Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

899. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the amount allocated and drawn down in respect of the learner fund in 2016. [24227/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Funding of €1.5m was allocated for Learner Fund 4 in Budget 2016 to support up to 1,000 early years practitioners to undertake and complete the Level 6 qualification, which is a requirement for pre-school leaders delivering the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme. As of July 20th, funding of €548,760.00 has been approved, and €181,090.80 has been drawn-down. The remainder of allocated funding will be drawn down over the course of the year as fees fall due. The Learner Fund remains open for new applications until July 31st, 2016 and I would encourage providers seeking to complete a level 6 qualification to apply without delay. Once this closing date has passed, officials in my Department will examine options for re-opening the learner fund to additional childcare staff later in the year.

In 2014, the Learner Fund was introduced to support childcare staff to meet the new qualification introduced as part of The Early Years Quality Agenda. In order to further improve quality in pre-school services, one of the items to be progressed, as part of The Early Years Quality Agenda, was the introduction of a requirement that all staff working with children in early years services should hold a qualification in early childhood care and education at a minimum of Level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) or equivalent and that pre-school leaders in ECCE services would be required to hold a minimum Level 6 qualification, or equivalent. The Learner Fund has already allocated €3.5 million to over 3,000 staff for the purpose of up-skilling to the minimum qualification of Level 5.