Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 September 2014
23. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his plans to require all child care workers to be qualified to at least FETAC level 5 by September 2015; if allowance will be made for those employed in child care and enrolled in FETAC courses that will not be completed by September 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35724/14]
View answerA number of amendments were made to the Child Care Act 1991 in the Child and Family Agency Act 2013. Regulations giving effect to the legislative changes are expected to be published shortly. The new Regulations will impose qualification requirements of a minimum Level 5 award in early childhood care and education for all staff working in early years services (no requirement currently exists). This requirement applies from September 2014 in the case of new services, and from September 2015 in the case of existing services. In addition, the minimum qualification requirement for pre-school leaders delivering the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme will be increased from a Level 5 award to a Level 6, from the same dates.
In light of the proposed timeframes for the introduction of new qualification requirements, the Department has sought to work with the childcare sector to accelerate the process for training and up-skilling staff and improving the quality of care delivered to children. €0.9 million was provided to support a training programme in 2013 to provide support to staff who are seeking to meet the qualification requirements.
In March of this year, the Learner Fund was launched. This Fund, which has an allocation of €3m over the two years 2014 and 2015 and is sufficient to support all eligible applicants, is designed to support existing childcare staff to up-skill to meet new qualification requirements. The Learner Fund is being administered by Pobal, with the assistance of local City and County Childcare Committees. There will be a maximum cost per module of €200 for classroom-based courses, of which €150 will be the maximum Learner Fund subvention and €50 the maximum contribution by the learner. The maximum cost per complete classroom-based course will be €1,600. For blended/online courses, the maximum cost per module will be €150, of which the maximum Learner Fund subvention will be €120 and the maximum contribution by the learner will be €30.
While the deadline is September, it is recognised that some courses may not have been fully completed by that date, and individuals who are working in the sector will not be penalised in such circumstances. The aim of is to raise qualification levels, not to push experienced and committed workers out of the sector.
A limited “grandfathering” arrangement is being introduced to allow staff who have worked in the sector for many years and are nearing retirement to be exempted from the Level 5 requirement.
