Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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268. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will make arrangements to award a higher capitation grant to a Montessori school (details supplied) for the coming year. [20053/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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My Department will make direct contact with the service provider in question to inform them of the process involved in order to qualify for the higher capitation payment, and assist them with the process.

For a childcare service to be approved for the higher capitation rate in respect of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme in 2015-2016 they were required to satisfy criteria regarding qualifications and ratios, which applied to all ECCE rooms/sessions in the service. All pre-school leaders had to satisfy the minimum qualification requirements as approved on the published list of my Department's Early Years Recognised Qualifications (level 7 or equivalent) and have at least three years' experience working in the early years sector. All pre-school assistants were required to be qualified to level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications. Services also had to ensure that they had enough appropriately qualified staff present for each ECCE session to cover the amount of children present at that time.

Following the announcement of the expansion of ECCE in Budget 2016, and the efforts being made by the pre-school sector to provide sufficient additional capacity, my Department decided to make changes to policy to encourage capacity development. From September 2016, the rules regarding qualifying for higher capitation rate are to change, to allow for Higher Capitation to be paid per room in a service, rather than all rooms being required to meet the criteria.

An advisory group convened in 2011 by my Department recommended that only relevant disciplines that meet the criteria for the higher capitation rate under the ECCE programme can be considered. The advisory group advised that working with children in an early childhood care and education setting is a professional role which requires the achievement of core skills and knowledge which include:

- Child Development 0-6 years

- Early Childhood Learning Theory

- Practice and Child Health and Welfare 0-6 years.

If a provider feels that their qualifications meet the required criteria there is a mechanism to submit their full qualifications portfolio to the Department to have them individually assessed. The full qualifications portfolio should be submitted along with the relevant application form to the qualifications recognition section in the Early Years Policies and Programmes Unit in my Department. My Department cannot make a decision regarding higher capitation payment until such a provider submits their qualifications portfolio to be assessed, and the outcome of this assessment is known, or the qualification is on the DCYA Early Years Recognised Qualifications list.