Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

349. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of early years practitioners currently registered and working across the State in early years services, private and community, with qualification five and qualification six respectively. [16893/17]

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

I understand that the Deputy is referring to the relevant qualifications (in Early Years or Early Childhood Care and Education) which are placed at Levels 5, 6, 7 and 8 on the NFQ. I would like to bring it to the Deputy's attention that there is no professional registry for early years professionals, however, qualifications of staff members are verified through regulatory inspections (Tusla) for all providers and regulatory and contractual inspections (Pobal) for ECCE providers. For figures, the best indicator is last year's The Early Years Sector Profile Report 2015-16 which was published in November 2016. It is a survey which was administered by Pobal in conjunction with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs with the aim of providing a national picture of services providing early childhood care and education in Ireland. The survey on which the Report is based was completed by 79 per cent of childcare providers in April 2016. Pobal have extrapolated the figures provided in the Report in order to establish the qualification levels for early years practitioners at a national level. It is estimated that there are 23,291 early years practitioners currently employed in private and community services. Of these, 7,418 hold a level 5 on the National Qualification Framework (NFQ) while 8,926 hold a level 6 NFQ qualification.

A breakdown of qualifications by private/community services using the extrapolated figures was not carried out by Pobal and, as such, are not available presently.

The Early Years Sector Report 2015-2016 can be found on Pobal's website, www. pobal.ie.

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

350. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of early years practitioners currently registered and working across the State in early years services with qualification seven and qualification eight respectively. [16894/17]

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

I understand that the Deputy is referring to the relevant qualifications (in Early Years or Early Childhood Care and Education) at which are placed at Levels 5, 6, 7 and 8 on the NFQ. I would like to bring it to the Deputy's attention that there is no professional registry for early years professionals, however, qualifications of staff members are verified through regulatory inspections (Tusla) for all providers and regulatory and contractual inspections (Pobal) for ECCE providers. For figures, the best indicator is last year's The Early Years Sector Profile Report 2015-16 which was published in November 2016. It is a survey which was administered by Pobal in conjunction with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs with the aim of providing a national picture of services providing early childhood care and education in Ireland. The survey on which the Report is based was completed by 79 per cent of childcare providers in April 2016. Pobal have extrapolated the figures provided in the Report in order to establish the qualification levels for early years practitioners at a national level. It is estimated that there are 23,291 early years practitioners currently employed in private and community services. Of these, 1,215 hold a level 7 on the National Qualification Framework (NFQ) while 2,687 hold a level 8 NFQ qualification.

The Early Years Sector Report 2015-2016 can be found on Pobal's website, www. pobal.ie