Key Facts
What is the Nurturing Skills Learner Fund (NSLF)?
Applications are now open for the 2025 Nurturing Skills Learner Fund
The NSLF aims to assist early years educators to pursue early learning and care (ELC) qualifications that have been approved by the Qualifications Advisory Board (QAB) while continuing to work in the sector.
Chevron College is an NSLF eligible institution for the Nurturing Skills Learner Fund Scheme for both our L7 and L8 Early Years programmes. In 2024, 65% of NSLF applicants chose to complete their degree with Chevron College.
In 2024, the pilot Nurturing Skills Learner Fund scheme had over 600 applications and funded 350 students to undertake QAB-approved Early Learning and Care degree programmes (at levels 7 or 8), with funding provided directly to the educational institutions, lowering the overall cost to those studying while working in the sector.
To minimise the barrier to participation, the pilot fund met 80% of the tuition fees for successful applicants, up to a maximum amount of €3,200. The remaining costs can be paid by the student or their employer, though a further 10% (€360) contribution will be refunded to the student six months after completion of each academic year, once they remain working in a ELC/SAC service and subject to the continuation of the NSLF pilot scheme.
Contact us today to commence the NSLF application process.
Student Eligibility
Applicants had to satisfy the following eligibility criteria for the NSLF,
• be working with children in a Tusla-registered Early Learning and Care (ELC) or School Age Childcare (SAC) service,
• the service in which the applicant is working in, must have a current signed Core Funding contract with DCEDIY.
• Applicants must have worked within an ELC or SAC service for the six months prior to their application. The pilot scheme is only open to those entering an approved ELC degree programme for the first time.
Furthermore, students also had to meet the programme entry requirements; by holding a QQI Level 6 Childhood Care and Education Major Award or equivalent.
Programme Costs
- Yearly Cost: €720 (can be paid in 5 monthly instalments of €144 each)
- Learner Fund Contribution: An additional €360 directly paid to the student for each year of studies, 6 months after you have completed the course providing you are still working in Early Years
*NSLF funding is available to support students who are progressing in their degrees ie not repeating years, subject to the continuation of the NSLF pilot scheme
Why choose this course?
Chevron College recognises that every childhood lasts a lifetime and acknowledges the significant role the Early Childhood Educator plays in shaping early childhood. Chevron, therefore, aims to ensure that graduates of this programme will emerge as highly qualified professionals who equally value their role, and the role of early childhood education and care.
The diversity of this programme will ensure that Early Childhood Educators are equipped with the competence to navigate the ever-changing landscape of early childhood education and care in Ireland. It aims to enable Early Years Educators to support the holistic care and development of all children within their practice, with an emphasis on supporting children’s rights, inclusion, diversity and collaborative practice.
Early Childhood Educators will emerge from the programme as highly employable, child-centred professionals and leaders, with the tools to positively impact the lives of young children. Graduates can work as Early Years Educators, take on leadership and management roles within the sector, and undertake further academic study and research.
Students will be supported through this journey of personal and professional development by a team of highly qualified and experienced Early Childhood Education and Care lecturers and support staff.
How it works
Students can study from home through Chevron’s Virtual Learning Environment and engage with weekly study resources at times that suit their own schedule.
There are weekly live webinars to further support students’ learning, which students find extremely beneficial. These are recorded, therefore, if students cannot attend the content is accessible online after the live session.
Following the completion of each module students will have developed and gathered the knowledge, understanding and weekly feedback to enable them to complete their final assessment.
Professional Practice Placement is a requirement at all 4 stages of this programme, with 35% of the programme allocated for placement.
Learner supports and help
If students have queries on any of the course content, they can post a question to the support forum and their lecturer will post a response to their query. Lecturers also have Open Zoom meetings each week so students can pop in to have a chat about module content if they so wish.
The Studies Advisor is available to support students with areas including academic writing, referencing skills and to develop a realistic study schedule for each module.
During Professional Practice Placement students will be supported by both their Chevron Supervisor and Placement Mentor.
Course Content
Stage 2 (120 Credits)
Stage 2 will provide students with a strong understanding of the key areas and concepts pertaining to the role of the Early Years Educator. Students will evaluate current early years practice from a global and national context and will examine strategies and practices to support the holistic development of children, with an emphasis on creativity, inclusion, equity, and collaborative practice.
