Fears raised over pre-school funding cuts

CONCERNS have been raised about the quality of pre-school provision after the cutting of staffing levels allowed by providers who will also receive €2 week less per child from next September.

The cut in the funding from Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald’s department amounts to 3% of the payment childcare and early education providers receive under the scheme to give families a year’s free provision. But a body representing the sector said it equates to a hit of €2,000 to the annual income of a typical preschool catering for 24 children.

And although class sizes at primary schools avoided the chop for next year, Early Childhood Ireland said the increase in the child-staff ratio in the pre-school sector from 10 pupils to 11 for every teacher will do nothing for quality at a time when Ms Fitzgerald has asked the sector to help tackle literacy issues and obesity. Around 68,000 children took places in the early education scheme in its first full year, about 95% of those eligible.