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Start at the very beginning with development programmes for the Early Childhood Development sector

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Project for Inclusive Early Childhood Care and Education (PIECCE)

No lasting success story can be built without a solid foundation, and education is no different. To deliver top graduates you need students who have successfully completed every stage of development from the cradle to secondary school level. Early childhood education (ECD) is considered crucial in a child’s development.

PIECCE is a multi-sectoral teacher education project that aims to help professionalise the ECD sector.  The objective is to develop Standardised Programme Frameworks for the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Diploma and Bachelor of Education at Levels 6 and 7. The new and exciting programme development project commenced in 2017 and will run for until the end of 2019.

Once developed, the programme will assist in the development of ECD practitioners who, together with teachers, hold the key to unlocking the potential of young children. 

Unisa is one of the leaders in the PIECCE collaboration, along with South African Institute of Distance Education (Saide), the Centre for Social Development at Rhodes University and BRIDGE. The consulting partners on the project are TREE, Ntataise, and False Bay College. At the request of the Department of Higher Education (DHET), and with additional support from them, the consortium was extended to include a number of Higher Education Institutions, namely, Walter Sisulu University, University of Pretoria, University of Fort Hare, North West University, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of the Free State, University of the Witwatersrand and University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Project costs: R11 million

Seed funding: R9 million was received from the European Union represented by the European Commission

Shortfall: R2 million    

For further information on PIECCE, please contact: sheilad@saide.org.za

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Publish date: 2017-07-21 00:00:00.0

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