EYCS Students call for Professional Recognition
Coinciding with the Association of Childhood Professionals’ rally in Dublin, students from UCC’s Early Years and Childhood Students (EYCS) course staged an on campus demonstration on February 17th to highlight the lack of proper government funding and support for the sector.Among the key issues which the national protest sought to draw attention to was the fact that childcare workers often receive little more than minimum wage and when voluntary hours are factored in, these workers are earning significantly below the accepted standard. However for UCC students, recognition of their qualifications by the government was a primary issue, as even those with a Bachelors degree are classed as unskilled worker.
"Childcare workers often receive little more than minimum wage."
Organiser of the UCC protest and final year EYCS student Claire O’Brien stated, “The issues myself and my peer group in UCC have in coincidence with the national rally are that our future sector of employment is being continually passed over in terms of funding, recognition of status and, most importantly in my view, the level of awareness the Government have in relation to what is the real situation in regards to finance.“While the issue of fees for the private sector of early years education is consistently reported in the media, there has been a failure to acknowledge the situation financially of those working with young children. Many in the sector feel they are subsidising it through pay which are often little more than minimum wage.”Following the Dublin rally, the current government has vowed to review the issues within the sector, a move O’Brien welcomes: “In acknowledging there is an issue here, the Government have taken the first step in commissioning a task force to investigate further.”However, the issue is far from solved as there is no guarantee that the findings of the government’s review group will be listened to. “I personally would like to see the results of this published,” added O’Brien, “and an active stance taken, with collaboration sought from those in the field. At this point, recognition of the challenges faced is the main goal.”An national petition calling on the government to “Respect, value and resource all areas of early childhood education and care” had received 9,475 supporters online at the time of going to print.