Stage 3 (120 Credits)
Stage 3 will further support students to develop an in-dept understanding of key areas and concepts pertaining to the role of the Early Years Educator and Leader. Students will evaluate current early years practice from a global and national context and will examine strategies and practices to ensure a high-quality, complaint early years environment. Through research, reflection and professional practice placement students will further develop their professional practice and emergence as ethical and transformative leaders.
Stage 4 (60 Credits)
Stage 4 will provide students with a more comprehensive and complex understanding of ECEC in Ireland. Students will examine the role of management in ECEC and understand the theory and processes involved in the management of high quality ECEC and School Age Childcare services. Students will analyse existing research and engage in new research pertaining to the area of Early Childhood Education and Care.
Course Modules
Year 1
| SEMESTER 1 | CREDITS | SEMESTER 2 | CREDITS |
| Sociology and Social Policy | 5 Credits | Literacy in the Early Years
Environment |
5 Credits |
| Creative Play in the Early Years Environment | 5 Credits | Advanced Early Childhood Learning and Development | 5 Credits
|
| Equity, Diversity and Inclusion | 5 Credits | Supporting Community and Parental Involvement | 5 Credits |
| Professional Practice 2 | 30 Credits | ||
Year 2
| SEMESTER 1 | CREDITS | SEMESTER 2 | CREDITS |
| Inspection, Regulation, Policies and Procedures | 5 Credits | Inclusion and Children with Additional Needs | 5 Credits |
| Curriculum and Pedagogy 2 | 5 Credits | Children’s Rights and the Voice of the Child | 5 Credits |
| Supervision, Mentoring &
Leadership |
5 Credits | Research Methods including a Research Proposal | 5 Credits |
| Professional Practice 3 | 30 Credits | ||
Year 3
| Year 4
Semester 1 |
Year 4
Semester 2 |
| Level 8 | Level 8 |
| Quality in ECEC | Emerging Issues in Early Childhood |
| 5 | 5 |
| Advanced Pedagogical Practices | School Age Provision |
| 5 | 5 |
| Leading Management in Early Years | Law in ECEC |
| 5 | 5 |
| Dissertation | |
| 20 | |
| Professional Practice 4 | |
| 10 | |
| 60 | |
Professional Practice Placement
Level 7
- Stage 2: 750 hours of ECEC professional practice placement are required in Stage 2 (Semester 1 and Semester 2)
- Stage 3: 750 hours of ECEC professional practice placement are required in Stage 3 (Semester 1 and Semester 2)
Level 8
- Stage 4: 250 hours of ECEC professional practice placement are required in Stage 4 (Semester 1 only).
During each stage, professional practice placement must:
- Include a minimum of 40 hours with two of the age groups below;
- 0 to 18 months;
- 19 months to 2 years and 7 months;
- 2 years and 8 months to 6 years, including children with additional needs.
Other requirements:
- A minimum of 40 hours must be completed in a second early childhood service during each stage (typically learners will use the 40 hours in a second early childhood service to meet the second age group requirement of each stage).
- A minimum of 40 hours must be completed with all three age groups by the end of Stage 3.
- Placement must be completed in a Tusla-registered early childhood service (crèche, pre-school, Montessori, Early Start Unit or ASD pre-school class).
Professional Practice Placement Checklist:
Level 7 Checklist (Stage 2 and Stage 3)
Can you…?
- Complete 750 hours of ECEC professional practice placement in Stage 2.
- Complete 750 hours of ECEC professional practice placement in Stage 3.
- Work a minimum of 40 hours with two of the age groups below during each stage, ensuring 40 hours has been completed with all three age groups by the end of Stage 3;
- 0 to 18 months;
- 19 months to 2 years and 7 months;
- 2 years and 8 months to 6 years, including children with additional needs.
- Complete 40 hours in a second early childhood service during Stage 2 and during Stage 3. (You can use the 40 hours in a second early childhood service to meet the age group requirements above).
- Complete these hours in a Tusla-registered early childhood service (crèche, pre-school, Montessori, Early Start Unit or ASD pre-school class).
Level 8 Checklist (Stage 2, Stage 3 and Stage 4)
Can you..?
