Minister announces preschool standards review

A major review of educational standards in preschool has been announced amid concern about the professional qualifications of some workers in the sector.

Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan said the review would include the establishment of an advisory group to monitor early-years educational issues for the department.

Ms O’Sullivan, a Montessori teacher, has indicated the review will be a priority of her term in office, and she stressed the need to ensure “that those working with young children are appropriately qualified”.

She noted the area has received increased attention in recent years through the introduction in 2010 of minimum requirements for those delivering the free preschool year, and through the findings of a major European Commission study, Competence Requirements in Early Childhood Education and Care (CoRe). Among other things the 2011 report called for co-ordinated policies between states and improved training capacity.

Scrutiny

More recently, the sector came under scrutiny following an RTÉ undercover

Prime Time

investigation into creches, and subsequent criticism over a lack of inspections and regulation.

The review will examine a number of issues including:

The extent to which relevant education and training programmes are being delivered efficiently and by appropriately

qualified experts

.

The quality assurance procedures in place within institutions.

The appropriateness of learning outcomes.

Whether programmes are meeting learners’ needs in terms of progression routes and recognition of prior learning

.

Whether graduates are appropriately prepared for workplace challenges.

The initiative has been welcomed by Start Strong, a coalition of organisations working in the field. Its director, Ciairín de Buis, noted that only 12 per cent of those working in the area were graduates, well below the EU CoRe recommendation of 60 per cent.

Working conditions

“Significant reforms are needed, not just of the qualification programmes but also around pay and working conditions to ensure that we not only recruit quality graduates, but that we retain them within early-years education.”

The advisory group will be established this year. It will have representatives from the sector and be chaired by a senior department official. It will seek to “strengthen the integration of early-years education into the overall education continuum”, and to co-ordinate existing education-related activity in the sector, said Ms O’Sullivan.