Late last year, the Government published a long-awaited policy document on early childhood education. Ready to Learn, the new White Paper on early-years education, outlines a badly needed policy on how the educational needs of children aged up to six years will be addressed.

The Government has provided £74 million for the implementation of the White Paper's proposals.

For the past 30 years, the voluntary sector has stressed the importance of providing good quality early years education and care. The response from government has been painstakingly slow. "Ad hoc", "piecemeal" and "unco-ordinated" are the terms long associated with provision in this area of education.

Now, however, in recognition of "the long-term benefits of good quality provision for all children" (to quote the White Paper), there have been a number of developments which examine the needs of young children.

While zero-to-six is the age group covered under Ready to Learn, its primary focus is on children aged three to six, and in particular, three- and four-year-olds.

Ready to Learn takes into account the report of the Commission on the Family (Strengthening Families for Life) and the report of the Partnership 2000 Expert Working Group on Childcare. Acknowledging the role of the State in supporting parents to meet the developmental needs of their young children early, the White Paper is intended as "an overarching policy framework which will build on existing provision and improve the extent and quality of service provided".

The publication of Ready to Learn has been widely welcomed by people working in the area of early years provision, though there is concern about how the various proposals will be implemented.

One of the key underlying principles of Ready to Learn is that "for young children, education and care should not be separated, but should be provided in a complementary fashion". This reference has been well received, but with some reservation about how well rooted the idea actually is.

"There is a strong sense of perpetuating the current fragmentation of responsibility for early years services," says Noirin Hayes, head of the school of social sciences at the Dublin Institute of Technology.

"The early parts of the White Paper clearly lay out the need for a holistic and integrated approach. However, when it starts moving into the specifics, that approach is not reflected in the proposed structures. "It is noteworthy that the White Paper was launched on the same day as the inaugral meeting of the National Childcare Co-Ordinating Committee - that doesn't really augur well for an integrated approach," Hayes says. "In fact, it suggests ongoing separation of care and education in administrative and structural terms, and if there is separation at this level, that will certainly be reflected in practice."

Under the Child Care Act, services for children under six are subject to inspection in terms of adult-child ratios, insurance and the condition and size of the premises - otherwise known as static variables. Ready to Learn addresses quality in relation to "lasting educational and developmental benefits for children". Under the White Paper, the areas which impact on quality include "curriculum and methodology, staff qualifications, training and retention, the extent to which parents are involved and the nature of the setting". Services in receipt of State funding will be required to meet minimum standards in these areas, and those which satisfy the required standard will be entitled to a "Quality in Education (QE) mark".

"The chapter on quality and curriculum is very vague," says Hilary Kenny, director of services with the Irish Pre-school Playgroups Association. "Hopefully in the proposed consultation process the Department will take on board the excellent work already done on defining quality. "While there is talk of the role of play, for example, there seems to be a lack of understanding what that means. There also appears to be very little understanding of how active young children are in their own learning - that learning is mediated by, not taught by, adults. "And over my dead body are pre-school children going to be `taught'. You provide materials, allow interactions to raise the level of thinking, but the role of the adult is always to follow the child's actions."

Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) members staff the Early Start pre-schools as well as primary schools; the union has some concern about the references to an early-years curriculum. "We're anxious to ensure the White Paper doesn't create a separation between pre-school and primary," says Catherine Byrne of the INTO. "The transition to primary should be seamless." The White Paper proposes setting up an Early Childhood Education Agency, which, among other areas, will be responsible for the development of guidelines on developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood education.

"We would like some clarification on how the proposed Early Childhood Education Agency will work with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in the development of these guidelines, " says Byrne.

Dr Francis Douglas, director of the BA in early childhood studies at University College Cork, sees the White Paper as "a huge step forward", though "how it will be implemented is the crucial issue. How quality is defined, who will run the proposed Early Childhood Education Agency, what the qualifications of inspectors will be, these are all hugely important issues.

"This is an area which we're going to see huge movement in over the coming years. As more and more parents start using pre-school facilities, they will become increasingly interested in what their child is doing in the setting, and they will push for good quality provision."

Parental involvement is stressed in the White Paper. "A multi-faceted strategy is proposed to facilitate and encourage parental involvement," it states. It proposes financial supports for parents and more flexible working arrangements in order that parents can provide "some or all of their children's care and education in the home setting".

The policy is finally in place, albeit vague in places. What happens now is the multi-million pound question. "How committed is the department to this?" asks Hilary Kenny of the IPPA. "It is a very long-term document, so will it be followed through by the new Minister?"

A seminar entitled "Early Years Learning in the Primary School" will be jointly hosted by the INTO and St Patrick's College of Education this Saturday in St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin.

The seminar aims to provide an opportunity for discussion on the new White Paper on early childhood education and to formulate a response from the teaching profession. Contact Sinead Shannon of the INTO (tel: (01) 872 5630) for further information.