- Meet the requirements of the Level 7 checklist above and well as;
- Complete 250 hours of ECEC professional practice placement in Stage 4 (Semester 1).
- Work a minimum of 40 hours with two of the age groups below;
- 0 to 18 months;
- 19 months to 2 years and 7 months;
- 2 years and 8 months to 6 years, including children with additional needs.
- Complete 40 hours in a second early childhood service. (You can use the 40 hours in a second early childhood service to meet the age group requirements above).
- Complete these hours in a Tusla-registered early childhood service (crèche, pre-school, Montessori, Early Start Unit or ASD pre-school class).
Entry requirements
- QQI level 6 Early Years Major award
- English proficiency (if English is not your 1st language) any of the below English proficiently exams will suffice-IELTS score 6.0 or above – Duolingo score of 105 or higher – Cambridge score of FCE or higher – Any assessment CEFR B2+ or higher
- Sufficient IT skills
Qualification gained
- Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education and Care Level 7
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Early Childhood Education and Care Level 8
Career opportunities
- Become employed as an Early Years Graduate Centre Manager and earn €17.25 an hour
- Open your own Early Years service
- Become employed with government department such as Tusla, local Childcare Committees or CE schemes
- Gain employment with education providers in a tutoring/lecturing role
- Pathway to become a Secondary school teacher, PME programme (Professional Masters in Education)
- Obtain a Teaching Council number to qualify for Summer programme & Home Tuition scheme and earn €27 an hour
- The more staff qualified to a higher level , your service will receive more subsidies under the Core Funding scheme
Teaching and learning strategy
All students entering this degree programme complete an intensive induction process. This induction prepares the novice learner to transition successfully to study in an online Higher Education environment. Our tailored induction process is comprised of a 1:1 induction meeting and skills session with their personal Studies Advisor. This 1:1 induction session will teach the student how to access our virtual learning environment and how to use zoom. These sessions are tailored to meet the needs of individual students. At Chevron College we are aware that IT skills vary between students. These sessions are therefore designed to meet each student at their own level. By the end of this 1:1 session each student will have learned how to access our VLE and online zoom meetings. All students will therefore have developed the skills to participate in the intensive 4 day class induction sessions.
The four induction sessions for the class group take place during the month prior to course commencement. At these sessions, students will be introduced to their course tutors and their class community. These sessions will teach students the skills required to succeed in an online Higher Education environment where continuous active engagement with resources and formative assessments is required. Students will learn academic writing and presentation skills. They will learn critical reading writing and thinking skills and they will learn how to conduct literature searches. These sessions teach the students the foundational thinking and IT skills required to participate in our blended learning degree programme.
Each semester runs for 12 weeks; students study 2 modules each semester. Students should allocate a minimum of 10 hours per week for each module.The weekly module content is released on the Virtual Learning Environment on a Monday morning at 6am. Each week there is a recorded lecture, a workshop/webinar and an Educational Action to complete for each module.
The lectures function to provide a content overview of the week’s learning and establish the expected aims and learning outcomes as well as the criteria for measuring their achievement. During the lecture key concepts, ideas and theories are introduced and contextualised. This reinforces the relevance of the material for the students with the use of examples
The workshops and webinars function to support students to investigate, question and develop critical thinking skills about the weekly topics. Students are supported to take part in active discovery within their class community. This supports students to develop their Higher Order Thinking Skills and to apply these ways of thinking and practicing to Case Studies, Problem Solving Scenarios and Ethical Dilemmas. The skills required to perform educational actions for example writing skills, analysis, using info-graphics, evaluation of a source etc are also scaffolded during the workshops/webinars.
Each week students are required to complete an educational action. This provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned. If they take part students are provided with feedback and feedforward on performance on the Learning Outcomes and expectations are clarified for demonstrating achievement in the final module assessment.
Fees
BA (Ord) in Early Childhood Education and Care Level 7
- Duration: 2 years
- Yearly Cost: €720 or 5 monthly instalments of €144 each month*
BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Education and Care Level 8
- Duration: 3 years
- Yearly Cost: €720 or 5 monthly instalments of €144 each month*
How to enrol?
Enrolment and payment are completed over the phone. To secure your place, please click Enrol Now: