Targeted Early Childhood Educational Provision
Within a Cluster of DEIS Settings
Awarded to: The Centre for Social and Educational Research, Dublin Institute of Technology Key researchers: Dr. Nóirín Hayes and Dr. Mary O’Kane.
Introduction
This project is aimed at coordinating, enhancing and evaluating educational provision for children aged three and four years of age in one cluster of DEIS early childhood education settings (three schools and three associated feeder preschools for each school –12 settings in total).
Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) is an action plan for educational inclusion developed and published by the Department of Education and Science. It includes a particular emphasis on early years education by focusing on the infant classes of primary schools, and most notably, supporting the educational components of preschool settings feeding into these classes.
As detailed in Section 9 of the Action Plan, research and evaluation are integral features of the roll-out of DEIS and this project will provide both formative and summative data relating to the early childhood education strand of the strategy.
Project Aim
The aim of this project is to enhance the educational provision for children attending a cluster of nine preschools and three primary schools included in the DEIS strategy. The project seeks to work with practitioners and teachers to enable them to build a stronger, deeper understanding of pedagogy in early childhood education. The project will introduce and implement a coordinated curriculum focus across both preschool and infant class settings and focus on ensuring cooperative practices in relation to the transition between the settings. Specifically, the aims of the project are to:
Focus on a number of specific aspects of the broad curriculum, pedagogy and practice which support children’s learning and development.
Provide a professional development programme for practitioners and teachers to further develop skills and expertise relating to pedagogy and practice.
Develop processes for collaboration between preschools and the infant classes of primary schools to ensure smooth transitions in relation to curricular and pedagogical approaches.
Implement and evaluate strategies to foster and enhance parental partnership with the settings involved.
Project Outcomes
This research project will have a number of distinct practical outcomes, including:
The production of exemplars of effective curricular and pedagogical practices within early childhood education settings that promote the child’s learning and development.
The development and delivery of a programme of continuing professional development focusing on curriculum and pedagogy, parental partnership and communication between preschool and primary schools.
The establishment and evaluation of a variety of practical strategies to promote effective transitioning and communication between preschool and primary school settings.
The development of exemplars of good practice to promote and extend parental partnership in early childhood education settings.
Methodology
It is envisaged that this project will be implemented through a range of distinct yet interrelated methods. First of all, case studies or profiles of each of the individual settings will be documented through unstructured observations and interviews.
One critical strand will involve the development and delivery of a module of continuing professional development, focusing particularly on curriculum and pedagogy. This will be informed to a considerable degree by the Síolta materials and processes, as well as a detailed review of research and literature.
Strategies to promote parental partnership across the settings involved will be implemented and evaluated. Through the establishment of informal arrangements and a number of local seminars, collaborative processes will be implemented and nurtured to promote greater communication and dialogue between settings locally.
A cycle of observations, feedback and planning will be implemented in all settings regarding the critical aspects of curriculum delivery and pedagogy, with a view to providing both formative and summative feedback to all participants.
Site last updated:
5 February, 2012
Centre for Early Childhood Development & Education
Gate Lodge, St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9. Tel: 00353 (0)1 8842110 Fax: 00353 (0)1 8842111
Email: early.childhood@spd.dcu.ie
