Dear colleague,
Budget 2013 was another tough Budget for families up and down the country. The cut to Child Benefit hit all families, and many families with young children have been hit by a range of other cuts.
While the Government failed to deliver on the Minister for Social Protection's promise of a commitment to a Scandinavian childcare system by the time of the Budget, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs did succeed in protecting expenditure on the Free Pre-School Year.
2013 will be a crucial year for early care and education in Ireland, with the National Early Years Strategy to be developed. If the Strategy is to be ambitious, we will need both creative policy ideas and also increased public investment in young children.
Many of you took part in one or both of our recent consultation meetings on our submission for the National Early Years Strategy. We greatly appreciate all the advice we received, and we will use it in the weeks ahead as we prepare our submission. We look forward to working together with you in 2013 as we continue our shared task of advancing children's early care and education.
With our warmest season's greetings,
Toby, Naomi and Lorraine
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Budget Analysis
The  additional funding introduced in Budget 2013 for after-school childcare places for low-income families failed to achieve the Minister for Social Protection's commitment to a Scandinavian childcare system.
The retention of the Free Pre-School Year is positive, as is the €2.5 million allocated to continue and build on the work of the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme (PEIP). However, the Scandinavian childcare model is about much more than this. It is now essential that the National Early Years Strategy commits to a programme of rising investment in young children over the years ahead. Read more
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Shaping the Future: Start Strong consultation
 Many thanks to all those who took part in our consultation process to help shape Start Strong's submission on the National Early Years Strategy. The National Early Years Strategy is a hugely important opportunity, and our input will be much stronger as a result of your contributions. In parallel to preparing our submission, Start Strong has also put forward proposals on ways in which the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs should adjust the process by which the Strategy is being prepared. Read more |
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Consulting Scotland's young children
 Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People - Scotland's equivalent of our Ombudsman for Children - has just published the report of a consultation it carried out with young children aged 2-5.
The report - A RIGHT Wee Blether - is a clear demonstration of the possibility of official bodies consulting young children, and provides valuable learning that the Irish Government could draw on if it decides to take up our suggestion of consulting young children in relation to the forthcoming National Early Years Strategy. Read more
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The impact of universal pre-school
 New research based on the PISA study shows that extending pre-school education and care to more than one year of universal participation both increases a country's overall PISA literacy score and leads to more equal educational outcomes across society.
Moves to universalise participation are especially beneficial for children from the lower end of the income distribution, thus equalising outcomes. And, as pre-school participation rises, so too does the PISA literacy score for the country as a whole. Read more |
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Early childhood and disability
 UNICEF and the World Health Organisation recently published a joint discussion paper on ways to strengthen supports for children with disabilities in early childhood.
The paper provides a clear and concise overview of a range of key issues including: the rights of young children with disabilities, factors affecting child development, the need for early identification of developmental delays, and policy recommendations. Read more
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Challenging "school readiness"
 TACTYC (the UK-based Association for the Professional Development of Early Years Educators) has published a briefing paper on research and developments relating to school readiness. Summarising recent research on ways in which young children learn, the authors (David Whitebread and Sue Bingham, from Cambridge University) draw a strong conclusion that the current focus in England on "school readiness" is misguided. Read more |
Start StrongAdvancing children's early care and education in Ireland
  www.startstrong.ie+353-1-662-4018
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| Supporters
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 | The Economics of Children's Early Years
Start Strong's report presents the compelling economic case for Government investment in early care and education. Read it now
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 | If I Had a Magic Wand
Our recent publication presents children's own views on early care and education services. Read it online |
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