The Department of Education has recently published a report that details the findings from consultations with children and young people nominated by Traveller and Roma organisations as part of the development of the Traveller and Roma Education Strategy 2024 – 2030. The aim of the consultations was to get the views of children and young […] The post Consultation around the Traveller and Roma Education Strategy appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more

“Why do we pay primary teachers more than Early Years educators?” asked the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Director of Education and Skills, Andreas Schleicher at last week’s launch of the OECD’s latest Starting Strong report on Early Years and School Age Care, Reducing Inequalities by Investing in Early Childhood Education and Care. […] The post Policy in Action 5 February 2025 appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more

Early Childhood Ireland Dashboards: A New Garda Vetting Feature . Early Childhood Ireland is excited to introduce a new feature for our members availing of Garda Vetting: Tracking Dashboards. These dashboards are designed to streamline the vetting process by making it easier to track current applications and notify members when applications are approaching the three-year […] The post Early Childhood Ireland Dashboards: A New Garda Vetting Feature appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more

At the end of 2024, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) published the 2024 edition of the State of the Nation’s Children (SONC) report. The SONC report provides a comprehensive picture of the lives of children in Ireland by presenting key information on children’s health, behavioural and educational outcomes as well […] The post State of the Nation’s Children Report 2024 appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more

While Early Childhood Ireland welcomes the Programme for Government’s commitment to continue to invest and develop Early Years and School Age Care in Ireland, we are concerned about the absence of a vision for the Early Years and School Age Care system as a whole. The Programme for Government demonstrates that despite increased awareness among […] The post Policy in Action 28 January 2025 appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more

Status Red – Storm Éowyn . Thursday, 23 January and Friday 24, January 2025 A red warning is now in place for every county tomorrow, Friday, 24 January. All Early Years and School Age Care (SAC) services are to close for the duration of the Red warning. The red weather warnings are expected to end […] The post Status Red – Storm Éowyn Thursday, 23 January and Friday 24, January 2025 appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more

‘Transition to School Among Five-Year-Olds’, one of the series in the ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ national longitudinal study, highlighted some areas for improvement with regards to children transitioning from Early Years to primary school. The series highlighted a need for schools to involve parents more in supporting their children’s learning and for better engagement between […] The post Transitioning from Early Years to primary school in Ireland appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more

As the Programme for Government is in its final stages, we look at how it will deliver for young children and look back on our ask for parity of pay and conditions for Early Years and School Age Care graduates. In 2024, we launched our ‘4 Asks for Children’ which we believe will be transformative […] The post Policy in Action 21 January 2025 appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more

In response to the UK Government’s commitment to releasing a ten year child poverty strategy by late Spring this year, Resolution Foundation, an advocate for improving living standards for low-to-middle income families in the United Kingdom (UK), has shed a light on “The role of employment and progression in a child poverty strategy”. The need […] The post Tackling child poverty with action on multiple fronts appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more

Looking ahead to what is expected for Early Years and School Age Care in 2025, we outline the expected policy developments as well as Early Childhood Ireland’s plans for this year. Policy Developments . ·       Programme for Government A new year marks new beginnings and opportunities, and while government formation talks continue, Early Childhood Ireland […] The post Policy in Action 14 January 2025 appeared first on Early Childhood Ireland ..read more