Montserrat ECD Policy - Government of Montserrat

Government for use by the Ministry of Education. This will assist to provide data forprojecting requirements for the future establishment of early childhood services‣ Promotion of inter-ministerial and agency collaboration to provide services forchildren in the early years - health, education, family services, social transformation,community services, and private sector.‣ Identification of the incidence of home based ‘child minding’ services and theestablishment of registration and support mechanisms for child minders in order toensure safe, quality services5.2. Developing and introducing statutory regulations and guidelines, basedon minimum standards to support the effective delivery of the serviceSpecific actions to be undertaken are‣ Adoption of Regulations and Standard for early childhood services together withestablishment of mandatory registration and licensing of all service providers usingthe CARICOM Regional Guidelines.‣ Establishment of in-service and qualification training standards for of all providers ofearly childhood services to meet the requirements of the Regulation and Standards inthe delivery of the service.‣ Establishment of a register of child minders providing early childhood care anddevelopment in their homes. This will assist the Government to provide thenecessary support and training in order to assist them to meet minimum standards inthe delivery of quality services.‣ Review of the job descriptions of all Heads and other persons employed byGovernment in the delivery of Early Childhood Services to ensure compliance andharmonization with the standards.5.3. Providing training and certification at various levels at recognized institutions forall providers of early childhood services.Specific actions to encourage the professional development of practitioners will establishclear guidelines and requirements for entry of persons into this sector. It will also stipulatethe requirement for leadership level at management level of early childhood developmentcentres, as well as provide guidance as to the profile of suitable persons working withchildren in accordance with CARICOM and assess the demand and human resourcesrequired to meet the demands of training for practitioners.Specific actions to achieve this include:‣ Drafting of a minimum entry level document for persons wishing to enter the earlychildhood sector.‣ Drafting of document on criteria and qualification level for managers/ leaders ofcentres.‣ Creating links with regional training programmes in early childhood programmes -such as the Antigua and Barbuda State College – to create access for10