PLÉIreland

31/12/2020

PLÉ like other organisations has called upon the Government to treat the ECEC and SAC sector on an equal basis with primary and secondary schools in relation to the reopening of settings. Following a meeting of the DCEDIY Covid-19 advisory group this morning, a number of organisations including PLÉ have issued the statement below to the Taoiseach and the Cabinet.

Dear Taoiseach and Cabinet

Joint Statement by DCEDIY Covid-19 Advisory Group for Early Childhood Education and Care and Schools Age Childcare
Following a meeting of the Advisory group this afternoon, attended by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the undersigned representative organisations call upon the Government to postpone the reopening of ECEC/SAC services until the 11th January to align with schools. This is essential so that educators in schools and ECEC/SAC service are treated equally by government, ensuring that ECEC / SAC providers, educators, parents and children can minimise their contacts prior to settings reopening as was announced by an Taoiseach for primary and secondary schools yesterday . This is to ensure that every member of the ECEC and SAC community has an equal opportunity to follow public health advice closely and minimise their contacts before children return to settings. This is essential so that we can all support the continued safe operation of our ECEC and SAC community.
We further call on government to make an announcement on the matter today (Thursday, 31st December) to allow services to make the necessary preparations.
We are available to meet later today with Minister O’Gorman, and members of cabinet, to work with them to ensure the safe return of children and educators on January 11 and to explore provision of service for frontline workers in the interim, from January 4, where it is safe to do so.

Mary Moloney Executive Officer PLÉ Ireland 085 2738815
Regina Bushell Chairperson Seas Suas 0872857304
Marie Daly Chairperson National Community Childcare Forum 086 2416687

Teresa Heeney CEO Early Childhood Ireland 0877671481
Diane Jackson Sector Organiser SIPTU 087 6784773
Denise McCormilla CEO National Childhood Network 0860572814

Marian Quinn Chairperson Association of Childhood Professionals 0861984431

12/11/2020

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) would like to bring your attention to online focused discussion sessions happening this month with parents as part of the consultation on the new funding model for early learning and care and school-age childcare. Please see attached flyer and further information at: https://first5fundingmodel.gov.ie/public-consultation/

As you will know, the Department has been consulting widely on this project since August 2020 including a call for submissions, parental poll and focused discussions with providers and practitioners.

It is essential that we hear parent’s views, what is most important to them, and what are their experiences of early learning and care and school-age childcare.

We would therefore appreciate your support in getting this invite out through your networks to encourage parents to participate in these important events.

We are hosting 6 sessions running between 23 November and 2 December 2020. Similar to our provider and practitioner sessions, these events with parents will be facilitated by Chris Chapman and Ali Warner from the Change Exploratory.
Parents can register to attend one of the sessions at: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/parents-discussion-on-early-learning-and-care-and-school-age-childcare-tickets-128611090233

Parents discussion on early learning and care and school-age childcare

21/10/2020

The first three modules of the Quality and Regulatory Framework (QRF) eLearning programme are now available to access on the Túsla website;

The Child and Family Agency was established on 1st January 2014 and is now the dedicated State agency responsible for improving wellbeing and outcomes for children.

14/09/2020

Calling upon all ECEC providers to complete this short survey, which seeks to determine if Covid 19 is affecting recruitment in the sector
https://s.surveyplanet.com/Tmj8WUiqk
Findings will be used to inform policy responses to any issues identified.

I am attempting to determine whether Covid 19 is affecting staffing of early childhood settings. This brief survey seeks to gather information from early childhood providers. If at any stage, you do not want to complete the questionnaire or wish to withdraw from the study that is no problem. Simply....

06/09/2020

Minister O'Gorman proposes that the State rather than parents should pay for any increase in early childhood educator salaries. We must applaud this forward thinking and hope we are entering a new phase of increased investment in ECEC, that enables a professional wage for professional work. This is the only way to stem the haemorrhage of qualified staff from the sector and ensure continuity for children parents and families.

The Minister for Children believes if wages in the sector are to increase, it is the state rather than parents who should pay

28/08/2020

Nice message from Minister O'Gorman as he urges young children to enjoy themselves as they return to ECEC.. Good to hear him acknowledge all the work done by the sector to prepare for reopening

A message from Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, Roderic O'Gorman, TD, at the beginning of a new pre-school and school year.

25/08/2020

It could be Ireland- 'Generations of much needed talent are being lost through the lack of vision and investment in the early years workforce and we cannot afford to delay any longer' Read Revisiting the Nutbrown Review - Policy and Impact at the following link:

15/07/2020

Mary Moloney


·
Jul 6

'Early Childhood Education and Care is a vital service for children, we need a model that works. We cannot have quality on a shoestring budget' Listen to Mary Moloney's recent interview of the Future of Childcare from 19:53 at

Newstalk

15/07/2020

Interesting insights into how the higher capitation has been an effective funding initiative which has incentivised ECCE services to recruit more graduate ECCE Room Leaders. The report also discusses need to retain graduates as well as policy implications in terms of possibly extending capitation to children outside of the ECCE scheme

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01/07/2020

After four years of development work, testing 7000 children and spending millions of dollars, pounds and euros, the results are in. Excellent critique of the International Early Learning Study by
Mathias Urban and Peter Mosshttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1463949120929466

This is the fourth colloquium for Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s International Early Lea...

27/06/2020

PLÉ is delighted to see the retention of the Dept. for Children with an expanded portfolio. We extent warm congratulations to Roderic O Gorman on his appointment as Minister to this critical Dept. We look forward to working with him to deliver on the vision within First 5 to establish a sustainable and ‘effective’ early childhood education and care system.

18/06/2020

A huge thanks to all of those SAC providers that have completed our survey. We are getting a wealth of really valuable and insightful information. Survey closing soon so please complete if you haven’t done so already ttps://surveymonkey.com/r/J9ZBLDB