Sir, – As an early-years childcare worker in a sessional setting, I work from 8.45am to 1.30pm. I work elsewhere in the afternoons to supplement my income. My days are varied and my room is child-led and play-based. I hold a degree in an unrelated field and a Fetac level-five award in childcare. I earn over €10 an hour and am considered highly-paid in comparison with the average wages of my colleagues around the country.
I thoroughly love my job and consider it a privilege to play such a pivotal role in the lives of the children I care for.
I consider myself highly skilled at what I do and am constantly up-skilling in order to ensure the best quality of care is provided to the children in my care. I am, however, underpaid and exasperated.
The quality of childcare in Ireland is improving all the time but it is not sustainable in the long term. At present there is little incentive to stay working in this profession.
I am not entitled to sick pay and as a teacher delivering the ECCE scheme (whereby pre-school children get a free year of early childhood care and education), I am forced to go on the dole over the summer months. There is no encouragement to stay long-term as the benefits are simply not there. The quality is being bled out of childcare. For those who up-skill there is simply no incentive to stay.
Childcare is a caring profession, not a vocation. Yes, the people who choose to work with children do it because, mostly, they enjoy it, but does that mean that we shouldn’t be paid a fair wage?
The first five years of a child’s life create the foundation for the child to accomplish key developmental advances in mind and body. These formative years are nurtured and educated by the professional to whom the child is entrusted each morning. Yet the people who are entrusted with so much are receiving very little in terms of respect.
We are not being recognised as educated professionals. And we are tired of being expected to survive on a meagre €20,000–€23,000 in exchange for the exceptional job we do. – Yours, etc, NIAMH WHELEHAN, Shantalla, Galway.