Early Years and School Age Care Staffing Issues Need Urgent Action

Every child deserves the best start in life, yet staff turnover and retention in Early Years and School Age settings across Ireland result in children missing out on consistent relationships, stable routines and high-quality experiences. Unless urgent action is taken by the government in Budget 2027, children’s outcomes will ultimately be affected.

Laying the foundation for life, and for lifelong learning

Early Years is the first step in a child’s journey through care and education. It is then that babies, toddlers and young children learn to make friends and gain essential numeracy and literacy skills through play, while also fostering their language development and social skills.

High-quality Early Years and School Age Care can make an extraordinary difference in children’s lives, laying the foundation for lifelong learning. The Minister for Children, Norma Foley TD, put it very well last week when she said;

‘From the moment children are born, they are learning. Early learning and care and school-age childcare settings play key roles in supporting children’s learning, development and well-being in their early years, complementing the central roles of parents, communities and schools.’

Despite this recognition by the Minister, across the country, tens of thousands of children are missing out on these vital services. Without increased investment in the Early Years and School Age Care workforce, educators will continue to leave the system and any efforts to improve capacity will not be feasible.

Why educators are leaving

Despite record investment by the last government and progress on a number of fronts, staff turnover in Early Years and School Age Care settings is alarmingly high, with Pobal reporting a 24.5% national staff turnover. Among those who moved jobs, 27% left the system entirely.

New data from the Annual Early Years Sector Profile survey 2024/2025, carried out by Pobal, 76% of Early Years and School Age Care settings nationwide reported staff vacancies in the last 12 months.

The reason behind these figures is clear: terms and conditions of Early Years and School Age Care staff do not match the scope of their work nor the value they should hold, or the impact they have on young children.

Despite many staff being educated and trained to the same level as primary school teachers, many Early Years educators live on very low pay in comparison to their peers. This leads to educators feeling undervalued and burnt out, driving many professionals out of Early Years and School Age Care settings into other occupations, at a time when they are never more needed.

Uncertainty around wages

Year after year, staff wait to learn what lies ahead, through the Employment Regulation Order (ERO) mechanism, while key benefits such as annual increments, pensions, and maternity leave top-ups continue to remain out of reach for most. Under the current ERO, the minimum pay rate for staff stands at €15 an hour. It is very concerning to hear that the talks to agree the next Order haven’t started yet. If pay remains at €15 for the 2026/27 programme year, given the rising cost-of-living, this will mean a pay cut in real terms. That will inevitably lead to more departures from an essential workforce who deliver a public good to tens of thousands of children every day. Early Years and School Age Care staff are the only educators in Ireland who work under an ERO. Primary, Secondary, Further and Higher Education staff have far more stable careers. It is time for all educators to have secure terms and conditions.

Investing in the future of children

Every child has an inherent right to care and education, and this should start with an inclusive Early Years system. Investing in this is central to protecting every child’s ability to access a place, as well as their social and developmental outcomes.

The 2026 Early Childhood Ireland Barometer found that 68% of the public agree that the education of children under five is as important as the education of children over five. It is clear that the public places a value on Early Years provision, and it is time the government takes action to show that they do too.

Despite strong support for these provisions, families across Ireland are too familiar with the struggle to find a place for their children. This demand is further highlighted by figures from Pobal, which show that up to 46,000 children under the age of three are on waiting lists for an Early Years setting, an increase since the last set of data. Increasing waiting lists like these would never be accepted in primary education, yet they remain a daily reality for younger children.

Budget 2027

As a first step to addressing these waiting lists, the government must make significant investment in the Early Years and School Age Care workforce.

Early Childhood Ireland is also calling for Early Years and School Age Care graduates to be brought under the same pay and conditions as primary school teachers. For non-graduates, we need to see the promised Recognition of Prior Learning, and all staff pay provided by the government.

Unless new urgency is brought to the pay issues, settings will continue to lose their most experienced and qualified staff at unsustainable levels, and children will continue to miss out on an essential public good.

Early Childhood Ireland will be calling for new investment underpinning sustainable actions to address key workforce and professionalisation issues in our Budget 2027 campaign from next month.

For more information about our work, please contact [email protected]