Government accused of treating childcare ‘like a babysitting sector’

A MAYO crèche owner has accused the Government of treating the childcare sector ‘like a babysitting sector’.

Frank Keane, the owner of Bright Beginnings in Ballinrobe, said that childcare graduates are leaving the sector due to pay discrepancies between crèche workers and childcare graduates.

Mr Keane was commenting on new statistics that reveal that the number of children waiting for a crèche place in Mayo far exceeds the number of available places.

According to statistics released in the Pobal Annual Early Years Sector Profile Survey, 90 children in Mayo under the age of one year are on crèche waiting lists, and just one place is available for them; 240 children aged one to two years are on waiting lists with just two places available; and 178 children aged two to three years on waiting lists with 54 places available.

Inadequate funding

Early Childhood Ireland, a body representing the childcare sector with 111 members in Mayo, has raised concerns about high rates of staff turnover, as 5,300 children have returned to early years and school-age care settings in Mayo after the Christmas holidays.

The latest available data shows that the average annual staff turnover stands at 20 percent in Mayo.

While government subsidies are provided to parents, childcare providers subject to an ongoing fee freeze have accused the Government of providing inadequate funds for meeting costs. At present, approximately 75 percent of childcare in Ireland is delivered by private providers – excluding care provided by grandparents and relatives.

Speaking to The Mayo News, Mr Keane said the current Core Funding scheme was ‘stacked against the providers’.

“The young people that are leaving college, having done their four years… they come out with a degree, but they are getting a third of the pay of the primary-school teachers and the secondary school teachers,” Mr Keane said.

“A classic example: There is one girl that I know, she is graduating this year and she will be eligible for €17 per hour, and she has to have experience before she gets that as well. And her sister, who is a secondary-school [teaching] graduate, is on €45 an hour, so there is a big discrepancy there. They need to address that.”

Education

Mr Keane also accused the Government of treating the sector ‘like a babysitting sector’.

“It’s not a babysitting sector, it’s educational care,” Mr Keane said. “They have to recognise that these people have done their four years just the same as a primary school teacher, but they are not getting the respect, and they are educators. And until that changes, you’re not going to have much of a difference [with childcare-provision shortages]. There is no one getting into it. A lot of places are closing and not opening again. There is no one to take them on.

Mr Keane added: “There is a graduate that I know who is not going to stay in the business, and she loves it. She loves working with the kids, but she can’t afford to stay in it. That’s the curse of it. We are paying extra money to our staff to make sure we don’t have the turnover that a lot of people have.”

Frances Byrne Director of Policy at Early Childhood Ireland, welcomed the increased political focus on access to early years and school-age care for all children, but warned that ‘without proper pay and conditions for staff, there simply will not be enough educators available to care for those children’.

Early Childhood Ireland has called for a five-year plan from the Government outlining the level of funding that will be made available to providers each year, along with clear annual priorities.