State U-turn on closure of pre-school centre

A PRE-SCHOOL education policy centre shut down last autumn because the Government felt its work was no longer needed was considered important enough to be made a statutory agency a year earlier, the Irish Examiner has learned.

Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe said last September, when it emerged that the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE) was to be closed, that its work could be done by the Office of Minister for Children Barry Andrews which had been set up in 2005.

The centre had an annual budget of €800,000 and eight staff, but only two of them moved to the early years education policy unit at Mr Andrews’ office after its closure in November.

Department of Education documents seen by the Irish Examiner show that senior officials decided to prepare a proposal to Mr O’Keeffe’s predecessor Mary Hanafin that the centre should be put on a statutory footing, following a detailed discussion in June 2007.

The internal documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show it was part of a plan to widen the CECDE’s functions, which would have seen it manage a team of around 10 early education advisers. These advisers would have offered curriculum and management support to up to 300 pre-school services, mostly those linked to primary schools in the most disadvantaged areas, and would have assessed young children with special educational needs. They would also have been available to advise parents, pre-schools and other care providers, groups and agencies on developing structures for early education provision.

The management role envisaged for the CECDE might have required increased staffing, and officials agreed that any move to change the centre’s status to a statutory body under the 1998 Education Act would have to be brought to Government. Further discussions were held at a meeting chaired by department general secretary Brigid McManus in December 2007, but it is unclear if the proposal was ever brought to cabinet.

The CECDE was set up in 2002 for three years and was extended for a further three years in 2005. Its role was to co-ordinate provision and policies covering nurseries, creches, playgroups, childminders, pre-schools and infant classes of primary schools.

Irish National Teachers’ Organisation general secretary John Carr said a massive opportunity to develop early childhood education was lost by failing to roll out the advisory service and closing the CECDE. “When these children turn four and go to primary school, they go into some of the largest classes in the EU, making a play-based child-centred curriculum impossible. The decision to ignore young children is in complete contrast to the recent decision to plough another €300 million into third level research,” he said.