1032. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the steps her Department is taking to ensure that the educational standards and professional practice of early years educators working in crèches are maintained and continuously developed through ongoing professional training; whether all registered early learning and care services are required to have a structured CPD programme for their staff; the minimum level of CPD that is expected of educators each year; the way in which compliance with these expectations is monitored through inspection and quality-development processes. [64866/26]

1033. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has evidence demonstrating a consistent level of CPD and educational practice across registered early learning and care services; whether she will publish her Department’s most recent data showing the percentage of early years educators who have completed CPD and the average number of CPD hours undertaken per educator; and to confirm the existing approach is sufficient to ensure a consistent standard of education and care for children attending crèches across the State. [64876/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1032 and 1033 together.

The Government is committed to supporting a highly skilled, professional and sustainable workforce across the Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare sectors. The strategic framework for workforce development, including Continuing Professional Development (CPD), is set out in Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare 2022–2028.

A key development under the Nurturing Skills framework is the establishment of the Nurturing Skills Learning Hub, available through the Nurturing Skills website. The Learning Hub provides a central location through which educators and practitioners can access information on available CPD opportunities, learning resources and professional development supports. It adds to and enhances the work of the Department funded agencies and support organisations that continue to play a central role in designing and delivering CPD programmes, mentoring, coaching and practice supports across the sector. Only resources and programmes that have successfully undergone the relevant quality assurance processes will be made available on the Learning Hub providing assurance to educators, practitioners and employers that the CPD being quality accessed.

While the Department supports access to CPD through the Nurturing Skills Learning Hub, participation in CPD is not mandatory, with the exception of the national safe guarding programme and first aid training and educators and practitioners may undertake professional development through a wide range of providers and programmes outside of the Hub. Consequently, the Department does not hold comprehensive data on the percentage of early years educators who have completed CPD or on the average number of CPD hours undertaken per educator across the sector.

The Department does, however, monitor engagement with the Nurturing Skills Learning Hub where there have been over 248,000 user interactions with the Learning Hub since May 2025. Such data should not be regarded as representing overall CPD activity within the early learning and care workforce, as it does not capture CPD undertaken through other channels.

The Department recognises that high-quality CPD is essential to supporting a highly skilled early learning and care workforce and to improving outcomes for children. To support this objective, as a condition of participation in the Core Funding Scheme, services are required to complete an annual Quality and Inclusive Practice Plan (QIPP), which provide a structured framework for reflection, self-evaluation and continuous improvement.

The Department provides tools, resources and guidance to support this process, while the City and County Childcare Committees offer practical assistance to Partner Services at every stage. Importantly, the QIPP process supports structured engagement with CPD by encouraging services to identify learning and development needs and link professional learning opportunities to specific quality improvement objectives.

Many services have long engaged in quality improvement through supports such as the Better Start Quality Development Service and the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide. Building on these existing approaches, the QIPP encourages services to use CPD in a purposeful way to strengthen leadership, pedagogy and inclusive practice, ensuring that professional learning contributes directly to improved experiences and outcomes for children.

Aligned to the Nurturing Skills commitment to develop a national CPD system, the Department recently commissioned a mapping exercise in order to identify existing CPD opportunities available to the Early Learning and Care , School-Age Childcare; and to conduct research/consultation with key stakeholders, educators, practitioners, childminders and relevant organisations within the sector to gain a full overview of current CPD provision and identify any areas where there is a gap between skill requirement for service provision and CPD topics. This body of research will inform next steps.