Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is the term used to describe any learning activities that an early years educator /school-age childcare practitioner engages in consciously and proactively as a professional to develop and enhance their knowledge and skills.

My Department funds 30 City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs) to act as its local agent in the delivery of national early learning and childcare programmes and the implementation of Government policy.

The role of the CCCs is to provide support and guidance to local service providers and parents in relation to the various early learning and childcare programmes, and support quality in keeping with national frameworks and policy objectives. CCCs also play a role in facilitating the delivery of some CPD courses to early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners on behalf of my Department.

In December 2021, I launched Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC), 2022-2028. It sets out a number of key objectives to support the ELC and SAC workforce to continue and further strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation and at the same time to give those working in the sector the prospect of career development and professional recognition. Pillar 3 specifically references the need to develop a national CPD system.

The table shows the number of early years educators and SAC practitioners who completed continuous professional development under quality training from CCCs in the year 2023. Training programmes are delivered each year to different groups of educators / practitioners.

Training programme	Number of individuals who completed training in 2023
Equality, Inclusion & Diversity	763
Always Children First	3,345
Communities of Practice Events	1,288
Introduction to Síolta and Aistear	1,305

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is the term used to describe any learning activities that an early years educator /school-age childcare practitioner engages in consciously and proactively as a professional to develop and enhance their knowledge and skills.

My Department funds 30 City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs) to act as its local agent in the delivery of national early learning and childcare programmes and the implementation of Government policy.

The role of the CCCs is to provide support and guidance to local service providers and parents in relation to the various early learning and childcare programmes, and support quality in keeping with national frameworks and policy objectives. CCCs also play a role in facilitating the delivery of some CPD courses to early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners on behalf of my Department.

In addition to the CCC annual funding, a separate funding allocation is provided to CCCs for quality development supports, a proportion of which supports the delivery of quality development training.

The table outlines the funding provided to CCCs in 2024. It includes the 2024 overall budget allocation*. It also includes a breakdown for quality development related supports including the delivery of CPD courses and a separate breakdown for the delivery of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training.

* This breakdown does not include funding under separate areas such as supports specific to the Ukraine Response, Access and Inclusion supports or Childminding Development Officers. It is not possible to break down the CCCs' overall budget allocation in such a way as to distinguish the staff time and other costs used for all CPD.

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City/County Childcare Committees	2024 Overall Budget Allocation	2024 Quality Development Budget Allocation	2024 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Budget Allocation
Dublin City	€1,372,163	€10,000	€15,000
County Cork	€885,682	€10,000	€12,500
County Galway	€775,308	€9,500	€10,000
Fingal	€815,792.88	€9,500	€17,500
South Dublin	€800,073.75	€9,000	€10,000
County Limerick	€787,494	€7,500	€10,000
County Meath	€635,163.31	€7,500	€7,500
County Kildare	€677,390.77	€7,500	€10,000
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown	€593,796	€7,500	€10,000
County Tipperary	€731,540	€7,500	€7,500
County Wicklow	€601,860	€6,000	€7,500
Cork City	€568,602	€6,000	€5,000
County Donegal	€667,003	€6,000	€7,500
County Wexford	€534,125	€5,750	€5,000
County Clare	€487,398	€5,750	€5,000
County Kerry	€542,398	€5,750	€5,000
County Mayo	€497,971	€5,750	€2,500
County Louth	€474,888	€5,500	€5,000
County Kilkenny	€458,663.50	€5,000	€5,000
County Waterford	€734,245.16	€5,000	€5,000
County Laois	€341,855	€5,000	€0
County Westmeath	€431,722	€5,000	€5,000
County Sligo	€414,366	€5,000	€2,500
County Cavan	€523,193	€4,000	€2,500
County Monaghan	€351,667	€4,000	€2,500
County Offaly	€382,470	€4,000	€2,500
County Roscommon	€372,873.09	€4,000	€2,500
County Carlow	€359,587	€3,750	€2,500
County Leitrim	€325,136.92	€3,750	€2,500
County Longford	€328,467.45	€3,750	€2,500
Total	€17,472,895	€184,250	€187,500

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 625 and 626 together.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is the term used to describe any learning activities that an early years educator /school-age childcare practitioner engages in consciously and proactively as a professional to develop and enhance their knowledge and skills.

