Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 April 2024
565. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of individual Tusla registered early learning and care services that have participated fully on the quality development services provided by Better Start/Pobal since their establishment, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17955/24]
Amharc ar fhreagra566. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of individual Tusla registered early learning and care services that have participated with the Better Start/Pobal quality development service more than once, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17956/24]
Amharc ar fhreagra567. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the annual cost of providing the Better Start/Pobal quality development service, in tabular form;; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17957/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 565 to 567, inclusive, together.
Better Start was established in 2014 by my Department, in association with the Department of Education, to deliver quality-related supports to early learning and care services and to support a cohesive approach to State-funded supports for quality across the early learning and care sector. Better Start is hosted by Pobal on behalf of my Department.
The Quality Development Service (QDS) forms one strand of Better Start activities. The QDS works with early learning and care settings in a mentoring capacity to promote and develop the quality of practice, as set out in Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education, and Aistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework.
The QDS provides a skilled and experienced team of Early Years Specialists (EYS) to work directly in a mentoring capacity with early learning and care services, on a national basis. The Early Years Specialists use the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, 2014) as a key resource in mentoring services to develop quality for children.
The purpose of the Practice Guide is to support early years educators in using Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (2009) and Síolta, The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education (2006) together to develop the quality of their curriculum and in doing so, to better support children’s learning and development.
Requests for the service come directly to Better Start, principally from the City and County Childcare Committees. All requests for the service are processed centrally. EYSs are allocated to the services on the basis of availability, skills and experience as far as possible matching the service profile.
Better Start EYSs work with the management and staff to build on service knowledge, strengths and experience in order to enhance the quality of service to young children. Early learning and care services are supported in action planning and goal setting using the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide. They will usually visit the service on a weekly or fortnightly basis, over a period of about six months.
These supports are delivered in a coherent and consistent way to support the provision of high quality services and promote positive outcomes for children.
The tables below present the requested information in tabular form. Table A shows the funding that the QDS has received on an annual basis from 2014 to 2023. Table B shows the overall number of early learning and care services that have engaged in the QDS and also the number of services that have re-engaged with the QDS. Table C gives the annual breakdown of services that have engaged with the QDS. Since 2020, the QDS has included a shorter Quality Practice Supports service in addition to the longer format of support provided since 2014. The figures in Table C represent the total number of services that have engaged in either of the QDS supports.
Table A - Better Start QDS funding
|
Better Start Quality Development Service |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Total |
€2,496,434 |
€3,130,000 |
€2,905,000 |
€2,946,949 |
€3,284,658 |
€3,480,000 |
€3,336,694 |
€3,700,509 |
€3,458,000 |
€4,472,267 |
Table B - Participation in QDS
|
The number of early learning and care services that have participated in the QDS provided by Better Start/Pobal since its establishment |
2,100 |
|
The number of early learning and care services that have participated with the Better Start/Pobal QDS more than once |
413 |
Table C - Individual early learning and care services that have participated in the QDS
|
Year |
Number of services |
|
2015 |
277 |
|
2016 |
134 |
|
2017 |
121 |
|
2018 |
169 |
|
2019 |
144 |
|
2020 |
109 |
|
2021 |
157 |
|
2022 |
420 |
|
2023 |
435 |
|
2024 (year to date) |
134 |
|
Total Count |
2,100 |
