Dr. Mary Moloney of MIC at the University of Limerick writes about how the ECEC sector in Ireland is struggling to achieve recognition as a professional sector.  Access the article here.

Click here to view Pobal's annual Early Years Sector Profile Report 2019/2020.  This report is produced by Pobal every year to assess and evaluate where the sector is at, the challenges it faces and the impact of policy etc.

Ireland reportedly spends 0.1% of GDP on the pre-primary education sector in comparison to other OECD countries whose spend actually increased on average from 0.5% to 0.8%.  Read an online article here on this topic from Social Justice Ireland.

Fiscal strategy for quality childcare provision from birth to 5 in New Mexico, published in June 2021.  Access the strategy here.

"Using the most recent comparable data, it assesses the parental leave and childcare policies in the 41 high-income countries that are part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) or the European Union (EU). The report concludes with nine recommendations for how policies can be improved to provide comprehensive solutions to all families" (Gromada & Richardson, 2021). Click here.

"The last decade has revealed a global (re)configuring of the relationships between the state, society and educational settings in the direction of systems of performance management. In this article, the authors conduct a critical feminist inquiry into this changing relationship in relation to the professionalisation of early childhood education and care practitioners in Ireland, with a focus on dilemmatic contradictions between the policy reform ensemble and practitioners’ reported working conditions in a doctoral study" (Simmie & Murphy, 2021). Click here to read the research in full.

Article from an Irish perspective, looking at the "role of qualifications and the barriers that hinder practitioners from professional advancement within the of Early Childhood Education and Care field (Oke et al, 2021). Access it here.

Click here to access the review by Urban et al which was published in 2017 entitled "Review of Occupational Role Profiles in Ireland in Early Childhood Education and Care.  The findings of this review highlighted key areas which need to be addressed regarding professional role profiles and which the review maintained must be undertaken alongside comprehensive strategies to reform the ECEC workforce in Ireland, 

Click here to access the recent Workforce Plan published by the DCEDIY in 2021.  This plan includes actions required to meet targets of the First Five strategy and an implementation plan covering 2022-2024.  Among the plans outlined are the introduction of a minimum requirement of a Level 7 degree for room leaders and service managers by 2028.

Click here to access the funding model for ELC and SAC published in December 2021 by the DCEDIY.  This document outlines a new core funding model proposed by the Government to "support the delivery of quality services and, over time, the development of a closer relationship between providers and the State" (DCEDIY, 2021).