Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 March 2021
151. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there is a huge administrative burden for early years staff reporting on schemes and inspections which is even more burdensome for naíonra staff given their working language is not taken into account; the way he plans to address the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13619/21]
View answerIn 2017, my Department introduced Programme Support Payments (PSP) to recognise the additional time required of early learning and childcare (ELC) providers to complete the administrative work associated with DCEDIY funding programmes. The payment also recognises the time required to perform activities outside of contact time with children, such as preparing materials for sessions and engaging with parents.
For the last programme year 2019-20, €19.4 million was paid out to services in PSP based on the number of children registered in the service. An amount of €19.4 million has again been secured for the current programme year 2020-21 and will be paid out at the end of June 2021.
The City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs) also provide support and guidance to local ELC providers and parents in relation to the DCEDIY funding programmes, and support quality in keeping with national frameworks and policy objectives.
Within the CCCs in the Gaeltacht areas, there are a number of Irish speakers that offer support to the ELC providers operating though the medium of Irish. The Comhar Naíonra na Gaeltachta (CNNG) development workers provide direct support to the stiúrthóirí in these services. The CCCs also offer support to the CNNG development workers or to address any issues or challenges that may arise with regard to the administration of the DCEDIY funding programmes. CCCs also provide local training to the staff within these services.
Inspections of ELC services are carried out by two Inspectorates, the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate and the Department of Education (DE) Early Years Inspectorate.
The dedicated early-years DE Inspectorate team, since its establishment in 2016, conducts inspections to support a key action in the Policy on Gaeltacht Education – to enhance the delivery of inspection services through Irish in naíonraí. DE carry out inspections nationally in naíonraí. The reports for these ELC settings are published in both Irish and English. Over the past year, the DE have also developed a series of communications in both Irish and English to share the findings from inspection in ELC settings and provide advice and guidance to support internal self-evaluation and review processes in support of quality improvement. The Insights: Quality in Education webinar series can be accessed on: https://www.gov.ie/ga/foilsiuchan/leargas/. The DE are currently developing a webinar on supporting immersion language education in naíonraí drawing on the findings of their published education inspection reports in Irish medium ELC settings in both Gaeltacht and non-Gaeltacht areas.
Of the current total inspection team of 20 (Whole-time Equivalent) inspectors, seven have strong capacity to engage in Early Years Education Inspection (EYEI) fully through Irish, including the writing of inspection reports, providing feedback for continuous improvement and responding in Irish to issues raised by personnel in the early years’ services. All inspectors who have the capacity to conduct EYEI through Irish are available to do so on an ongoing basis.
In addition to the inspection activity, DE have also endeavoured to provide feedback to the ELC sector on the progress and findings of their inspection activity. DE have published a revised Guide to EYEI informed by extensive consultation with stakeholders and partners in the ELC sector including Irish language organisations. All of these inspection materials are available in both Irish and English.
Tusla’s Early Years Inspectorate has shown a strong commitment to supporting ELC services operating through the medium of Irish. Tusla have one Irish language Inspector, and inspection reports are made available to services in Irish. Other Inspectorate documents, such as the recently published Quality & Regulatory Framework (QRF) for Sessional Services, are translated into Irish and made available in hard and electronic copy. The Inspectorate engages with Irish language representative organisations operating in the sector such as Comhar Naíonraí na Gaeltachta (CNNG).
