A consortium including Mary Immaculate College (MIC), Early Childhood Ireland and Maynooth University – Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education, has been awarded €5.4 million from the Higher Education Authority for the delivery of the National Higher Education Programme for Inclusion Coordinators in Early Years Settings.
This training initiative is a result of recommendations from the Government’s Interdepartmental Group (IDG) report last year regarding access to early years education for children with additional needs and specifically in facilitate the creation of a new role of inclusion coordinator in each ECCE (early childhood care & education) setting and the need for more training in this area.
The programme, which is scheduled to be rolled out later this year, is a specialist programme, aimed at the development of a Level 6 Special Purpose Award (Higher Education), which will now be required for staff in early years settings to perform the role of Inclusion Coordinator. Successful graduates of the programme will acquire an NFQ Level 6 (Higher Education) Special Purpose Award in the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Years Settings which will enable them to successfully perform the role of Inclusion Coordinator in an ECCE Programme setting.
The higher education certificate programme will be offered on a flexible and part-time basis to 900 staff per year on a four year basis starting this year and an application process will be announced very shortly.
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