The Association of Childhood

Professionals: Making it Pay.

Jane O’ SullivanBA (ECS) M.Soc. Sc

Workforce Profile in 1999 (ADM 2003)

Source: Data for graph taken from the 1999 Childcare Census (ADM, 2003)

•34% held nationally recognised qualification

•Low salaries

•1.3% male practitioners

No Formal qualification

21%

Qualification from private college or agency45%

Nationally recognised

Qualification34%

Practitioner Qualifications1999 and 2011

1999 Childcare Census 2011 Pobal Annual Survey0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

No qualificationNationally recognised QualificationQualification from private Agency

Minimum wage

ECCE Practitioner

Lidl Shop assistant

Average industrial wage

New Teacher

€8.65 €10.85 €11.00

€21.96 €24.92

Hourly Pay

The Current Situation

46.8% of ECCE practitioners are part-time staff (Pobal 2011 p30)

The average hourly wage for ECCE practitioners, excluding managers, who held a baseline relevant qualification is €10.85 (ECI 2012)

Higher qualification levels such as Degrees are not reflected in the pay of employment (ibid)

Many practitioners made redundant for the summer.

ECCE is part-time seasonal work offering poor rates of pay and low status…...WHY???

This Study…..Explored the factors that lead to poor pay and conditions within the early years sector

Explored the potential of the Association of Childhood professionals to advocate successfully for better pay and conditions within the sector.

Methods….Focus GroupsInterviewsDocuments as sources of informationThematic analysisTriangulation

Why so poorly paid? Gendered/undervalued nature of care work professions

Dichotomy between care and education within ECCE

Lack of professional identity within the ECCE sector

Open market model

Gendered/undervalued nature of care work

Childcare worker as a ‘substitute mother’ (Moss 2006)

“My late mother was a fantastic and caring grandmother, but sadly she had no qualification, much less a degree of any kind. I’m sure there are lots of other people who could say the same. I have three children, but before having any of them I did not have any childcare qualifications or special training. How was I ever allowed to be a parent? I think we’re going bananas with some of the conclusions research seems to produce.”

McDonald 2013

Gendered/Undervalued nature of care work (contd.)

Value is socially constructed (Findlay et al 2009)

“People have asked me what I’ve done, and they say ‘so you just babysit’ … you do get that view off a lot of people as a childcare assistant. And it’s quite infuriating when people don’t see it as a profession. You know, you’ve gone to UCC, you’ve studied, you sat exams, you’ve worked really, really hard, but people don’t see it in the same manner”

Focus Group One, May 2013

Care or Education?

Conceptual and structural dichotomy (Kiersey 2009)

Value on education not on care Cost implications (Lyons 2011)

“ I think that it’s a shame that we have to move away from that concept of care … because I believe that the two really go together, in tandem. But I think the education part of it really says to somebody that you are a professional. Unfortunately that’s the way it’s seen”.

Focus Group Three, May 2013

Lack of professional identity

In order to lobby effectively for a professional wage we need to:

Achieve professional recognition Develop a united professional identity with a voice

‘I think if you’re a Montessori or a Níonra teacher or whatever, we all...our aim is the same’ (Focus Group Two, May 2013). ‘

Open Market Model

A highly qualified professional workforce is not achievable in the private market (Roseman 1999; Morgan 2005; Moss 2006).

‘Child care practitioners subsidise the true cost of quality child care by working for sub-standard wages, few benefits, and little recognition of their true worth.’ Roseman (1999 p.5)

Workforce Development Plan (Government of Ireland, 2010)

UNICEF European average

Ireland

1.00%

0.6 %

0.2 %

% of GDP spent on ECCE

(House of the Oireachtas, 2012)

• Be the collective identity and representative voice of childhood professionals.

• Advocate and campaign for recognition of childhood professionals including their professional status and equitable pay and work conditions.

Key FindingsPractitioners’ Perspectives

Sense of solidarity amongst ECCE practitioners

Low profile of ACP amongst practitioners

Practitioners positively disposed to joining the ACP

Key FindingsSocial Economic and Political Environment

• Professionalisation of the sector an overarching national and international policy objective

• Recession• Salience of issue to public

• Government unwilling to discuss the impasse

Key FindingsAn examination of the ACP

Establishment of a professional association a key step. (Wilensky, 1964)

Resources Growth

In Conclusion… The Establishment of a Professional Association (Association of Childhood Professionals)

The development of a graduate led professional workforce is a national and international ECCE policy objective - 60% graduate led workforce:National Childcare Strategy (1999) CoRe Report (EC 2011)

‘All qualified ECEC staff should be ideally paid a salary in line with that of primary school teachers’ (CoRe 2011 p49)

ConclusionThe professionalisation of the ECCE workforce is a policy priority

butThe government is unwilling to accept, let alone discuss, the need to increase investment

thereforethe role of the ACP in resolving this issue is essential.

“The creation of a strong and distinctive professional identity is an essential step needed in order to advocate for increased status, and thus to be in a better position to demand greater State investment, recognition and support” (Duignan 2011).

Conclusion