Early Childhood Development Resource and Training Organisations and trainers are invited to a National Training Forum taking place in Gauteng next month .

Early Childhood Development Resource and Training Organisations and trainers are invited to a National Training Forum taking place in Gauteng next month .

ECD refers to the consolidated learning, and teaching or nurturing, processes by which children to the age of nine grow and flourish socially, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

It also refers to a comprehensive approach to policies and programmes for children with the active participation of parents and caregivers. And the overriding purpose of ECD is to protect children's rights.

ECD programmes invest in children and provide equal developmental opportunities - and help to create a solid platform for children - any country's future leaders - and also empower communities.

Organised by the South African Congress for ECD, and also invitingchief executive trainers, the forum's venue is the Hotel 224 in Pretoria on April 14 and 15, dealing with the:

lReview of the curriculum for the training of ECD practitioners;

lEstablishment of a national discussion on the mass training of ECD practitioners;

l Review of the recognition of prior learning, assessment, moderation and verification processes that are aimed at the enhancement of the certification of students in ECD; and

lThe development of regional and provincial training forums.

The SA ECD Congress is a part of a thriving nation-building partnerships project, whose formidable host of partners include Absa, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef), Aggrey Klaaste Nation Building Foundation, the Basic Education and Social Development departments and SABC Education.

Speakers lined-up for the forum, to be opened by the SA Congress for ECD CEO Leonard Saul, include Dianne Parker from the Department of Education, Development Bank of Southern Africa education specialist Graeme Bloch, a representative of the Basic Education Department's ECD directorate, and others from the Western Cape College of Education.

South African Congress for Educators Reg Brigrag will also speak. So too will Sesi Nxesi, the chief executive officer of the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority.

Parker will talk about the role of nongovernmental organisations in training and development. Bloch will discuss curriculum development as it affects the ECD.

For more information contact SA ECD Congress' Janita Erwee at 012-321-5154 or 082-979-7720.