Pre-schools not receiving HSE inspections

PRE-SCHOOLS are not receiving yearly Health Service Executive (HSE) inspections because of staff shortages and the recruitment embargo, the IPPA conference heard. Some pre-school teachers said they had not had HSE inspections for up to three years. The greater Dublin area was singled out as one of the affected areas.

Breda McCarthy, project leader of HSE west’s pre-school services, acknowledged the gaps in the provision of pre-school inspections and said about 48 more inspectors were needed to ensure that all facilities were inspected once a year.

She said that while many new pre-school services had opened up around the State, there was no corresponding increase in the number of inspectors.

“We have pushed very hard for it and we will continue to do so,” she said. “Unfortunately, there is an embargo on jobs but hopefully it’s something that will be addressed down the road.”

Ms McCarthy warned that many children were being “over-scheduled” to their developmental detriment. It could not be helped that many parents worked very long hours, but the focus must remain on the children’s needs, she said. “Schedules are often adult-driven and adult-supervised. People [are] dropping children of a very young age into childcare settings at a time when very often they should still be asleep.” She said parents felt like they were on a treadmill yet they feared slowing down in case their children fell behind.

She warned against the “bubble-wrapping” of children, saying that over-protected children suffered because their resilience was reduced. “Resilience is a vital skill for children to overcome adversity, including disappointment, failure and bullying.” Children needed to take risks to explore limits and develop skills, she said. “If we don’t give children resilience and capabilities in their early years, they certainly won’t have them in their teenage years, and they certainly won’t have them when they go on to third-level education.”

Ms McCarthy said a lot of young adults were attending psychological services with basic problems concerning day-to-day living because they had not acquired the necessary skills to deal with them.