Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 July 2013
629. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide, in tabular form, the total number of personnel employed in registered child care facilities; the detail of the formal accredited qualifications of personnel, that is, FETAC and HETAC level in same; the numbers without formal accredited qualifications in same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32237/13]
View answerPobal, which administers the childcare support programmes on behalf of my Department, compiles an Annual Survey of the Early Years Sector. For 2012 approximately 3,137 of these services responded and provided information on the level of training/qualifications of 12,838 staff working directly with children.
The survey established that the level of staff qualifications for those services who responded can be categorised as follows: Level 4 - 2.1%, Level 5 - 39.4%, Level 6 - 34.8%, Level 7 - 4.9%, Level 8 - 6.3%, Level 9/10 - 0.7%, Primary Teaching Qualification - 0.5%.
Up to 86.6% of staff working directly with children have qualifications equal to or higher than FETAC Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualification (NFQ). This shows an increase on a similar survey in 2011 and represents substantial progress in the further upskilling of child care workers in recent years.
