Early Years exporting knowledge and know-how
In the latest of a series of articles looking at the work of Early Years – the organisation for young children, Siobhán Fitzpatrick CBE highlights the growing international demand for the organisation’s training and expertise in early years education and care.
The early years sector in Northern Ireland employs more than 6,000 staff and contributes approximately £65 million to the Northern Ireland economy.
Over the last 46 years, Early Years has become the lead organisation in providing specialist support and advice to early years and pre-school providers throughout Northern Ireland. During this time, the organisation has built up a wealth of knowledge and expertise in all aspects of child development, education and care while always maintaining its focus on evidence-based and outcomes focused programmes and interventions.
Early Years has also built up a solid reputation as a training provider not only on the island of Ireland but also internationally and over the last ten years, the organisation has been involved in training initiatives in such countries as Belarus, Serbia, Albania, Moldova and the Ukraine.
As a result of the organisation’s experience internationally, Early Years has become an integral part of a partnership that recently secured an EU contract worth €2 million to support the Serbian Ministry of Education to develop and improve pre-school services.
Experienced trainers and support staff from Early Years will work with the ministry and pre-school professionals to develop new models of community managed pre-school services in some of the most deprived regions of Serbia. The project will have a major focus on supporting the inclusion of all children into pre-school but will have a particular remit to create services which are inclusive of Roma children and children with a disability.
The tender was developed in partnership with SOFRECO – a leading French education consultancy as well as with International Bund – a German civil society organisation. The success of the tender sees Early Years develop further into a social enterprise role, creating jobs in Northern Ireland through exporting knowledge developed here.
This is not the first time that Early Years has been involved in working in Serbia. Since 2004, we have been sharing best practice in early years service from Northern Ireland with Serbian municipalities and in particular, the contract builds on work already carried out by Early Years with Pomoc Deci, a Serbian NGO for children.
The Serbian Government has also been particularly interested in how the EU, through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation, has supported Early Years and the pre-school sector in Northern Ireland and how this support is allowing the sector to make a significant contribution to creating a peaceful and prosperous society.
As part of the ongoing work by Early Years to build peaceful societies both at home and abroad, the organisation is working with international partners to develop a Masters in Early Years and Peace Building which will provide practitioners from across the world with the necessary skills to transform their approach to supporting young children who have been affected by conflict. This is an exciting opportunity for the organisation and the support from the EU PEACE III Programme for this masters reflects the high regard in which the early years sector is held.
Early Years has made an enormous contribution to community and educational life in Northern Ireland over the past 46 years and through our growing portfolio of international work, we aim to continue to make a significant contribution to the future growth and sustainability of the economy.
For further information on Early Years visit www.early-years.org or telephone 028 9066 2825.
