Minister Reilly announces a €1.5million 'Learner Fund 4' in the first series of measures to support expansion of the free pre-school progamme
Children’s Minister James Reilly has today announced funding of €1.5 million for the ‘Learner Fund 4’ to assist practitioners in Early Childhood Care and Education to upgrade their qualifications.
Children benefit most from pre-school when provision is high quality, and staff qualifications are a good indicator of quality. Today’s announcement builds on a range of initiatives to support better quality in the pre-school sector. To date more than 3,000 staff has been supported through previous Learner Funds to raise their qualification level in Early Childhood Care and Education.
Minister Reilly said:
‘I’m delighted to announce Learner Fund 4. We know that all children benefit from early investment, but the greatest benefits result when quality is high. More than 3,000 early years practitioners have already benefited from previous Learner Funds. The Learner Fund 4 is evidence of this Government’s continued commitment to supporting the early years sector to build the high quality pre-school sector we all want.’
Today’s announcement marks the first of a series of new measures designed to support the expansion of free pre-school provided under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme announced in Budget 2016, which will increase the number of children benefiting from free pre-school from about 67,000 currently, to around 127,000 in a given programme year. The expansion of free pre-school applies from September 2016, when the minimum qualification requirement for ‘ECCE Room Leaders’ will be a Level 6 Award on the National Qualifications Framework.
Minister Reilly added:
‘I’m committed to working with the early years sector to ensure that every child can benefit from free pre-school from the age of 3 until they start primary school from September 2016.
While there is already additional capacity in the sector, I am clear that more capacity will be required. Officials at my Department are working closely with the City and County Childcare Committees on a range of measures to support the sector to expand capacity, while enhancing the quality of provision under the Early Years Quality Agenda.
€3.5 million has already been committed to this since 2014 through previous Learner Funds. Today’s announcement of funding for Learner Fund 4 will increase this investment to €5 million
The Learner Fund 4 is the first in a series of measures that will be introduced over the coming months to support the early years sector’.
How should early years practitioners apply for the Learner Fund 4?
Pre-school providers will be able to submit an online application, on behalf of their staff member, for a subsidised training course under the ‘Learner Fund 4’.
To be eligible, the staff member must be currently working directly with children in a registered Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme setting and meet the criteria for the Learner Fund 4, which will be set out in the application process. A maximum of one staff member per ECCE setting will be eligible to receive funding under Learner Fund 4.
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Background for Editors:
Expansion of free pre-school under Budget 2016
Budget 2016 significantly expanded children’s entitlement to benefit from free pre-school. From September 2016, children will be eligible to participate in free pre-school from age 3 until they transfer to primary school. To ensure that children can benefit as soon as they are eligible, they will be able to register for free pre-school at three different points in the year: September, January and April.
As a result of this expansion, the number of children benefiting from free preschool is expected to rise from around 67,000 to 127,000 in a given programme year. For the 2016/17 programme year, it is estimated that 89,500 children will be eligible to enrol in the Programme from September 2016, 22,000 from January 2017 and 15,500 from April 2017.
To give the early years sector enough time to build the capacity to meet this increased demand, the expansion of the programme will be implemented from September 2016. Increased demand is not expected to peak until January and April 2017, which should allow pre-school providers plenty of time to make any necessary infrastructural or service changes, and to put in place extra staff.
Recognising the minimum qualification requirement for free pre-school room leaders, Minister Reilly has put in place this Learner Fund to ensure that as services expand, staff will be in a position to meet these requirements.
Learner Fund 4, which will be administered by Pobal with the focused support of local City and County Childcare Committees, will open for applications in January 2016. Full details of the eligibility criteria and how to apply will be announced in the near future and will be available on the Pobal website.
Will there be sufficient capacity?
There is already additional capacity in the early years sector. The Annual Survey of Early Years Services (conducted in December 2014) estimated that there are more than 24,000 vacancies in early years services across the country, with almost 13,000 of these vacancies in sessional services.
A significant number of new providers apply to join the free pre-school programme every year. The expansion of the programme announced in Budget 2016 is likely to encourage an even greater number of applicants.
It should also be noted that restoration of capitation rates to pre-2012 levels from September 2016 (which formed part of the Budget 2016 announcement in relation to expanding entitlement to free pre-school) is also likely to support existing providers to expand, and to make it more attractive for new applicants to the programme.
Officials from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs are working proactively with the sector to meet the expansion challenge. They are already working closely with the City and County Childcare Committees and the Voluntary Childcare Organisations on a range of measures, which will assist pre-school providers meet increased demand for free pre-school provision, particularly from January and April 2017. Ensuring that there are a sufficient number of ECCE Room Leaders through Learner Fund 4 is the first of these measures.
Early Years Quality Agenda – Qualifications
The Early Years Quality Agenda – introduced in 2013 – focuses on building a system of quality, affordable and accessible early years and after-school childcare; and to ultimately improving the experience and outcomes for children. Improving qualifications in the early years sector is one key element of the Early Years Quality Agenda.
Major progress has been made in improving qualifications in this sector in the past five years. Prior to the introduction of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme in 2010, there was no minimum qualification for staff working in the early years sector.
When the ECCE programme was introduced, all pre-school leaders were required to hold a Level 5 qualification. In addition, pre-school services could qualify for a higher capitation rate where all the pre-school leaders (in the ECCE room) held a Level 7 qualification, and all the pre-school assistants held a Level 5 qualification. This represented a major step forward in improving the quality of early years services.
New Childcare Regulations will be published in 2016, which will require (amongst other things) 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. In addition, from September 2016, all room leaders in ECCE services will be required to hold a minimum Level 6 qualification, or equivalent.
In order to support existing staff to achieve these minimum qualifications, the Government introduced a Learner Fund. Since 2014 €3.5m has been provided under this Fund and more than 3,000 staff have completed (or are currently completing training) to allow them to meet the minimum requirements.
As a result of this investment, there has been a significant increase in the number of free pre-school services who qualify for the higher capitation rate: in 2010 11% of services met the criteria for higher capitation; by 2015 this had increased to 28%.