Seán Crowe
Question:585 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science if and when she will mainstream the early start programme to all disadvantaged schools. [34155/06]
View answerTuesday, 24 October 2006
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The Early Start pre-school project operates in 40 primary schools in designated areas of urban disadvantage in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Drogheda and Dundalk.
Targeted early childhood education provision is a key element of the School Support Programme (SSP) under the new action plan for educational inclusion DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools). As a result of the identification and review processes, 873 schools have been invited to participate in the new Programme. These comprise 670 primary schools (338 urban/town schools and 332 rural schools) and 203 second-level schools.
The objective in relation to early childhood education is to concentrate actions initially on those children aged from three up to school enrolment, who will subsequently attend the 190 urban/town primary schools serving the most disadvantaged communities. My Department will work in partnership with other departments and agencies to complement and add value to existing childcare programmes in disadvantaged communities, with a view to ensuring that the overall care and education needs of the children concerned are met in an integrated manner. The Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education will provide advice on the future development and direction of pre-school measures for children in disadvantaged communities and the findings of a number of evaluation reports on Early Start prepared by the Education Research Centre will be taken into account in this regard.
In December 2005, the Office of the Minister for Children was established to maximise the co-ordination of policies for children and young people and will have a range of functions previously under the Departments of Health and Children; Justice Equality and Law Reform; and Education and Science. A new Early Years Education Policy Unit has been established within my Department and will be co-located with the Office of the Minister for Children. This Unit will oversee the preparation of plans for phased implementation of the early childhood education dimension of DEIS in the targeted school communities and this will be pursued within an overall strategic policy framework developed by the Office of the Minister for Children.