Fact Sheet 1: Glossary of Key Terminology used in the E-Learning Modules and Website

Access and Inclusion Model (AIM)

The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) was developed to support the inclusion of all children in Early Learning and Care (ELC) settings. It envisages the provision of both universal and targeted supports across its seven levels. 

Accessible

With respect to buildings, or parts of buildings, means that people, regardless of age, size, ability or disability, are able to both access and use the building and its facilities.

Acoustics

Characteristics

Aistear

The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework for all children from birth to 6 years in Ireland. The framework uses four interconnected themes to describe children’s learning and development: Well-being; Identity and Belonging; Communicating and Exploring and Thinking. 

Assistive Technologies

Technological devices (equipment or systems) that are used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals.

Better Start

Better Start is the agency which provides mentoring support for quality Early Learning and Care provision. Better Start also supports the implementation of the Access and Inclusion model (AIM).

Building

A permanent or temporary structure of any size that accommodates facilities to which people have access. A building accommodating sanitary facilities may include a toilet block in a public park or shower facilities at a campsite. A temporary building may include portable toilet facilities such as those provided at outdoor events.

Camphered

A carpentry term that refers to the edging on furniture.

Campus

A site or grounds with a collection of mostly detached buildings which share a common purpose.

CAT6

A data communication cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet cable.

Circulation

External or internal spaces to allow a person to move from one place to another (i.e. external pathways or internal corridors).

City and County Childcare Committees

Locally based organisations providing a wide variety of services including; advice on setting up an early years business; early years training sessions and advice and support on applying for government funding.

Clear Width

The width between handrails.

Closed Circuit TV (CCTV)

A TV system in which signals are not publicly distributed but are monitored, primarily for surveillance and security purposes.

Cognitive Impairment

A cognitive decline greater than that expected for a person’s age and education level.

Decibels (dBs)

Decibels are the units used to measure sound intensity.

Designated Car Parking

Car parking spaces reserved for the use of car users with disabilities, whether as motorists or passengers.

Door Ironmongery

collective term for components including hinges, handles, locks and selfclosing devices, which are used to facilitate the correct functioning of a door. May also be termed ‘architectural ironmongery’ or ‘door furniture’.

Dropped kerbs

A lowered section of kerb between a pavement and carriageway forming a level or flush crossing point. Also referred to as dished kerbs.

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme

The first universal ECCE programme for children aged between 3 years 2 months and 4 years 7 months was introduced in Ireland in 2010 and applied to children from their third birthday in 2016 with a further extension to 2 years’ duration in 2018. The ECCE programme is now available from the 1st September after the child has turned 2 years and 8 months, allowing all children to attend state-supported preschool provision up the age of 5-years and 6 months. This programme provides a scheme of payments to early-years settings providing Early Learning and Care. It runs across 38 weeks from September to June and entails 3 hours provision across a 5 day a week.

Early Childhood Ireland (ECI)

Early Childhood Ireland (ECI) is the leading organisation in the early childhood sector working to ensure quality experiences for children in Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare settings. 

Early Learning and Care setting (ELC)

An ELC is a setting providing Early Learning and Care to children primarily aged from birth to six years. This may include sessional settings (where children attend for up to 3.5 hours), part-time settings (where children attend for up to 5 hours) or full-day settings (where children attend for over 5 hours). These settings may also provide afterschool facilities that may cater to primary children up to the age of 14 years. 

An ELC can take many forms in various locations such as: a standalone setting within the community; part of a larger community center; co-located with a primary or post-primary school; or, attached to, or part of a private dwelling. An ELC may also consist of a childminding service undertaken by a registered childminder within their own home. Furthermore, with the introduction of early years speech and language therapy supports and similar projects that utilise the ELC as a key contact and support point for childcare and education within the community, many ELC are providing extended services to children, families, and staff.

A variety of terminology is used in the literature to refer to professionals who work in ELC services and include educarer, early childhood teacher, pre-school teacher, early childhood educator and/or early childhood practitioner. are referred to as ELC educators and/or ELC practitioners. First 5: the Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families 2019–2028 refers to these professionals as ELC practitioners. 

First 5

First 5 is the Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families 2019–2028 a core objective of which is to build a sustainable model of high-quality early learning and care provision that promotes diversity, inclusion and equitable participation, underpinned by research, evaluation and other relevant developments.

Handrail

Component of stairs, steps or ramps that provides guidance and support at hand level.

Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

This includes a wide range of technologies such as computers, telecommunications, etc.

Leadership for INClusion in the Early Years (LINC) Programme

In 2015, a Consortium led by Mary Immaculate College (MIC), Limerick, University of Limerick (UL) together with Early Childhood Ireland (ECI) and Maynooth University (MU) Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education successfully responded to a cross-government call for proposals to develop a national higher education programme for INclusion CO-ordinators (INCOs) in early years settings. This call for proposals was linked to the development of the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), which encompasses both universal and targeted approaches to support the inclusion of all children in Early Learning and Care (ELC) settings. Encompassing the key foci of both leadership and inclusion, the programme is deliberately referred to as the LINC Programme and the consortium as the LINC Consortium. The LINC Programme is located at Level 6 of the National Qualifications Framework (NFQ) and academically accredited by the University of Limerick (UL) through MIC. The Consortium secured funding in 2016 and again in 2020 to design and deliver a high-quality programme for ELC professionals to create inclusive ELC settings. In 2020, the Consortium also received funding to develop a professional learning programme for all those who had completed the Level 6 programme. 

