Aistear (an Irish word meaning “Journey”) is a framework for developing literacy and numeracy through play, which is very much supported and promoted by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) through the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).
In Ransboro National School, we embrace this approach and focus on it in the Junior and Senior Infant classes and this approach will now also be rolled out in first class next year. Indeed, we will also be running a pilot project in the next school year where the whole school will work on an Aistear theme.
In the Aistear approach, the Socio-dramatic corner in the room is a focal point, while groups of children engage in carefully prepared and structured play activity and group work, specifically targeting certain objectives of the Primary School Curriculum.
The NCCA has compiled the following video using images of pupils in our school engaged in different aspects of the Aistear approach to infant education – role play, construction, junk art, water play, sand play, group activities. The video will be used to demonstrate the Aistear approach to primary teachers engaging in summer courses this year. We are proud of our pupils and we hope you enjoy it!
June 28, 2016
