The free pre-school education, announced in the Budget, needs to be provided by well-qualified teachers, writes MARK TAYLOR.
IT SEEMED that one of the few positive things to emerge from the April budget was the announcement of a free pre-school year for three and four year-olds. The Government believes that this initiative, which commences in January 2010, demonstrates its commitment to children’s development while also laying the foundation blocks for a “smart economy”.
However, since the announcement in April, concerns have been raised by potential service providers, particularly from urban areas, about whether it is financially viable for them to provide the free pre-school year.
Nonetheless, it is arguable that an even bigger issue has been overlooked since April’s announcement. Little scrutiny has been paid to the quality of the pre-school care and education which will be on offer.
The development of children is affected by their experiences during the pre-school years, so consideration needs to be given to how early years services can be safe, fun and stimulating.
Opportunities to learn and develop through free and guided play and games are particularly rewarding for younger children.
A significant part of providing an effective pre-school service is about having the right staff in place to make these opportunities available.
While pre-school workers need to have qualities such as warmth and empathy, their approach to work also needs to be informed by relevant professional and pedagogical theories and practices. This combination enables pre-school educators to help children to become more socially adept and better prepared to learn. There is strong evidence from international studies to suggest that children’s intellectual, social and behavioural development is enhanced if they attend quality pre-school services and that benefits from attendance can endure over time.
For example, the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education Project – a highly regarded British longitudinal study – reported last year that “good pre-schools benefit all children but high quality is especially important for children who have special educational needs, mothers with low qualifications or who come from unstimulating homes”.
Undoubtedly, there are many people working today in Irish pre-school settings who provide a good service to young children. Nevertheless, we also know that quality pre-school settings are associated with staff having higher qualifications, particularly if there are trained teachers present.
This is because children benefit from engaging in developmentally appropriate activities where staff have received in-depth pedagogical training.
To start teaching in national schools, teachers need to have completed a three-year teaching degree or an honours degree followed by a full-time 18- month post-graduate course. Both routes include extensive teacher-training practice.
Newly qualified primary school teachers also need to pass an assessed probationary period.
In contrast, no minimum qualification has been specified to work with children in the pre-school sector in Ireland. The Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) Regulations 2006 indicate that pre-school staff are required to have obtained a “qualification appropriate to the care and development of children”. In reality, this allows for non-graduates who have obtained childcare qualifications in less than a year to work with very young children.
For those service providers who opt to join the new pre-school scheme announced in the Budget, a pre-school leader is expected to have acquired – or to be on way to acquiring – a FETAC Level 5 qualification; this is a much lower requirement than is needed for primary school teaching.
What is more worrying is that the new scheme does not specify a minimum qualification for pre-school assistants – those who will be spending a lot of time working with young children.
Ironically, Ireland is producing graduate-level pre-school practitioners: there are a number of highly regarded Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) degree programmes across the State.
The State makes a significant contribution to the funding of these programmes. Unfortunately, while students on these programmes want to work with young children, many are reluctant to do so in the pre-school sector because of low status and poor pay.
Ireland could learn, from other countries, how to attract graduates to work at the pre-school level. For example, the Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) was introduced in England in 2007 as part of a plan to improve early education, by increasing the number of well-qualified graduates working with younger children. The aim is to have an early years professional working in every children’s centre by 2010 and in every full-day care environment by 2015.
Early years professionals’ salaries are subsidised by a Government initiative, the Graduate Leader Fund, to attract and retain high-calibre graduates.
New Zealand is going even further. It has decided to raise the quality of its pre-school provision by employing only qualified Early Childhood Education teachers in centre-based early childhood services from 2012. This initiative forms part of a 10-year plan to improve early years education: the benefits of quality have long been recognised. Pre-school teachers in New Zealand already have parity in pay with primary and secondary school teachers. Currently, pre-school services – many of which are in the private sector – receive extra money from the State if they employ higher qualified staff.
In comparison, a lot of staff working in the Irish pre-school sector are receiving low pay (many earn little more than the minimum wage).
Despite paying low wages, many service providers do not think it is financially feasible to opt in to provide the new pre-school service because the subsidy from the State will not cover their costs.
Children do best when they experience an excellent pre-school service and, as the OECD noted in 2006, “a strong link exists between the training and support of staff – including appropriate pay and conditions – and the quality of Early Childhood Education and Care services”.
So how should Ireland develop its pre-school workforce?
The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is currently seeking suggestions on what should go into a Workforce Development Plan for the Early Childhood Care and Education Sector. This is to be welcomed and hopefully the final plan will be informed by how other countries have developed their pre-school care and education policies.
We also need to consider how pre-school services are funded. Except for the awkward issue of “voluntary” donations, we don’t expect parents of children in primary schools to pay for care and education, so why should we expect parents of younger children to pay for a quality pre-school service?
Even if the Workforce Development Plan raises the quality of employable pre-school practitioners, it will be ineffective if financial and other incentives are not put in place by the State to encourage highly qualified people to remain working in sector.
Intriguingly, it was reported in a Dáil debate at the end of May that Barry Andrews, Minister of State, who is responsible for the free pre-school year initiative, would like to provide a higher payment to those who employ teachers with higher levels of qualification.
It will be interesting to see the level of payment and type of qualification the Department of Health and Children has in mind.
Mark Taylor lectures in the Department of Humanities, IT Sligo