OECD survey highlights strong commitment among Ireland’s Early Learning and Care workforce

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley, T.D, today welcomed new
findings from the OECD TALIS Starting Strong 2024 survey, which provides a comprehensive
picture of Ireland’s early learning and care (ELC) workforce, alongside other OECD
jurisdictions.

The survey collected data from early years educators and managers in centre-based early
learning and care settings in Ireland, serving children from birth up to school age.
The results show that Ireland’s early learning and care workforce is deeply committed to
child-centred early learning and care with a strong emphasis on inclusive practice and
supporting children’s socio-emotional development.

Ireland’s early learning and care workforce demonstrate child-centred professional values
The OECD survey shows that early years educators in Ireland report warm relationships with
children, and a strong focus on play, inclusion and holistic learning – all core commitments
within Ireland’s Aistear and Síolta frameworks.
Staff feel prepared for their roles through their initial education, with higher proportions of
staff in Ireland having completed training specifically to work with children, compared to
many other OECD jurisdictions. In Ireland, over 90% of staff reported that their initial
training to work with children included practical training, Ireland, alongside Spain and
Türkiye, had the lowest share of staff (2%) whose training did not include a practical
component. Staff in Ireland also reported the most consistent use of practices to promote
awareness and acceptance of diversity among children.
Compared to other OECD jurisdictions that participated, staff in Ireland were more likely to
have recently received training on working with children with special education needs. Over
60% of staff in Ireland covered working with children with special education needs in their
recent training activities. They were also less likely to report accommodating children’s
special education needs as a source of stress. Ireland was the only pre-primary system
across the participating jurisdictions where less than 40% of staff reported that
accommodating children with additional education needs was a source of work-related
stress.

Welcoming the launch of the findings, Minister Foley said:
“I am pleased to see the findings which showcase the quality of Ireland’s early learning and
care workforce. I want to thank the staff for the excellence and dedication they provide for
children in early learning and care every single day. They are implementing child-centred
and play-based inclusive practice to give every child the best start in life.”

Workforce challenges remain
The findings also highlight persistent challenges, including pressures around recruiting and
retaining qualified staff. Educators and managers cited pressures related to workload, pay,
career progression and work-based stress.
In addition, while participation in training in Ireland is comparatively strong, barriers to
taking part in professional development were identified by staff. The most frequently
reported barriers by staff in Ireland were time (61%), insufficient staff to fill in for their
absence (67%) and expense (65%).
These challenges were evident in all participating OECD jurisdictions.

Addressing the Challenges
The Government recognises early years educators as vital to delivering quality early learning
and care and is actively addressing recruitment and retention challenges.
While the Government is not the direct employer, it funds the sector and supports wage
improvements through Core Funding. Core Funding supports services with the costs of
independently negotiated Employment Regulation Orders by the Early Years services Joint
Labour Committee process. Three rounds of Employment Regulations have been agreed
since the introduction of Core Funding, the most recent, which commenced on 13 October,
resulted in a 10% average increase in minimum hourly rates of pay. It is estimated that 67%
of those working in the sector will see their wages increase as a result of the new minimum
pay rates
Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-age Childcare, is
Ireland’s long-term plan for developing a high-quality, valued, and professionally recognised
workforce, which will be achieved through measures such as graduate leadership
requirements, strengthened CPD systems and professional recognition initiatives.
The insights from TALIS Starting Strong will directly inform the implementation of Nurturing
Skills, helping to create a more stable, skilled, and professionally recognised workforce with
expanded career pathways, that delivers the highest quality early learning experiences for
children in Ireland.

Minister Foley noted that:
“While many of the findings are positive, they also shine a light on long-standing challenges
around recruitment, retention, workload and professional status, challenges that are shared
across most participating jurisdictions. I am committed to supporting this workforce and will
ensure that the findings are used to inform the ongoing implementation of Nurturing Skills.
Nurturing Skills provides a roadmap to support and strengthen the workforce – enhancing
access to high-quality professional development, supporting career progression, and
ensuring that staff are valued and recognised for the vital role they play.”

Notes
1. View the launch of the findings Strengthening early childhood education and care: Results
from TALIS Starting Strong which will be made available after the launch event at
https://www.youtube.com/@EduSkillsOECD/videos

2. The full report and country notes can be viewed at https://doi.org/10.1787/20af08c0-en

3. TALIS is the world’s largest international survey about teachers and school leaders which
has been running since 2008. A strand of the survey focusing on early years educators and
leaders was launched in 2018, called TALIS Starting Strong. The survey involves a
representative sample of early years educators across a number of OECD jurisdictions and
runs on a 6-year cycle. 2024 is the second cycle of TALIS Starting Strong.

4. This international survey was coordinated in Ireland by the Central Statistics Office (CSO),
which acts as the National Project Office for the survey. The CSO oversaw the
implementation of the OECD sampling, data collection and quality assurance procedures in
Ireland. A Frontier Series Output ‘Early Learning and Care Settings (OECD TALIS 2024)’,
published today by the CSO (https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/fp/fp
elcs/earlylearningandcaresettingsoecdtalis2024/) summarises the findings from the OECD
Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) Starting Strong 2024 for Ireland. The CSO
note that due to considerations around sample size and response rates, care must be taken
when interpreting and reporting the statistics in this release. As this is the first iteration of
this survey in Ireland, the data in this Frontier release represents a new baseline for an
emerging evidence base in the ELC sector.

5. Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age
Childcare, 2022-2028 was published by the Government of Ireland in late 2021. Nurturing
Skills aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in
early learning and care and school-age childcare. Further information can be found at
www.nurturingskills.ie