Since the introduction of the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) Regulations 2006, early years settings that are registered with the HSE have to comply with the Regulations concerning their practice. These Regulations cover the core obligations of the adult practitioner which are set out in Part II, Section 5 and state that:
“A person carrying on a pre-school service shall ensure that each child’s learning, development and well-being is facilitated within the daily life of the service through the provision of the appropriate opportunities, experiences, activities, interaction, materials and equipment, having regard to the age and stage of development of the child and the child’s cultural context”.
While these Regulations do not include a formal requirement for adults to be qualified, the guidelines clearly recognise the relationship between qualifications of staff and meeting the requirements of the Regulations:
“It is acknowledged that many childcare staff have a qualification or are working towards achieving one. In centre-based services, it is considered that the person in charge should aim to have at least fifty percent of childcare staff with a qualification appropriate to the care and development of children. The qualified staff should rotate between age groupings”.
The de-facto standard that exists for childcare practitioners is set out in Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education. Standard 11 governs professional practice and states that:
"Practising in a professional manner requires that individuals have skills, knowledge, values and attitudes appropriate to their role and responsibility within the setting. In addition, it requires regular reflection upon practice and engagement in supported, ongoing professional development”.
Within this standard, the recommended minimum educational requirement for adults to be included for the purposes of calculating ratios of adults to children is FETAC Level 5 or equivalent.
The introduction of universal pre-school provision in January 2010 and with it the requirements that pre-school leaders have to have a minimum of a full award at FETAC Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications has acted as a major impetus for early years practitioners to acquire qualifications. To assist staff to achieve the full requirement in advance of the September 2012 deadline, arrangements were put in place by my Department to provide a subsidised on-line training initiative. A subsidy of €50 per module was provided which reduced the cost per module to €125.
The early years sector is to be commended on the level of upskilling that has taken place in recent years and which, in the main, has been done voluntarily and in the person's own time. Early Years practitioners have taken responsibility for their own development as practitioners and are to be congratulated on their commitment to life-long learning. Much as I would like to be in a position where I could incentivise all relevant training for early years practitioners, our current economic situation is such that this is not possible. Training standards and quality measures in the early years sector will be addressed in the Early Years Strategy. Work has commenced on developing that strategy.
