BSP Measure 3.4 additional information

Priority 3 (Urban and Social Revitalisation)

Measure 4 (Investing in Early Learning)

The roots of educational underachievement can develop in the early years and are often linked to social disadvantage. Research shows that children who have had pre-school education are better prepared to take up the advantages of education. The provision of pre-school education, therefore, is seen as a significant step to enhance children’s educational prospects.

This measure involves building nursery units in primary schools or stand-alone nursery schools in order to provide 1700 full time pre-school places.

The objectives are:

To support the progressive expansion and development of the infrastructure necessary to provide a year of pre-school education for all children in Northern Ireland
The establishment of the necessary facilities to provide a pre-school place for all children in their immediate pre-school year
To initially focus on providing places for the most socially disadvantaged children and on the oldest children in the cohort (i.e. those children who will already be 4 years old on entry to pre-school education)
To develop the programme so far as is possible, access to pre-school education in the longer term is available to all children throughout Northern Ireland

Actions include:

Support for projects that will secure the expansion of preschool education facilities in local communities, especially in disadvantaged and rural communities
Support for the development of community partnership approaches to the planning, development and delivery of preschool education
Support for projects which provide for integrated pre-school education
Support for pre-school education in minority languages

The locations of the schemes are determined by the Pre-school Education Advisory Groups (PEAGs) established in each Education and Library Board (ELB).

The PEAGs will take account of:

The level of social deprivation
Existing statutory provision in the area
Existing voluntary / private provision in the area
The special circumstances of rural areas
The need to avoid, as far as possible, the displacement of good quality, cross-community, provision in the voluntary and private sectors

The horizontal principles specified in Section 2 of the Complement will be applied in selection of projects for assistance under this Measure.

In addition to the direct benefits for the children themselves, collateral benefits will also be obtained to benefit the community as a whole;

through the creation of additional employment (e.g. for teaching staff); and
by enabling parents to take up employment, education or training opportunities.

Progress will be measured on:

Establishment of 50 Capital schemes across all the ELBs
1,700 additional places made available for children in their immediate pre-school year, especially the socially disadvantaged and 4 year olds
Consequential opportunities for the parents to take up employment, education or training
Up to 130 additional posts for teachers and classroom assistants created

The total value of this Measure is €11.340 m. The EU contribution from European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is €8 m with €3.34 m match funding from the Department of Education.

The funds will be allocated to eligible projects during the period 2000 to 2005 and final allocations will be available for spending up to 31 December 2007.

As a complementary measure, the Department of Education has supported a cross-border childcare partnership established in the border corridor of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to develop good practice models for childcare provision in rural areas for children aged 0-12.