Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 July 2020
543. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the ongoing issue of the difficulty in recruiting suitably qualified support staff for early years settings; his plans to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16624/20]
View answerI am acutely aware of the difficulties that many early learning and care services report in recruiting and retaining qualified staff, and the high rate of staff turnover in the sector. In Pobal’s latest Early Years Sector Profile Report 2018/2019, the staff turnover rate stood at 23% which, despite a 2% improvement on the previous year, is unsustainably high.
I believe that the key challenge to recruiting and retaining staff is the attractiveness of working in the sector. One way to address this issue is through improving wages and working conditions. The increases in investment in recent years need to continue if we are to offer services that are of high quality, affordable and accessible. However, increased investment by itself will not ensure that staff wages and conditions will improve.
The Programme for Government includes a commitment to support the establishment of a Joint Labour Committee in the childcare sector and the drawing up of an Employment Regulation Order, which would determine minimum rates of pay for childcare workers, as well as terms and conditions of employment. Officials in my Department are liaising with officials in the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in relation to the implications of the recent High Court decision on Sectoral Employment Orders and any implications this decision may have.
My Department has set out its vision for the sector, and a roadmap to achieve it, in First 5, the whole-of-Government strategy for babies, young children and their families. First 5 recognises that the workforce is at the heart of high-quality early learning and care and school-age childcare and seeks to build ‘an appropriately skilled and sustainable professional workforce that is supported and valued and reflects the diversity of babies, young children and their families’. First 5 includes a commitment to achieve a graduate-led workforce.
Delivering on a further commitment in First 5, an expert group has been appointed to examine the current model of funding for early learning and care and school-age childcare and its effectiveness in delivering quality, affordable, sustainable and inclusive services.
First 5 also includes a commitment to a Workforce Development Plan for the early learning and care and school age childcare sectors which will set out plans to raise the profile of careers in the sector, establishing role profiles, career pathways, qualifications requirements, and associated policy mechanisms along with leadership development opportunities and work towards a more gender-balanced and diverse workforce. Work on developing the Workforce Development Plan began last year and is on-going.
