Childminding
Early Childhood Ireland has a long history of supporting members who provide high-quality care in settings around Ireland. We also welcome registered childminder members who provide invaluable education and care to children in their own homes. Whether it be in settings or in their homes, educators provide high-quality, accessible, and invaluable service to children and their families. Their professionalism, dedication and commitment to quality is something we witness every day.
Childminding
Childminding is an essential Early Years and School Age Care service for children.
Childminders provide paid, non-relative, home-based care for children in their own home. It is often a nurturing environment for children, a home-from-home, where the child is treated as one of the family. For many families, particularly those who live in rural areas or who work irregular hours, Childminding is an accessible and crucial service which enables them to work.
With approximately 52,000[1] children in Ireland being looked after by an estimated 13,000[2] childminders, Childminding plays a significant role in the provision of Early Years and School Age Care.
[1] CSO 2022 Census figures
[2] National Action Plan for Childminding – Steering Group – Meeting 10 (Q2 2023) – Minutes
National Action Plan for Childminding
Despite playing a central role in the provision of Early Years and School Age Care, Childminding receives little formal recognition by the State. Many childminders are exempt from regulations due to a clause in the Child Care Act 1991, and as a result, families who choose childminders miss out on subsidies for their children’s Early Years and School Age Care.
The National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 seeks to provide greater recognition and support for childminders. It sets out a plan for extending State support and regulation to Childminding on a phased basis by 2028. The plan’s overall objective is “to improve access to high quality and affordable early learning and school-aged childcare through Childminding.”
Specific objectives of the National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 include:
- Enabling a greater number of parents and childminders to benefit from the National Childcare Scheme (NCS).
- Supporting the quality assurance of childminders and safeguarding of children through regulation and inspection.
- Developing appropriate childminding-specific regulations and an inspection process that recognises the home environment in which childminders work.
- A phased transition process to facilitate the largest possible number of childminders to enter the regulated sector.
- Access to financial supports and training opportunities for childminders to meet training requirements.
Childminding-specific regulations (Phase 1)
Early Childhood Ireland welcomes the introduction of Childminding-specific regulations, as an essential step in the path to a fit-for-purpose Early Years and School Age Care system in Ireland. This will help to ensure that childminders receive recognition for the care they provide, and children will benefit from improved quality and safeguarding measures that the regulations will demand.
You can read our submission to the public consultation on the draft Childminding-specific regulations here.
Early Childhood Ireland looks forward to deepening our engagement with childminder members through an expanding programme of work.
We have considerable expertise in the research and development of Childminding. Our research and policy work includes:
- Our report on Enhancing Quality in Family Day Care (Childminding), which we published with our partners in Belgium and Denmark,
- Validation of non-formal and informal learning in childminding (2018-2021) (ValChild) and
- Self-learning resources for informal childminders (2016-2019) (Child in Mind)
