The Department of Education's review of pre-school education, which was put out for consultation last week, suggested that children should either be admitted in their immediate pre-school year between three and four, or when they reach three, the age at which they can go to a private nursery.
NIPPA chief executive Siobhan Fitzpatrick said, 'We agree with the sentiments in the document that the current statutory nursery school provisions, the curriculum, the buildings and the staff ratios are not appropriate for two-year-olds.'
The review has been launched against a backdrop of rapidly declining numbers of pre-school children in Northern Ireland, down from 25,000 in 2001 to 23,500 last year and expected to dip below 21,000 by 2010, threatening the viability of some pre-school provision.
But Mrs Fitzpatrick said, 'If the issue of two-year-olds being sucked out of good-quality pre-school provision is resolved, then those providers in the independent, voluntary or statutory sectors will become much more sustainable.' She said NIPPA would continue to press for capital funding from the Department of Education for the voluntary and independent sectors.
The Review of Pre-school Education in Northern Ireland followed the achievement of targets set under the Pre-School Expansion Programme, which was the Department of Education's contribution to the Northern Ireland childcare strategy, Children First, published in 1999.
The review recognised that a central aim of the programme had been to reduce the number of children in reception classes. NIPPA applauded the department's decision to stop funding reception places 'where there is alternative quality provision'. The review document added, 'The consultation asks whether the department should take legal powers to prevent a school from offering reception provision.'
Mrs Fitzpatrick welcomed a recognition in the review document of the key role to be played by early years specialists and an acknowledgement that children with special educational needs 'do not have equality of access to resources and support enjoyed by other nursery school children'.
Proposals to advance the process of integrating services for children and families in Northern Ireland, which lag behind those chiefly undertaken in England through Sure Start, are a key element in the review document.
In Northern Ireland the Department of Education only deals with education issues, while childcare matters are the responsibility of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety. Mrs Fitzpatrick said NIPPA would like to see the process of integration facilitated by one department taking a lead, although it has not said which one.
Copies of the Review of Pre-school Education in Northern Ireland are available by down-loading from the website www.deni.gov.uk or by writing to Department of Education, School Policy and Planning Branch, Rathgael House, 43 Balloo Road, Bangor, County Down BT19 7PR. The consultation closing date is 15 October.
* Education minister Barry Gardiner has announced a revamping of the curriculum from Key Stage 1 upwards so that it reflects the need for 'real world skills'. He said, 'Education is not about categorising children into successes and failures. It is about setting them on a path through life and work and equipping them with the skills and self-confidence to succeed. We need to talk about standards, not structures.'
