Policy Developments 1990-2004 - Centre for Early Childhood ...

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Section 4Policy Developments 1990-2004Coordination of responsibility forservices;Curricular framework;Appropriate staffing and staffconditions;Appropriate physical environment;Infrastructure for planning, monitoring,support training, research anddevelopment;Adequate financing of services andinfrastructure (European CommissionNetwork on Childcare, 1996:5).This requires sustained public and politicalawareness and interest of the needs ofchildren, parents and families. It outlines anumber of components of qualityapplicable in the European context,including the following:Affordability;Access to services in all areas - urbanand rural;Access to services for children withspecial needs;Combining safe and secure care with apedagogical approach;Close and responsive relations betweenservices and parents/communities;Diversity and flexibility of services;Increased choice for parents;Coherence between different services(European Commission Network onChildcare, 1996:5).In 2002, a comparative review of familypolicy, Contemporary Family Policy –A Comparative Review of Ireland,France, Germany, Sweden and theUK was produced (Daly and Clavero,2002). It cites that childcare policy was notan issue in the Irish context until the mid-1990s, and then this was catalysed byeconomic as opposed to equality issues(Daly and Clavero, 2002:60). While thereport deals with the issue of childcare, itdoes not specifically mention or discuss theterm quality.The OECD produced a comparative review,Babies and Bosses - ReconcilingWork and Family Life in Austria,Ireland and Japan in 2003 (OECD,2003). The provision of quality childcare isa core element in allowing parents to workand the report asserts that:promoting child development andensuring that childcare services areof good quality warrant additionalpublic investment in childcare.(OECD, 2003:12)The report goes on to state the importanceof quality in all countries, but especially inIreland where the role of the informalchildcare sector is significant vis-à-vis otherjurisdictions (OECD, 2003:160).Implications for the National Framework for Quality– International PerspectivesDefining Quality:1. Legislation and a policy framework at national, regional and local level is importantfor the attainment of quality.2. Planning is an essential component of ensuring services are of a high quality.3. Staff training and qualifications are an important characteristic of quality services.4. Services must remain integrated and coordinated to ensure there are noduplications and voids in services.38
Section 4Policy Developments 1990-20045. It is important to acknowledge cultural variations in the definition, assessment andinterpretation of quality.6. Quality is a relative and subjective concept that should be seen as a dynamic andcontinuous process as opposed to a product.7. An appropriate curricular framework is an inherent characteristic of a quality service.8. The affordability of services is a component of quality in ensuring they are accessibleto all children.9. Quality is also impacted upon by the accessibility of services in all geographical areas,both urban and rural.10. The quality of a service is also determined by its inclusion of children with specialneeds within the setting.11. Parental and community links with the setting is a strong indicator of quality.12. The ability for services to be flexible and to accommodate diversity is also animportant characteristic of quality.Assessing Quality:1. The inspection of physical resources within settings is an important indicator ofquality services.Supporting Quality:1. The financing and resourcing of the ECCE sector is imperative to ensure that qualityin services is achieved.2. Advice and support internally and from external sources is a vital support in ensuringquality services are achieved.3. There is need for ongoing research and development to inform and underpinprogress within ECCE services to ensure they remain dynamic and evolutionary.4. The support of quality is particularly important in the Irish context where theinformal childcare sector is particularly large in international terms.4.8 Policies Relating toNon-Statutory AgenciesThe non-statutory element of ECCE inIreland had remained under resourced andconsequently, underdeveloped for manyyears in Ireland. The economic changes asoutlined earlier catalysed the developmentof the sector and there has been a myriad ofactivity by a multiplicity of organisationsand agencies in recent years. Theinfrastructure relating to much of the ECCEsector is in its infancy at present, and thus,while there is much activity in relation toquality, there is a scarcity of documentedpolicy publications at this time. Manyorganisations are in the process ofproducing such documents but they are asyet not complete for inclusion in this review(see Table 1, page 5).This section begins by documenting thepolicies of the NVCOs, followed by a briefoverview of policies emanating from thecommunity sector. Due to the diverse arrayof organisations involved both directly andindirectly with ECCE, it is not feasiblewithin the confines of this review to includeall policies produced on ECCE in the pastfourteen years. The most prominent, thoseutilised widely and with universal39
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