Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare, 2022-2028, aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare and to raise the profile of careers in the sector.

The Plan includes role profiles, a career framework and commitments to support early years educators to up-skill and develop their careers. It also includes commitments to reduce staff turnover, to attract graduates to enter and remain in the sector along with actions to actively promote careers in Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare.

Commitments in Nurturing Skills are organised under five "pillars" which are:

1. Establishing a career framework.
2. Raising qualification levels.
3. Developing a national Continuing Professional Development system.
4. Supporting recruitment, retention and diversity in the workforce; and
5. Moving towards regulation of the profession.

Under pillar 4, Nurturing Skills, amongst other forms of diversity, commitments to promote gender-balance in the workforce. This commitment is important in providing diverse role-models for children, and in ensuring strong connections between Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare services and the families and communities that they serve.

Data collected by Pobal through the Annual Early Years Sector Profile showed an increase of nearly 13% of males working in the sector from 3.17% of the workforce in 2023 to 3.57% of the workforce in 2024 and an increase of 45% from the number of males working in the sector in 2022 of 2.46%, albeit from a low base.

Aligned to the Programme for Government commitment to introduce an ‘Earn and Learn’ apprenticeship model enabling staff in this sector to gain qualifications and advance their careers, Pillar 4 of Nurturing Skills includes an action to examine the development of a range of entry routes into the sector, including apprenticeships or other work-based learning, and access programmes in further education and higher education.

Research on alternative entry routes in 2025 is currently underway, with a view to using that research to inform next steps.

While an apprenticeship specifically to support existing early years educators to upskill to National Framework of Qualifications is an option, Nurturing Skills has actioned a commitment to offer funded places on flexible education programmes to current early years educators to support upskilling and strengthen career development pathways through the new Nurturing Skills Learner Fund.

The Nurturing Skills Learner Fund commenced in 2024 on a pilot basis for 350 staff working in the early learning and care and school-age childcare sector to support them to upskill to level 7 and 8 degrees. The Nurturing Skills Learner Fund will continue in pilot phase in 2025 with 365 additional educators recently receiving confirmation that they have been approved funding to commence studies in Autumn 2025.