Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2021
330. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the discussions his Department has had with regard to provision for additional capacity across the education sector to allow persons to take up a career within the early years sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49077/21]
View answerWorking in collaboration with representatives of the early learning and care (ELC) and school age childcare (SAC) sector and with representatives of further and higher education institutions, work is nearing completion on preparation of a Workforce Development Plan for ELC and SAC. The Plan, which will be completed by year-end, is intended to set out an approach to achieve the workforce commitments in First 5 (the Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families) relating to early learning and care (ELC) and school age childcare (SAC), including commitments to ensure sufficient numbers of staff at all levels of qualifications within the sector, and to raise the profile of careers in the sector, along with strengthening leadership development opportunities, and working towards a more gender-balanced and diverse workforce.
In addition to involvement of representatives of the sector and of further and higher education institutions in development of the Plan, public and sectoral consultation on the Plan took place in 2020.
I am not aware of a shortage of places on further and higher education courses for ELC. Rather, the staffing challenges experienced in ELC and SAC services primarily reflect challenges of staff recruitment and staff retention. I believe the key to tackling these issues are improving pay and conditions for ELC and SAC practitioners. A pathway to addressing this is through the ongoing Joint Labour Committee (JLC) process which I commenced in December 2020 in coordination with employee and employer representative organisations.
The strengthening of a career framework and clear career pathways - through the Workforce Development Plan - should complement the efforts underway to improve pay and conditions of employment in the sector.
My Department continues to fund a number of workforce training and development initiatives, including Higher Capitation payments for ECCE services with graduate room leaders, the Learner Fund, and the LINC (Leadership for Inclusion) programme. These initiatives have had a positive impact on the increasing qualification levels in the sector. The proportion of staff in centre-based ELC services with higher qualifications than the minimum has been steadily increasing, with the proportion of the workforce holding a qualification at level 7 or above on the National Framework of Qualifications estimated at 27% in 2020, up from 12% in 2012.
