Early years education-focused inspections: a reason to celebrate? (Pre-published version)

Abstract

The Inspectorate of the Department of Education and Skills (DES), at the request of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA), is currently developing a model of early years education-focused inspections (EYEIs) to evaluate the quality of educational provision in early years settings participating in the Free Preschool Year (FPSY) in Early Childhood Care and Education scheme. The FPSY was introduced in January 2010 with the specific purpose of making early learning opportunities available to all children aged more than three years and two months on September 1st in the relevant pre-school year. The initiative represents an annual government investment of 170 million euro (DES, 2015a). On May 26th 2015, the Department of Education and Skills (DES) organised a briefing and consultation meeting for early years’ education stakeholders. Dr. Maresa Duignan, Early Years Specialist, at the DES described the occasion as an opportunity to celebrate and affirm the early years’ sector and the EYEIs as a huge opportunity to impact on the lives of children (Duignan, 2015). This article explores whether indeed the proposed EYEIs are a reason to celebrate.