Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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278. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he is aware that some groups of Montessori teachers, who work in early years childcare, have been told by their employers that their Association Montessori Internationale qualification will no longer be acceptable to teach on the Early Childhood Care and Education preschool scheme; the reason for this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4073/16]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme introduced the first-ever requirement for minimum qualifications for staff working in the childcare sector. Prior to the introduction of the programme there was no requirement for staff working directly with children in pre-school services to hold any education qualification.

It is a requirement of the ECCE programme that pre-school year leaders in services participating in the programme, and who are receiving the standard capitation, hold a qualification in childcare which is equivalent to Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications of Ireland (NFQ). A higher capitation rate is available to services participating in the ECCE programme in which all of the pre-school leaders hold an appropriate qualification at a minimum of Level 7 and pre-school assistants hold a Level 5 on the NFQ.

As part of the Early Years Quality Agenda, new qualification requirements for childcare workers are being introduced. All staff caring for children in an early years service will be subject to a minimum qualification requirement of Level 5, while pre-school leaders delivering the ECCE programme will require a Level 6 qualification. It is expected that these requirements will come into effect from the end of this year.

Following the introduction of the qualification requirement, childcare providers submitted a wide range of qualifications to my Department in support of their applications for the higher rate of capitation or seeking to satisfy the minimum qualifications that the programme set out. This presented a problem for officials in my Department and for childcare providers as there was no definitive list that could be referenced. To address this problem a detailed and extensive list of qualifications suitable for the purpose of meeting the minimum qualification requirements and for meeting the contractual requirements of the ECCE programme was prepared and published and is available on the Department website. I understand that an advisory group established to evaluate qualifications submitted prior to publication of the list did consider and approve four Association Montessori Internationale qualifications for inclusion.

Where a qualification is not included on the published list and the holder considers it to be an appropriate Major award on the NFQ or equivalent, the holder should apply to my Department to have their qualification assessed.