The Early Childhood Care and Education programme provides a free preschool year to all eligible children before commencing primary school. The free preschool provision represents an annual investment of approximately €175 million.
The free preschool initiative has been welcomed by the child care sector and is a very positive development in the area of preschool care and education. While no detailed examination of the benefits of the programme has been undertaken, it is evident from the response of primary school principals around the country who have commented on the differences they see in children availing of the programme prior to enrolment in primary school, that the provision is having a very positive impact.
Participation in high quality early childhood care and education services is known to support better outcomes for children, and the introduction of a second free preschool year could be of considerable benefit to many children. However, this would require considerable additional funding, broadly in line with the cost of the current one-year provision. This additional funding is not currently available due to the financial constraints under which the Government is operating. In addition, all of the available evidence indicates that the quality of the preschool provision is key to good outcomes for children. The Preschool Quality Agenda that is being progressed by my Department, and which involves a range of actions in key areas aimed at improving quality within early years services and enhancing the regulatory regime, is a key building block for any further extension of universal child care provision.
Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, the national policy framework for children and young people 2014-2020, recognises the value of early childhood care and education in supporting children's early cognitive, social and emotional development, and the Government is committed to the introduction of a second free preschool year within the lifetime of the framework once the required quality standards are achieved and subject to the availability of resources. My Department will be keeping this commitment under review in the context of the progress of the Preschool Quality Agenda.
Future developments relating to early years care and education are being considered as part of the preparation of the new National Early Years Strategy. The report of the Expert Advisory Group which was appointed to advise on recommendations for inclusion in the Strategy, ‘Right from the Start’, set out a wide range of recommendations for consideration in the preparation of the final draft of the Early Years Strategy. One of the recommendations for consideration is to extend the free preschool provision, but only after achieving higher quality standards, more investment in training and mentoring, and professionalisation of the Early Years workforce.
