Multilingual Early Language Transmission (MELT) - Mercator ...

Ireland). This required qualification at FETAC (at Level 5 or equivalent) in childcare/ early
childhood care and education usually includes four mandatory component awards related to
the required skills and knowledge needed for practice in early childhood care and education
settings, e.g. Child Development, Early Childhood Education, Working in Childcare; two
general component awards (mandatory), one being work experience/practice-related and
another drawn from a list of core skills areas such as. Communication, Information
Technology (IT); and two component awards drawn from a pool of elective subjects which
may relate to specific areas of practice in early childhood care and education. In the case of
the Leaders who are training to work in naíonraí, these include modules relevant to
supporting L2 through immersion, and these are discussed below.
Training for Immersion Preschools
The umbrella body for the naíonraí, Forbairt Naíonraí Teo (FNT) states that there are three
requirements for employment as a naíonra Leader: a FETAC 5 qualification or higher
required for all working in the Early Years’ sector, as described above; a high standard of
Irish; and completion of its own Intensive Course (full-time for one week). A significant step
has been the provision by FNT of the general FETAC training courses at levels 5 and 6
through Irish. Offering these general courses through the medium of Irish offers important
professional development for fluent Irish speakers, as well as further language development
in the register required to work in this section. In addition, it allows that the optional
modules included can be tailored to Irish-medium preschools. As a result, modules such as
‘Using Irish with young children’ and ‘Sociolinguistics and the child’ are included, which
address the methodology of immersion for L2 learners and language support for L1
speakers. This follows on the research by Hickey (1997) which explored the needs and
challenges facing Stiúrthóirí (Leaders) and recommended training that specifically targeted
language use with L2 learners, as well as offering those working in Irish-medium areas
training in the impact of sociolinguistic factors on language use in those areas, as well as
extending the preparation for dealing with children who were native speakers but had
limited or insufficiently developed mother-tongue skills.
The higher qualification, FETAC Level 6, is also offered in Irish by FNT and qualifies holders
for a higher subvention under the national scheme, and this course also includes a module
specifically directed at Language Planning in the Preschool. This addresses some of the
concerns from previous research (e.g. Hickey, 2007) showing the difficulty of meeting the
different needs of learners at different levels of fluency without language planning efforts. A
textbook to accompany these courses has been developed in order to support the Leaders’
study through Irish (Cúnamh, edited by Uí Ghrádaigh 2004) and this contains materials in
Irish relevant to these courses
Language Proficiency
The naíonraí are committed to an Early Total Immersion approach, where all activities are
managed only through Irish, and where the only language spoken with children and other
staff is Irish. In order to ensure that the approach used in the naíonraí is Total Immersion,
Leaders must be fluent in the language, defined by FNT as being ‘confident and comfortable
104