Extensive CPD activities – formal, non-formal and informal – are already undertaken by early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services and their staff. A wide range of courses, training initiatives and CPD opportunities have been available to ELC and SAC services and their staff, supported by Government, and rolled out through a diverse range of organisations including Better Start, City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs), National Voluntary Childcare Organisations (NVCOs), and education institutions.

Better Start was established in 2014 by my Department, in association with the Department of Education, to deliver quality-related supports to ELC services and to support a cohesive approach to State-funded supports for quality across the ELC sector. Better Start coordinates the delivery of CPD, including Hanen Teacher Talk, Lámh Module One and Sensory Processing in Early Learning (SPEL). Better Start deliver 'Aistear & Play' CPD as part of the National Síolta Aistear Initiative suite of courses supporting the roll out of Aistear. Better Start is hosted by Pobal on behalf of my Department.

The Better Start Learner Management System will undergo further improvements in the coming months to allow for the national approach to CPD outlined in Nurturing Skills (the Workforce Plan for ELC and SAC 2022-2028) to be implemented. This will support the sector in identifying and accessing relevant CPD opportunities.

In 2023, Better Start received €16,798,000 in funding from my Department. Only part of the funding relates to the Quality Development Service and to the Learning and Development Unit, which provides training supports for the sector. The majority of Better Start costs relate to the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM). It is not possible to provide a more detailed breakdown of costs of specific training programmes.

The table below provides the number of individuals who completed CPD training through Better Start in specific courses in the year 2023. Training programmes are delivered each year to different groups of educators / practitioners.

Year	Course	Numbers Completed in 2023
2023	Hanen Teacher Talk	289
2023	Lámh Module One	290
2023	Sensory Processing in Early Learning (SPEL)	530
2023	Aistear and Play	339

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Better Start was established in 2014 by my Department, in association with the Department of Education, to deliver quality-related supports to early learning and care services and to support a cohesive approach to State-funded supports for quality across the early learning and care sector. Better Start is hosted by Pobal on behalf of my Department.

The Quality Development Service (QDS) forms one strand of Better Start activities. The QDS works with early learning and care settings in a mentoring capacity to promote and develop the quality of practice, as set out in Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education, and Aistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework.

The QDS offers a range of quality development options nationwide, including quality practice queries, focused quality practice development, and whole setting quality development for individual or multiple settings.

Requests for the service come directly to Better Start, principally from self-requests. All requests for the service are processed centrally. Early Years Specialists are allocated to the services on the basis of availability, skills and experience, as far as possible matching the service profile.

The table below shows the source of referrals since 2015 for the Better Start Quality Development Service:

