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Early Childhood Care and Education

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 April 2019

Tuesday, 2 April 2019

Questions (484)

Denise Mitchell

Question:

484. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when the report on the issue of over overage exemptions under the ECCE produced by the National Disability Authority will be published; the actions being considered arising from this report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15271/19]

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Written answers

In December 2017, I announced my decision to pause the proposed rule changes on overage exemptions in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) pre-school programme to allow for a consultation process where the voice of parents of children with disabilities could be heard in relation to the proposed change.

This consultation process, which was conducted by the National Disability Authority and supported jointly by my Department and the Department of Education and Skills, involved a number of steps to include:

I. Review of the relevant literature and policy;

II. Review of existing data on overage exemptions, including trends in applications and approvals;

III. Profile of children currently in receipt of overage exemptions;

IV. Review of existing data and trends in school starting age;

V. Identification of options for managing exemptions going forward (including the criteria and application, appraisal and appeals processes) and consider the impact of each option identified for: children and families; pre-schools and schools (including practitioners and teachers); the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (and its respective Agencies, policies and programmes); and the Department of Education and Skills (and its respective Agencies, policies and programmes)

VI. Development, testing and issuing of a series of questions for parents of children with disabilities and preparation of a report on the results;

VII. Identification of key stakeholders (including parents) for consultation;

VIII. Facilitation of an Open Policy Debate with these stakeholders in conjunction with DCYA and DES.

I am very grateful to the National Disability Authority (NDA) for its assistance in managing this process on behalf of both Departments. The NDA has compiled a report of the evidence, the findings of the survey, and findings of the Open Policy Debate. I am pleased to say that report was published last Friday March 29th.

I am now convening a group to agree the next practical steps in as short a timeframe as possible. The work of the group will focus on how to support parents in planning for their children’s needs, improving the process of transition for children with additional needs from early learning and care settings to primary school and to ensure that parents are assured that the school will address the children’s needs. The group will also consider how best to meet the needs of children in very exceptional circumstances where additional flexibility in the two year ECCE programme may be required.

The current procedure for dealing with overage exemptions will remain in place for the 2019/20 pre-school year pending the outcome of this work.

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