Cash boost demanded for pre-school education

Ireland's early childhood education services rank far behind those of most European countries, it was claimed today.

Leading independent childcare bodies said investment in pre-school development was so low it was shocking.

Irene Gunning, chief executive of IPPA, the Early Childhood Organisation, said pre-school education was critical and urged government ministers to inject urgently-needed funds into Irish services.

“We are very under-resourced if you compare what we have here with the rest of Europe,” she said.

“Our children are our best assets – we have to value them now. We need pre-school places and those services need to be community services which are accessible to all parents.”

She said it was important to distinguish between school and early childcare and that the rewards to be reaped from good investment in the very young were “astronomical".

“Our investment is so low it is shocking,” she said. “We are incredibly under-funded.”

The Joint Committee on Education and Science was addressed by three pre-school organisations – the IPPA, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE).

CECDE director Heino Schonfeld said attention was gradually beginning to shift towards the importance of early education.

“We in Ireland are severely lagging behind,” he said.

“There are huge opportunities here to develop something that is our own and learn from other countries. But it needs the political will and government investment.”

He said there were three areas in which state support was needed in order to develop the sector: quality, access and the co-ordination between childcare and education.

Mr Schonfeld quoted a recent study by Belgian researchers who established a ranking system to compare EU member states.

“At the very bottom of this final ranking, we find Ireland,” it read. “This is not at all surprising given its very poor score on all of the criteria.”

He stressed the importance of establishing an Early Childhood Education Agency, as detailed in a Government White Paper.

“The committee was very open to the issues raised,” he said. “But there is not a very strong tradition of state support in early education and we are missing opportunities.

“It is vital that the right steps are taken as soon as possible.”