Current ECCE Qualifications Required
Free Pre-school Year - ECCE Scheme (Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme)
Current Qualifications Required under this Scheme
Currently, the Pre-school Leader must hold a Certification for a Major Award in Childcare/Early Education at a minimum of Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications of Ireland (NFQ) or an equivalent recognised qualification in the childcare/early education field.
A Major ward is made up of a number (usually 8) component awards or certificates, known as minor awards.
Interim Measure
However, during the first two years of the scheme, the qualification requirement will be considered to have been met where a person can demonstrate that he or she has achieved certification for an award in ECCE that includes significant content relating to early childhood education/early learning and child development and has at least 2 years experience of working in a position of responsibility with children in the 0-6 years age range.
Note: Services who qualify under the above interim measure for the introduction of the free preschool year will have to be fully qualified to Level 5 in Early Childhood Care and Education/cognisant discipline by September 2012. This requirement was originally set at Level 6, however, has since been reduced to level 5.
Future requirements
There are no details currently regarding future requirements for staff to be qualified to level 6, as a requirement under this scheme.
However, consideration of available training options at Level 7 or 8 may be of interest to some services for the future, due to the increase in the Capitation fee . As stated by the OMCYA:
In keeping with the commitment of the Government to increasing standards in the pre-school sector, sanction has been obtained for a higher rate of capitation in services where (a) all the pre-school leaders have a childcare / early years educational qualification at FETAC level 7 or 8 (i.e. degree level) and 3 years experience of working in the pre-school sector, and (b) all the pre-school assistants have the qualifications required for a pre-school leader under the general provisions of the scheme. The higher rate amounts to €75 per week, and applies to sessional services operating under the 38 week and 41 week options of the scheme, although these can be co-located with a full-day 50-week service (which will not qualify for the higher rate). While this higher payment will only affect a small percentage of services initially, it is hoped that over time this will increase, to the benefit of both the services and the children attending.
Re: Companies offering FETAC training Courses
You can check if a company is registered with FETAC by going to www.fetac.ie and clicking on ‘Providers’ and then you will see the Registered Providers A-Z list.
