or services – at home; with relatives; with childminders; in sessional services (preschools, playschools, naoínraí); and in part-day and full-day care settings such as crèches and nurseries. All of these can be called early years care and education settings. The booklet includes detailed information about why quality really matters in the early years and looks at how young children learn and what they need in order to be able to learn best. It examines the importance of communication and of early years services working in partnership with parents. The booklet also provides information on the national quality supports that are available for all early years services to help improve their quality as well as details about the different types of early years inspections. To help further with this most important decision-making on behalf of your young child, there is a suggested set of questions you may wish to ask a service provider to support you in finding out about the quality of their service
The Real Cost of School in 2016 (Infographic)
No full textInfographicInfographic outlining the costs of sending a child to either primary or secondary school in 2016
What's the Harm? A Child-centred Response to Domestic Abuse
Get PDFReportDomestic abuse is prevalent in Ireland. Due to the often hidden nature of the abuse and limited data available many are blind to its effects, yet its effects are far reaching. Domestic abuse is not just a problem for those experiencing the abuse; their families, friends, health and criminal justice agencies and wider society also shoulder the costs. Children are common, but often unseen, victims of domestic abuse. The scale of harm to children because of domestic abuse in Ireland is unrecorded and the impact underestimated, misunderstood or simply overlooked. Any form of abuse occurring in the home or within the family unit is abuse of the child. Yet our current legislation does not always protect children. Our court system is very adversarial and not child or family friendly, which can compound the stress and trauma of abuse. Therapeutic supports for children who have experienced or are experiencing domestic abuse are not widely available nor is there a coherent national approach or Government strategy. While the Government has recently announced a national public awareness campaign which is to be welcomed, greater education in schools and for those working in justice, legal, health and social care agencies is needed. In addition, the current housing crisis is having an acute impact on families living with domestic abuse, leaving them with nowhere to turn. All of these problems must be addressed if children are to be protected from harm
Early Years eNews: Issue 1
No full textNewsletterAs we await the outcome of General Election 2016, Barnardos is asking politicians to make children their priority and calling for concrete action in five areas of a child’s life: first year of life, early years, education, health and housing. We are demanding change that will have an immediate and real impact on lives as part of a broader strategy to end societal inequality that unfairly affects children. In this issue of Early Years eNews we bring you details of a report outlining the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's verdict on Ireland and the results are clear: we could do much better. There is also information about the report on Affordable and Quality Childcare from the Joint Committee on Health and Children and a new children's participation hub database
2017 Pre Budget Submission
Get PDFPaperBudget 2017 presents an opportunity which must not be wasted. Not only will this be the first budget of a new government undertaking a collaborative approach to governing as a minority, but it also cements the return to prosperity so often discussed during the last year yet so little felt by real people. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan confirmed recently, Ireland is the fastest growing economy of the EU-28 countries. Initially the commitment in the Programme for Partnership Government to €6.75 billion in additional spending on public services by 2021 appears welcome; but it amounts to an increase of 10% over the lifetime of the Government or just 2% per year, which is woefully inadequate to even meet demographic changes. The Programme heavily references the importance of prevention and early intervention, investment in early years and improvement of primary care (to name a few key priorities); however it is very short on detail
Early Years eNews: Issue 5
No full textNewsletterIn this issue of Childcare eNews we bring you updates from the early years sector including the most recent developments with the Early Years Forum and the Early Years Strategy. We also include an update on the Aistear Síolta Intiative which will provide central support and coordination of the two frameworks across the sector. There is also information on the publication of a number of new reports including the latest from the 'Growing Up in Ireland' study, looking at the effects of early childhood care and education on children's social and emotional development
School Costs Survey 2016: Briefing Paper
Get PDFPaperEducation is not free in Ireland. That is the overwhelming message from parents who took the 2016 Barnardos’ School Costs Survey. For more than a decade thousands of parents have been using the Barnardos’ School Costs Survey to speak out about the high cost of sending their children to school and this year is no different. Ireland’s education system is lauded by Government as free to access; but the responses to this year’s survey tell us otherwise. Under-investment in schools during prosperity and cuts during the recession have left parents shouldering the cost of an underfunded system. It is a burden many parents can ill afford. Parents told us they are scrimping on household bills, forgoing necessities and even going into debt to pay for their child to go to school in Ireland’s supposedly free education system. No child or family should have to suffer in order to access education. As we approach the first Budget of a new Government the time is ripe for change. The Partnership Government has committed to increase education spending by €500 million by 2021. This is a welcome commitment, yet divided out through the whole education system and across five years it remains to be seen what kind of impact it will have on the costs parents face. It is the Government’s responsibility to adequately fund education - not parents’. All children deserve an equal chance at a bright future and education is crucial in realising this. Education provides the frame upon which a child’s life and opportunities will be built. Making access to education dependent on a parent’s ability to pay is fundamentally inconsistent with the ideals this country was founded upon; equal rights, equal opportunities and the commitment to all children of the nation being cherished equally