Minister O’Gorman welcomes the launch of ‘Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Care in Ireland’, the Report of the OECD’s Country Policy Review

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, T.D., today welcomed the launch by the OECD of its Country Policy Review of Early Childhood Education and Care in Ireland.

The OECD review, entitled ’Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Care in Ireland’, focused particularly on the quality of provision. The report found that:

Public investment in Early Learning and Care (ELC) has increased over the last decade and public engagement has increased through the introduction of the ECCE pre-school programme and the National Childcare Scheme, but average expenditure per child remains below the OECD average.
Qualifications of staff have risen, and the Government has made efforts to raise the quality of initial education programmes for staff, but wages have remained low and staff turnover rates high. However, the establishment of a Joint Labour Committee for Early Years Services in 2021 is an important step towards the development of wage standards.
The Government has established a range of quality assurance arrangements for the ELC sector and provides ongoing support and guidance to providers on quality improvement, but responsibilities and functions are allocated across different institutions, and access for providers to external support is patchy.

The OECD notes that Ireland is currently pursuing a strong policy agenda for ELC and makes recommendations for Ireland across three areas:

governance, funding and provision;
workforce development; and
quality assurance and improvement.

The OECD notes recommendations align with recent Budget 2022 announcements, including the new core funding stream for the ELC sector, worth an estimated €207 million in a full year as well three major projects underway – a Workforce Plan and a New Funding Model for the sector - both due for publication in the coming weeks and a review of the Operating Model for ELC,due to be published early in 2022.

The Review is part of the OECD’s wider ‘Quality Beyond Regulations’ project, which has aimed to support OECD member countries to consider policies that can effectively enhance process quality in early learning and care. Ireland is one of six OECD countries (along with Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, and Switzerland) that opted for more in-depth participation in the Quality Beyond Regulations project. Ireland opted for a full Country Policy Review by the OECD.

The Review included three country missions to Ireland by the OECD international team of experts, with meetings held online due to the current Covid-19 situation. As part of the country missions, the OECD held meetings with a wide range of stakeholders including parents, providers, practitioners, students, employer and employee representatives, and researchers, and had virtual visits to a number of early learning and care settings.

Welcoming the launch of the report Minister O’Gorman said:

“The OECD Report makes a number of important recommendations on how we should strengthen policies, especially on the quality of provision. I welcome and accept the OECD’s recommendations. The Government has set out an ambitious programme of reform in the early learning and care sector, and many of the recommendations align well with measures to be announced shortly in the forthcoming Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare and the Report of the Export Group on the New Funding Model.

“Recommendations in relation to quality assurance also fit well with commitments in First 5, in the Programme for Government and in the National Action Plan for Childminding. Some recommendations will require further consideration and consultation, and I look forward to working with stakeholders as we reflect on how best to bring them forward.”

The Minister thanked the OECD team for undertaking the review and the European Commission for supporting it. He also thanked the Oversight Group which supported and coordinated the review and all of those who participated in the review, including providers, practitioners, parents, children and students.

ENDS

Notes to the Editor:

View the launch of the report here.

The full report can be read here.