Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Over the past 15 years, since the introduction of the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme and its successor, the National Childcare Investment Programme, my Department and its forerunners have been supporting the development of the child care sector. This support comprised capital funding for the provision of additional child care places, funding for staffing and funding to improve quality in child care services. The support also included the provision of annual funding to a number of voluntary child care organisations, including Early Childhood Ireland, formerly the National Children's Nurseries Association and Irish Preschool Play Association; Barnardos; Irish Steiner Waldorf Early Childhood Association; Forbairt Naionraí Teoranta; Border Counties Childcare Network; St Nicholas Montessori Association and Childminding Ireland. These are voluntary organisations which provide, inter alia, training and quality supports to their members. The arrangements for funding these voluntary child care organisations have been in place for the past 15 years and have been effective in supporting development of the sector.

Similar well established arrangements are in place across many areas of the public service whereby funding is provided through grant arrangements. In the case of my own Department, a very sizeable range of organisations receive grants to support activities with children and young people or those providing services to children and young people. As well as national organisations, many local organisations receive grants in the youth, child care and community sectors. These funding arrangements are separate to the public procurement process which applies to commercial services provided on a for-profit basis.

The commitment to improve the quality of early childhood care and education has been a key priority for me since becoming Minister. In that context, my Department and I have been progressing work on a comprehensive preschool quality agenda which will seek to support and ensure higher standards in preschool services. The Deputy asked why FETAC levels 5 and 6 have been assigned as the required standards. As he knows, there has been a great deal of discussion regarding qualifications and standards in preschool services in the aftermath of the "Prime Time" programme which investigated practices in various facilities. If we want to improve standards, we have to demand certain levels of training - which is precisely what we have done. I have indicated my intention, for example, to increase the minimum requirement from FETAC level 5 to level 6 for preschool leaders delivering the preschool year. It is also my intention to require all preschool assistants and all other staff caring for children in a preschool service to hold a minimum qualification at level 5. These new requirements will apply from September 2014 for new services and from September 2015 for existing services. Staff in the sector are on modest pay,. Subsidising the provision of accredited training provides an important contribution to their achievement of the new requirements in the shortest possible time. That is precisely the purpose of the funding.

In light of the timeframe for the introduction of minimum qualifications, my Department has sought to work with the child care sector to accelerate the process for training and upskilling its staff. In this context, Early Childhood Ireland, which is the largest of the voluntary child care organisations funded by my Department, and the Border Counties Childhood Network have been asked, as part of their 2013 work plans, to offer additional training to the existing workforce in relevant level 5 and level 6 training modules. My Department has asked Early Childhood Ireland to include specific elective modules that are considered particularly relevant within its training provision. These include modules entitled Children with Additional Needs and Equality and Diversity in Childcare at level 5, and Early Childhood Literacy and Numeracy and Equality and Diversity in Childcare at level 6.

I understand 13 training courses are currently being delivered and it is anticipated that up to 600 child care staff will access courses leading to the higher qualification. Additional grant funding, the amount of which is yet to be determined, will be made available to Early Childhood Ireland in 2013 to provide for this. ECI is a major national membership organisation which operates on a charitable basis. It represents 3,400 child care providers, has a proven record in delivering quality training to its members and is a registered FETAC-QQI centre with full quality assurance status. Process, policies and procedures are in place to ensure fair and consistent assessment of learners. This process is continually reviewed through self-evaluation, as monitored by FETAC-QQI. Unfortunately, the Acting Chairman has indicated that I am out of time.

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