Pre School Education Advisory Groups (PEAG’s) were established to ensure that there would be continuity in the match for allocation of pre school places. These groups were charged with the allocation of places to ensure that resources were used appropriately and to ensure that any issues of under and over provision were addressed in a timely manner.
(The balance of those representing the statutory education sector and those representing the voluntary and private sectors have been questioned from the PEAG’s inception – few have any Nursery School principal representation)
Questions
Why did the PEAG’s not manage this situation?
Why did the Department of Education not manage this situation?
The PEAG groups should be monitoring and planning this – parents should not have been left in this vacuum since the release of place allocation on May 1st.
1500 parents have suffered considerable anxiety and anger; nursery school and unit Principals have been on the receiving end of a chaotic situation which was not of their making, and now suddenly £1.3 million ‘appears’ – and the big question is for which sector?
Who is going to be capable of providing these additional places at this late stage?
It is unlikely that it will be the Statutory sector – the sector that research consistently shows to have the best long term outcomes for children – as their places have already been established last school year by the Department.
As a sector we have been asking the Department of Education for greater flexibility in the way nursery schools and units can be proactive in reacting to the needs of community demand for pre school places.
Is it feasible to suggest that at the last minute the Voluntary & Private sector can organise, appoint and vet appropriate skilled staff ?
Is this part of the continuing sidelining of Nursery schools and units?
We believe this may well be so for the following reasons :
It is interesting to note that in the ELB information booklets to parents, the numbers are written for the nursery units and schools but EVERY playgroup / daycare provider has no allocated number. WHY ? Were DE / PEAG’s / ELB’s already aware of this situation?
NAHT finds it concerning and incredulous that Education & Library Boards are prepared to give money to the Voluntary & Private sectors when accommodation in Primary schools is of a higher standard – not to mention the fact that children are taught by qualified teachers. Indeed, the Chief Inspectors recent report has stated that nursery schools are the highest achievers within the pre school sector . (see final section below)
In times of decreasing numbers of pupils ELB’s should look to increasing the numbers of children within the statutory sector not funding additional places in the private and voluntary sectors.
There are yet more questions that need answered, the Department was not initially aware that there was a problem with places so how indeed can the infrastructure for these extra places suddenly be organised and how can it all be in place for September 2010? More importantly, how can £1.3 million suddenly become available?
Has this funding always been in the pipeline? ie pre production of the admission booklets (September 2009)
The function of the Education Committee is to scrutinise the work of the Department and Minister and as such our Assembly needs to be informed:
Why, when we have hit a crisis, is the Minister putting public funds into the Private and Voluntary sector?
Is this the best use of public money when standards are not as high in the private and voluntary sector?
Who is responsible for this chaos?
Who is responsible for the compilation, analysis and monitoring of the annual statistics?
What figures were produced?
Who were they shared with?
What departments were aware of the shortfall in pre-school places?
Were the Department of Education aware of this shortfall?
If not, why not?
If they were, why wait until after allocation of places to react?
Why were the PEAG’s not talking to Nursery School’s/ Area Boards
How can the Minister suddenly come up with 1.3 million?
Finally, it is disgraceful to leave 1200 parents in crisis, what is needed is a forward planning mechanism which is transparent and allows questions to be asked in advance.
There is nothing transparent about this procedure.
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Extract from the Chief Inspectors Report 2006-2008
Pre School Sections 61 – 80 of report
“There is a strong correlation between the overall effectiveness of a pre-school centre and the quality of the leadership and management, and the processes for self-evaluation and self-improvement used by the leadership.”
“There is some variation in the overall effectiveness across the types of pre-school provision. The highest and most consistent quality is in the nursery schools, where over one-half of the provision is judged to be outstanding. In the nursery units, just under one-half of the provision ranges in quality from very good to outstanding; in the voluntary/private centres it is just over one-third. “