CCC area	AIM Specialist	Aistear & Play workshops	Better Start QDS Specialist	CCC	Core Funding Quality Action Plan	Department of Education Inspector	Self Request	Tusla Inspector	Quality Development Practice supports	Total
Cork City	5	1	1	14	3	2	15	1	0	42
County Carlow	1	1	2	16	4	0	5	6	1	36
County Cavan	7	2	0	21	3	0	11	11	3	58
County Clare	2	1	1	19	5	1	12	10	0	51
County Cork	12	9	2	43	13	0	26	16	0	121
County Donegal	17	1	1	30	9	1	20	3	4	86
County Galway	10	1	1	37	8	3	20	30	3	113
County Kerry	5	4	2	18	1	0	6	9	2	47
County Kildare	7	3	5	33	7	2	27	40	3	127
County Kilkenny	1	1	2	20	3	0	7	5	0	39
County Laois	2	0	0	19	1	0	10	5	1	38
County Leitrim	4	0	1	1	2	0	15	1	0	24
County Limerick	4	1	0	54	2	1	15	20	2	99
County Longford	1	1	1	20	3	1	3	0	2	32
County Louth	6	1	4	26	4	2	19	10	1	73
County Mayo	2	0	0	19	6	2	10	1	1	41
County Meath	6	0	1	20	6	0	17	3	1	54
County Monaghan	3	0	1	8	1	0	4	1	2	20
County Offaly	1	2	0	9	4	0	4	6	1	27
County Roscommon	1	0	2	4	1	0	8	2	0	18
County Sligo	3	1	1	8	3	0	4	1	1	22
County Tipperary	4	3	1	19	4	0	11	2	1	45
County Waterford	1	2	1	12	2	0	10	6	0	34
County Westmeath	1	1	0	21	11	0	6	8	2	50
County Wexford	3	2	4	27	5	1	12	16	2	72
County Wicklow	1	1	1	17	1	1	9	8	0	39
Dublin City	10	3	14	133	17	4	64	30	3	278
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown	1	2	8	38	6	3	18	12	0	88
Fingal	6	8	6	49	7	2	35	22	1	136
South Dublin	11	1	3	51	10	1	28	14	4	123
Total	138	53	66	806	152	27	451	299	41	2,033

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Better Start was established in 2014 by my Department, in association with the Department of Education, to deliver quality-related supports to early learning and care services and to support a cohesive approach to State-funded supports for quality across the early learning and care sector. Better Start is hosted by Pobal on behalf of my Department.

The Quality Development Service (QDS) forms one strand of Better Start activities. The QDS works with early learning and care settings in a mentoring capacity to promote and develop the quality of practice, as set out in Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education (2006), and Aistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (2009).

The QDS provides a skilled and experienced team of Early Years Specialists to work directly in a mentoring capacity with early learning and care services, on a national basis. The Early Years Specialists use the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, 2014) as a key resource in mentoring services to develop quality for children.

The purpose of the Practice Guide is to support early years educators in using Aistear and Síolta together to develop the quality of their curriculum and in doing so, to better support children’s learning and development.

Requests for the QDS come directly to Better Start, principally from self-referrals. All requests for the service are processed centrally. Early Years Specialists are allocated to the services on the basis of availability, skills and experience as far as possible matching the service profile.

Better Start Early Years Specialists work with the management and staff of early learning and care services to build on service knowledge, strengths and experience in order to enhance the quality of provision for young children. Early learning and care services are supported in action planning and goal setting using the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide. Early Years Specialists will usually visit the service on a weekly or fortnightly basis over a period of about six months.

These supports are delivered in a coherent and consistent way to support the provision of high quality services and promote positive outcomes for children. Since 2015, 1,201 early learning and care services have completed QDS, with 108 services completing QDS in 2023. The table below provides these figures broken down by county geographical area.

County	Number of services that completed QDS supports in 2023	Number of services that completed QDS supports, 2015-2023
Carlow	1	20
Cavan	1	26
Clare	4	34
Cork	6	95
Donegal	5	49
Dublin	40	358
Galway	7	71
Kerry	6	26
Kildare	8	74
Kilkenny	2	28
Laois	2	27
Leitrim	0	9
Limerick	2	68
Longford	1	20
Louth	6	39
Mayo	1	21
Meath	3	30
Monaghan	0	12
Offaly	2	17
Roscommon	1	9
Sligo	0	12
Tipperary	3	32
Waterford	1	20
Westmeath	3	31
Wexford	2	48
Wicklow	1	25
Total	108	1,201

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The allocation for the Better Start initiative in 2023 amounted to €16,798,000. Better Start entails a quality development service, which involves professional development, mentoring and coaching. Better Start also supports the Access and Inclusion model (AIM), and provides a range of learning and development supports to staff in the sector.

