Towards a Better Future

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Chapter Two: Early Childhood Education CHAPTER TWO Early Childhood Education A BACKWARD LOOK Prior to the late 1990s, early childhood care and education (ECCE) did not receive significant attention in educational discourse and policy in Ireland. Very little research on early childhood education had taken place. There was an underestimation of both the significance and complexity of early education issues. Strategic statements in the mid-1990s, by international organisations such as the OECD in 1996, UNESCO in 1996, and the EU Council of Ministers of Education in 1997, signalled that early childhood education should be a serious policy concern. Ireland, as a member of these bodies, also signalled a new approach at this time, as is set out below. In the Programme for Government of 1997,early childhood education was selected as an area for policy action, with a commitment to provide a specific budget for it. Subsequent years witnessed much more focussed inquiry, multi-lateral dialogue and formal reports on early childhood education. In March 1998, a major public consultative forum of all major stakeholders took place – the National Forum for Early Childhood Education. This produced a major opportunity for reflection and deliberation on all aspects of early childhood care and education. This was captured in the Forum’s Report,which was published in the summer of 1998. In the following year, the government published the first-ever White Paper on early childhood education – Ready to Learn (Government of Ireland, 1999). In 2002, the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE) was set up and published a range of valuable documents on the theme, until it was closed down in 2008, as the economic recession set in. In 2003, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) published Towards a Framework for Early Learning (NCCA, 2003a), which it described as ‘a milestone — 15 —
Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System for the NCCA.’ As a response to a request from the Department of Education and Science (DES), the OECD conducted ‘an intensive review’ of early childhood policies and services in 2002. Its report, Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in Ireland was published in July 2004. The National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) also took this issue under its remit, conducted a consultative investigation on ECCE and issued its report, Early Childhood Care and Education in September 2005. In 2006, the Early Years Education Policy Unit was set up, co-located, at the time, between the DES and the Office of the Ombudsman for Children. Contemporaneous with this cluster of initiatives focussing primarily on early childhood education, there was a sequence of important developments on children and childcare. These included the establishment of the National Childcare Strategy, 1991, the National Children’s Strategy, 2000, The Children’s Act, 2009, the Children’s Ombudsman, 2003, and the Minister for Children, 2005. This unprecedented concentration of reports, policy documents and institutional initiatives collectively formed a framework of reference for the sector. A rationale for action, which set out principles, policies and guidelines for action,was established. Among a range of elements addressed was the need for co-ordination of effort; research; standards, quality and training; resourcing; database; curricular guidelines; priority needs of minority groups; and conditions of work for ECCE personnel. However, the implementation of policy proposals and the concrete realisation of plans for ECCE on the ground were slow to happen. The OECD Review commented: It is clear that ‘a national policy for the early education and care of young children in Ireland is still in its infant stages’. The review called for ‘The urgent formulation of a National Plan for Early Childhood Services Development,’ and for ‘A significant increase in ministry budgets for early childhood services, so as to quickly reach the average rate of public expenditure for OECD centres (OECD, 2004a, pp. 6-10). In its report of 2005, the NESF commented: It is clear that a rich base of ideas, understandings, recommendations, research findings and records of good international practice is available to Irish policy makers. The research and consultative basis is very deep ...the most striking feature which has emerged is that of a great vacuum in policy implementation, even on issues that have been agreed by government … What is needed is a comprehensive, co-ordinated and streamlined policy implementation process. (NESF, 2005, pp. x – xii). — 16 —
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