It’s time for our Government to catch up and treat early childhood care as priority

Following recent publicity about the challenges facing parents, providers and staff in the early-years and school-age care sector, it is worth noting that today more than 330,000 children around Ireland will attend one of 4,483 centres, also known as settings, preschools, creches or after-schools. Many children will also be looked after in the homes of an estimated 13,000 childminders. Some of them will be babies, the bulk will be pre-schoolers whose families avail of the Early Childhood Care and Education scheme, which is free to parents.

A growing number will be between five and 15 years old and go to a service or a childminder after school.

Still, the majority of children in Ireland will be looked after by parents or other relatives, unlike in most of our European neighbours, where the norm is that children attend a specific service, such as a centre or a childminder from one to three years of age, at which point they go to a pre-school. In those countries, parents can be confident their child will have an affordable place at each stage in their own community.

It is important to note that while very little of what is available in these countries is provided on a full-time basis, their provision of early-years and school-age care is informed by research and evidence on what is best for children. A vision for what is best for children should inform all our considerations and policy-making.

Meanwhile, despite very welcome progress here in the last few years, what happens elsewhere still feels like a pipe dream to the parents and providers who spoke to the Irish Independent recently.

What is guaranteed to families in Denmark, for example, doesn’t need to be a fantasy.

Early Childhood Ireland has put forward several coherent proposals, which need political will to progress them to the point where families and voters can have confidence in a world-class early-years and school-age care system.

These include a five-year plan with a new investment target and a renewed focus on the terms and conditions of the 30,000-strong workforce. We propose bringing Ireland into line with other countries by ensuring adequately paid maternity and paternity leave for the first year of babies’ lives, followed by high-quality, accessible and inclusive early-years care provision, where those who can pay do so based on a transparent income test, with a “fee ceiling” even for the most well-off.

In jurisdictions that lead the way in high-quality early-years and school-age care provision, it is viewed and supported by all as a public good for children, with the same status and value that primary education, rightfully, enjoys in Ireland.

And there is the nub of the issue, strong public recognition that no Nordic politician can ignore.

In seven years of national opinion polling, commissioned by Early Childhood Ireland and carried out by Red C, the majority of adults here in Ireland also consistently agree that every child should be guaranteed access to high-quality and inclusive early years and school-age care in their community – 76pc in this year’s poll.

The only way to address the underlying problems that manifest in high staff turnover, low workforce morale, operators having to juggle the impossible at times, and the resultant impact on parents is if the next government catches up with the public and recognises early years and school-age care as a public good.

This must be followed by an agreed programme showing how it will knit the recommendations of the excellent reports the Department of Children has at its fingertips, over the next five years. It won’t offer immediate solutions for the issues covered recently in this newspaper, but it will be life-changing for generations of children to come.

Setting forth a plan will offer succour and relief to those who manage and work in settings now too. If, for example, the plan prioritises the workforce, as it should, that would be transformative.

The biggest challenge facing settings is staffing – in both recruitment and retention. Front-loading this area will also mark a significant step in achieving consistent quality for children of all ages in all settings.

All the research points to the central importance of highly qualified and valued educators, who are appropriately compensated and have a clear professionalisation pathway.

We already have this in place for those who educate children from the primary education cycle. The question confronting the new Taoiseach, the wider government and the next one is, why can’t the same be developed for staff educating our youngest citizens?

By doing so, parents, providers, staff, and, most importantly, children will reap the benefits for generations to come.

Frances Byrne is the director of policy, advocacy and campaigning at Early Childhood Ireland.