Leading Edge

The opening edge of a door adjacent to the handle.

Matwell

Entrance door mattings set into a frame in the floor.

M2

Metres squared.

Newel Post 

The upright posts that support the bannister on a staircase. 

Nosing 

An edge part of the step tread at the top of the riser beneath in a flight of stairs. 

Parietal Lobes

The brain comprises many different lobes (frontal, temporal, occipital and parietal) each with particular functions. The parietal lobes are found in the cortex of the brain and are where information such as taste, temperature and touch are integrated or processed. The parietal lobes enable us to negotiate our way in the three dimensional world in which we live. Humans would not be able to feel sensations of touch, if the parietal lobe was damaged. 

Passenger Lift 

A conventional motorised lift enclosed within a structural shaft and rising one or more storeys within a building. Lift and door movement is automatic. 

Path 

A pedestrian route that has no adjacent vehicle carriageway and includes paths in countryside locations as well as paths in urban and residential environments. 

Pavement 

A pavement is the part of a roadway used by pedestrians and is adjacent to the vehicle carriageway. 

PIR 

A Passive Infrared (PIR) sensor-activated light fitting. 

Placemaking 

Placemaking is a people-centered approach to the planning, design and management of public and publicly accessible places such as streets, squares, parks, campuses, buildings, and other similar public spaces. It identifies the importance of ‘place’ and a ‘sense of place’ for human and community health and wellbeing. Placemaking is a process that carefully examines, among other local things, the social, cultural, ecological and physical attributes of a location. These attributes inform a process of improving or creating public places that support greater access, interaction, equality and equity, and more socially, and economically viable communities. 

Pobal 

The agency which administers Government funding for programmes, including the various early years programmes

Positive Risk-taking 

Positive risk-taking refers to balancing the positive benefits gained from taking risks against the negative effects of attempting to avoid risk altogether. In early childhood education, positive risk taking involves enabling children to face challenges, whilst ensuring children are protected from potentially hazardous situations. 

Public Realm

The public realm typically refers to public space in villages, towns and cities. It usually consists of streets, squares, parks and other open public spaces, but it also refers to public internal space such as markets, public museums, and large government buildings. For the purposes of these Guidelines we refer to the external and internal connective public spaces in the early years setting, as the public realm of the early years setting. 

Ramp 

An inclined plane 1:20 or steeper from the horizontal and intermediate landings that facilitate access from one level to another. 

Retro-fit 

Carrying out building works to an existing building. 

Riser 

The vertical portion between each tread on the stair. 

School Age Childcare (SAC)

A centre-based service for school going children aged 4-15 years, which operates during one or more of the following periods: before school, after school, during school holidays. Professionals who work in SAC services, are referred to as SAC educators and/or SAC practitioners.

Setting-down Point 

A designated area close to a building entrance or other facility where passengers can alight from a car or taxi. 

Síolta 

Translates from the Irish language as ‘Seeds’. Síolta is The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education in Ireland. Síolta contains the principles, standards, components of quality early childhood education and includes signposts for reflection. It is designed to support engagement in all aspects of quality early childhood education for children from birth to 6 years.  

Shower Room 

A room comprising a shower, toilet, washbasin, and associated accessories, such as en-suite facilities in residential accommodation. 

Soffit 

The underside of any construction element, the underside of a flight of stairs. 

Stakeholders 

Any person or organisation that can affect, or can be affected by the development of a new Early Learning and Care setting, or the extension or refurbishment of an existing early years setting. 

Step Nosing 

The leading edge of a step or landing. 

Street Furniture 

Items located in street and other pedestrian environments such as lamp posts, litter bins, signs, benches, and post boxes. 

Tactile Paving Surface 

A profiled paving or textured surface that provides guidance or warning to pedestrians with visual difficulties. 

Transom 

A horizontal crosspiece in a window frame usually dividing the window into a top and bottom section. 

Tread 

The part of the stairway that is stepped on. 

Universal Design 

The design of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extend possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, or ability. This includes public places in the built environment such as buildings or spaces that the public have access to; along with the services provided in those places; and the systems that are available including Information Communications Technology. 

Urban Form 

The layout, shape, height and design details of the built environment, including streets, roads, public space, buildings etc. in an urban area. 

U-Value 

U-value refers to thermal transmittance and it measures the rate of heat that passes through a component or structure. It is expressed in units of watts per square metre per degree of air temperature difference (W/m2K). 

Ventilation Strips 

Vents integrated into a window frame that are in the shape of a bar or strip, and that can be controlled by opening or closing the aperture within the vent to different extents. 

Vision Panel 

A fixed, glazed panel set into a door that enables people to see through from one side of the door to the other. May also be termed ‘viewing panel’. 

Visual Contrast 

Colour and/or tonal contrast between surfaces and fixtures, designed to improve visual clarity. 

Wayfinding 

A collective term describing features in a building or environment that facilitate orientation and navigation.

Wet Room 

A shower room in which the floor and walls are all waterproof. The shower area can be accessed without crossing a threshold or stepping into a shower tray