Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 50: To ask the Minister for Health and Children his plans to improve the quality of the preschool year by implementing standards and reviewing training options; if he has an implementation plan for this; and the methodology that will be used to review training options. [9843/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme was introduced by this Department in January 2010 and provides a free pre-school year to all eligible children. Already, 94 per cent of children in the year before primary school are participating in the programme. Participating services are required to adhere to the principles of Siolta, the national framework for early learning, and are encouraged to implement Aistear, the national curriculum for children aged from birth to six years.

The ECCE programme also introduced a requirement for Pre-School Leaders to hold an early childhood qualification equivalent to a full FETAC Level 5 award. During the period January 2010 to August 2012, this requirement has been deemed to be met where a Leader holds the four core modules of the full Level 5 award. To assist staff in this category to meet the full requirement in advance of the September 2012 deadline, arrangements have been put in place by the Department to provide a subsidised training initiative over the course of the next 12 months. The accredited course is being delivered on-line and will be available outside of working hours.

A subsidy of €50 per module is being provided which will reduce the cost per module required to €125. Provision has been made for up to 400 students, taking up to 4 modules each, to avail of the training subsidy. The minimum levels of qualifications required under the ECCE programme are expected to increase over time, supported by opportunities for better and more flexible training provision to meet the needs of the existing workforce.

Looking to the longer term, the Workforce Development Plan for the Early Childhood Care and Education sector, published in December 2010 by the Early Years Education Policy Unit of the Department of Education and Skills, sets the scene for the future development of standards and training. It details the existing profile of the ECCE workforce and the qualification held as well as identifying the range of actions which need to be taken to upskill staff to enable them to fully engage with, and implement, the national practice frameworks for early learning of Síolta and Aistear. The Workforce Development Plan is overseen by the Department of Education and Skills and will involve actions by a wide range of agencies including FETAC, HETAC, the universities and education and training providers such as the Vocational Education Committees (VECs) and FÁS.

Since December 2010, the following steps have been taken:

occupational role profiles for the ECCE workforce and associated award levels on the National Framework for Qualifications (NQF), have been agreed;

an extensive review of current FETAC awards offered in this area has been conducted, culminating in the publication in March 2011 of Common Award Standards for Early Childhood Care and Education, at FETAC levels 4, 5, and 6 on the NQF;

work on programme development against the new award standards is at an advanced stage and the first programmes of learning are expected to be available this Autumn, through the VECs and will be validated and monitored by FETAC.