The allocation for the City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) in 2023 included an operational grant of €13,081,000 to perform a wide range of activities to support the early learning and care (ELC), school-age childcare (SAC) and childminding sectors. Of this operational grant there are staff costs, administration costs and programme costs. The notional administration costs would amount to €1,940,325 but this entails the costs associated with the delivery of training and other supports to ELC/SAC providers, childminders; information services for parents and guardians, and a whole range of other activities.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Table 1: Tasks performed by Better Start on behalf of Early Learning and Care (ELC) & School-Age Childcare (SAC) Division

Service	Description
Quality Development Service (Better Start)	Provides mentoring and coaching to ELC settings, based on the Síolta and Aistear frameworks and Tusla’s Quality and Regulatory Framework (QRF), so that those settings are of high quality and deliver positive outcomes for children.
Learning and Development unit (Better Start)	Supports the administration of DCEDIY CPD resources to the ELC and SAC sector. Coordinates the delivery of Continuing Professional Development, including Hanen Teacher Talk, Lámh Module One and Sensory Processing in Early Learning (SPEL).
Access and Inclusion (AIM) (Better Start)	Better Start work with ELC providers to improve quality and create an inclusive environment for children. AIM Early Years Specialists in Better Start under Level 4 of AIM (Early Years Educational Advice and Support) is to work with parents and ELC providers to develop an inclusive learning environment for children and assess any additional supports that may be required within the parameters of AIM. Better Start offer coaching and mentoring which focuses on a child’s strengths through reflection on practice.

The City and County Childcare Committees (CCC) were established in 2001 to advance the provision of ELC and SAC in local areas. The CCCs provide a wide range of supports to the ELC, SAC and childminding sector, to parents and other stakeholders on behalf of my Department. An Annual Statement of Work for the CCCs describes in detail the tasks performed to ensure CCCs:

• Provide support to the sector locally in the coordination and delivery of the national early learning and childcare programmes and the implementation of Government policy at a local level.
• Facilitate and support the development of quality, accessible ELC, SAC and childminding services for the overall benefit of children and their parents.
• Provide support and guidance to local ELC, SAC and childminding service providers and parents in relation to the national childcare programmes and support the delivery of quality early learning and childcare in accordance with national frameworks and policy objectives.
• Facilitate the development of ELC, SAC and Childminding in a strategic and coordinated manner.
• Provide information and support to parents in relation to the provision of ELC, SAC and childminding services within their CCC area.

On 29th March 2022 Government accepted the findings of the independent Review of the ELC and SAC Operating Model in Ireland that a dedicated state agency is the optimal operating model for the sector for the years ahead. This Review undertook a comprehensive analysis of the existing operating model, which included, amongst other organisations, Better Start and the 30 CCCs. It is envisaged that this state agency will undertake the functions currently carried out by these organisations as well as Pobal Early Years and operational functions currently undertaken by my Department.

Significant progress has been made in advancing plans for a dedicated state agency for ELC and SAC.

My Department has commenced a comprehensive planning and analysis phase which includes robust stakeholder consultation, an examination of all legal requirements, transition and continuity planning, risk management, and a comprehensive evidence-based cost projection for the establishment and annual running costs of the new agency. This work will culminate in a full agency design and implementation plan, which will be presented to Government for approval.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Better Start initiative was allocated €16,798,000 in 2023. Better Start entails a Quality Development Service (QDS), which involves professional development, mentoring and coaching. Better Start also supports providers working with children with special needs under the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM). In addition, Better Start provides a range of learning and development supports to staff in the sector.

The City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) were allocated an operational grant of €13,081,000 in 2023 to perform a wide range of activities to support the early learning and care (ELC), school-age childcare (SAC) and childminding sectors. In addition, the CCCs were provided with funding to support the delivery of a number of specific programmes and initiatives.