The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme provides for one free pre-school year for all eligible children in the year before commencing primary school. The programme is normally provided for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week, over 38 weeks. The Government has made a very significant commitment in maintaining the pre-school year on a universal and free basis despite the current budgetary situation.
The ECCE programme is funded by my Department through the provision of capitation grants paid directly to participating services. This capitation payment is for the provision of services, including preparatory and supportive work such as engagement with parents, training and organisation. The standard capitation fee paid to participating services is €62.50 per week per eligible child. A higher capitation fee of €73 per week per eligible child is available to pre-school services with more highly qualified staff.
There are in the region of 4,300 pre-school services participating in the programme with new services applying to enter the programme each year. The funding provided under the programme is a guaranteed source of income, paid in advance, and is an important support to services at this time. Services applying to enter the programme should be satisfied that they can meet the full cost of providing the pre-school year from the capitation provided.
Ireland, like other European countries, doesn’t provide for mandatory Continuing Professional Development for early years practitioners. Data from the 2014 Eurydice and Eurostat Report ‘Key Data on Early Childhood Education and Care – Education and Training in Europe’ shows that in Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, Sweden and Norway, CPD is not obligatory for educational and care staff.
The same report identifies that ‘Continuing professional development (CPD) plays an essential part in increasing ECEC professionals' competences. In certain cases, participating in training allows staff not only to improve their knowledge and develop additional professional skills in ECEC, but also to upgrade their qualifications.
I would like to be in a position to provide for mandatory CPD but first I would like to see early years practitioners meet the new minimum requirements. The Deputy may be aware that as part of the early years quality agenda aimed at improving the quality of childcare services, new qualification requirements for childcare staff working directly with children were announced last year. A minimum qualification of Level 5 (or equivalent) on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) will be required for all staff working with children in pre-school services and the minimum qualification for all pre-school leaders delivering the free pre-school year under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme will be increased from Level 5 to Level 6 (or equivalent) on the NFQ. The new qualification requirements will apply to all new services from September 2014, and to all existing services from September 2015.
To support staff who are seeking to meet the new qualifications requirement, funding of €3 million is being made available over the two years 2014/2015 under the new Learner Fund which was launched in March this year. The Fund is being administered by Pobal, with the assistance of local City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs).
My Department also provides annual funding to seven voluntary childcare organisations in the childcare sector, who provide support to childcare services throughout the country. This funding, which will amount to over €2.6 million in 2014, enables the voluntary organisations to provide a range of support services to their members, including on-going training supports.
