My Department is committed to supporting ELC and SAC services operating through the medium of Irish.
Officials have engaged in numerous strategies whose aim is to encourage the development of the Irish language in the early learning and care (ELC) and school age childcare (SAC) sector. Collaboration between my Department and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media (formerly the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht) has resulted in a set of actions under the 5 Year Action Plan for the Irish Language 2018-2022. These actions are in support of the overarching 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language, and are designed to affirm the importance of ELC in encouraging the development and revitalisation of the Irish language. These actions will build on the existing measures, supports and partnerships in place.
First 5, the Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families, launched by my Department in 2018, contains two actions specifically aimed at supporting the development of the Irish language within the ELC sector. These involve ensuring that children in Gaeltacht areas have access to early learning services through Irish, and developing mechanisms to provide Irish language supports to services where there are high proportions of children learning through the medium of Irish.
My Department also engages extensively with the ELC and SAC sector, including Irish language stakeholders on a range of issues, including development of new plans and initiatives. Irish language stakeholders have been represented at the Early Learning and Care Stakeholder Forum since its inception in 2016 and consultations conducted by my Department, including recent consultations on a childminding action plan, a new workforce development plan and a new funding model for the sector were conducted in both Irish and English
In addition, inspections of ELC services are carried out by two Inspectorates, the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate and the Department of Education (DE) Early Years Inspectorate.
The dedicated early-years DE Inspectorate team, since its establishment in 2016, conducts inspections to support a key action in the Policy on Gaeltacht Education – to enhance the delivery of inspection services through Irish in naíonraí. DE carry out inspections nationally in naíonraí. The reports for these ELC settings are published in both Irish and English. Over the past year, the DE have also developed a series of communications in both Irish and English to share the findings from inspection in ELC settings and provide advice and guidance to support internal self-evaluation and review processes in support of quality improvement. The Insights: Quality in Education webinar series can be accessed on: https://www.gov.ie/ga/foilsiuchan/leargas/. The DE are currently developing a webinar on supporting immersion language education in naíonraí drawing on the findings of their published education inspection reports in Irish medium ELC settings in both Gaeltacht and non-Gaeltacht areas.
Of the current total inspection team of 20 (Whole-time Equivalent) inspectors, seven have strong capacity to engage in Early Years Education Inspection (EYEI) fully through Irish, including the writing of inspection reports, providing feedback for continuous improvement and responding in Irish to issues raised by personnel in the early years’ services. All inspectors who have the capacity to conduct EYEI through Irish are available to do so on an ongoing basis.
In addition to the inspection activity, DE have also endeavoured to provide feedback to the ELC sector on the progress and findings of their inspection activity. DE have published a revised Guide to EYEI informed by extensive consultation with stakeholders and partners in the ELC sector including Irish language organisations. All of these inspection materials are available in both Irish and English.
Tusla’s Early Years Inspectorate has shown a strong commitment to supporting ELC services where Irish is spoken. Tusla have one Irish language Inspector, and inspection reports are made available to services in Irish. Other Inspectorate documents, such as the recently published Quality & Regulatory Framework (QRF) for Sessional services, are translated into Irish and made available in hard and electronic copy. The Inspectorate engages with Irish language representative organisations operating in the sector such as Comhar Naíonraí na Gaeltachta (CNNG).
Since the onset of Covid-19 related, my Department engaged with Irish language organisations and provided significant resources for parents, ELC and SAC providers and practitioners, and childminders on-line. Material was made available in both Irish and English.
