- Nine in ten staff questioning their future in childcare
- Poor pay, underfunding and rising fees blamed for crisis
- Ireland invests the least in childcare within Europe
‘Early childhood education and care in Ireland is facing a black abyss,’ an early years expert has warned, as 90 per cent of staff look to leave the sector and childcare fees continue to be among the highest in the EU.
A survey by Ireland’s largest trade union, Siptu, has highlighted the struggle childcare settings in Ireland are facing retaining qualified and experienced staff.
Its survey of 3,200 early childhood, education and care employees – 12 per cent of the total workforce – reveals that 90 per cent are questioning their future in the sector and more than half are actively looking for a different job.
The biggest reason given for leaving the sector is pay. A total of 94 per cent, many of whom are qualified to degree level, said they cannot make ends meet on their salary.
According to Siptu, the average rate of pay for childcare staff is €11.18 per hour (just over £10 an hour); however, many employees are on the minimum wage. In comparison, the living wage in Ireland is €12.30 per hour.
The findings echo those of a recent survey carried out by Nursery World into the financial situation of the childcare workforce in England, which found that one in ten workers is officially in poverty.
The Siptu survey was carried out by Dr Amy Greer Murphy as part of the union’s Big Start campaign, which is calling on the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to reform the early childhood education and care sector. At the time that Nursery Worldwent to press, Ireland’s Budget 2020 had just been announced, with just €54m allocated to early childhood care and education.
Siptu accused the Irish government of ‘ignoring the crisis of low pay and staffing in childcare’ within the Budget and vowed to escalate its campaign, while Dr Mary Moloney, from the Department of Reflective Pedagogy and Early Childhood Studies, Mary Immaculate College, at the University of Limerick, called it a ‘missed opportunity’ and described the sum of money as a ‘band aid’.
Delivering Budget 2020 Ireland, the finance minister Paschal Donohoe announced money to support the Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme, the Access and Inclusion Model, and the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) – a landmark funding programme launched this month to reduce the cost of childcare for parents.
Rising fees
It comes after findings from Ireland’s Department for Children and Youth Affairs revealed that despite continued investment in childcare funding over the past three years, fees are continuing to rise.
On average, full-time fees have gone up by 3.6 per cent since last year while part-time fees have risen by 8 per cent.
Parents in Dublin pay the most, with the highest fee for full-time care recorded at €251 per week in May this year.
Dr Katherine Zappone, minister for children and youth affairs, acknowledged that childcare fees are higher in Ireland than in other OECD countries and said she has repeatedly expressed her support for a Labour Court Sectoral Employment Order (SEO), which would set minimum pay levels, as the most viable way to improve pay and conditions.
She also said the introduction of the NCS would ‘alleviate the burden on parents further, but more needs to be done’.
The Irish government has pledged to at least double the investment in early learning and care and in school-age childcare by 2028.
On top of this, a study published last month by the Economic and Social Research Institute revealed that eight out of ten people in Ireland struggle to afford childcare, compared with just 20 per cent in Finland.
While funding has increased, Ireland still only invests 0.2 per cent of its GDP into childcare, the lowest of any European country and below the UN’s recommend rate of 1 per cent.
National Childcare Scheme (NCS)
The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides subsidies for families in Ireland with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years who are using Tusla (the equivalent of Ofsted) registered childcare settings.
Under the scheme, there are two types of subsidy:
Universal subsidy – available to all families with children under the age of three. Also available to families with children aged over three who have not yet qualified for the free pre-school programme (ECCE). It provides 50c per hour towards the cost of a childcare place for up to a maximum of 40 hours per week.
Income assessed subsidy – available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years. The subsidy is means-tested, with the rate varying depending on family income, child’s age and educational stage, and the number of children in the family. The subsidy can be used for a place for up to a maximum of 40 hours if parents are working, studying or training, and a maximum of 15 hours if parents are not in work, studying or training.
The ECCE scheme provides early childhood care and education for children from the age of two years and eight months up until they start primary school.
Expert opinion
Dr Mary Moloney, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick and chairperson of PLÉ Ireland, the National Association Of Higher Education Institutions.
‘It is no secret that childcare costs in Ireland are among the highest in Europe – this fact was confirmed by the European Commission in July. Costs came to the fore again in September, with the Economic and Social Research Institute’s (ESRI) study.
‘The findings, as well as those from the Siptu survey, are astounding. Let’s face it, early childhood education and care in Ireland is facing a black abyss.
‘One would be forgiven for asking whether anyone is listening to the plight of parents, educators and indeed children, whose experiences are increasingly compromised by the exodus of educators (some 25 per cent annually).
‘All is not lost, as the minister for children, Dr Katherine Zappone, is determined to provide much-needed cost reductions to parents.
‘However, it is evident that there is a considerable gap between what the Government invests and what providers require to provide a quality service and pay a professional salary for professional work. Somebody must pick up the tab.
‘Clearly, the Government is not willing to address the historical underinvestment, and so the merry dance continues where childcare fees are among the highest in the EU and educator salaries are among the lowest.
‘Regardless of rhetoric at national level of the benefits of quality ECEC (early childhood education and care) for children, there is no appetite to address the elephant in the room; the sector is a source of gross inequality for those who care for and educate young children.
‘It is time to move beyond rhetoric, to transform early childhood jobs, and finance the wider ECEC system.’
