Creche standards: Key lessons must be learned

Education Correspondent Niall Murray says questions hang over regulation of creche standards

WHILE much has been made in the last week about the levels of care provided in creches and pre-schools, key questions hang over regulation of education standards.

About €170m a year has been paid to more than 3,000 pre-school providers since 2010 to provide a year of pre-school for every child in the country. But the State has yet to devise and roll out a system of inspections to assess how well, or what, children are being taught in return for taxpayers’ money during the free early childhood care and education (ECCE) year.