What a difference a day makes!

6^th April 2009  Goal 1 - Priority 1 of NVCC:    One year’s free pre-school provision for all children in high quality, appropriate and regulated settings in the year prior to primary school entry.

7^th April 2009 Goal 1 – Priority 1 of NVCC:   It’s a reality.  

Yesterday, in delivering the emergency budget, the Government’s hand had been forced by the unprecedented precarious state of our nation, to introduce essential measures many of which will impact on and hurt your pocket, my pocket and most likely the pockets of every adult in Ireland.  This was carried out under the keen silent watchful eye of the international community, whose approval was  critical in terms of how favourably they would view Ireland as a country in which they had confidence to invest in and lend to.

The aim of  yesterday’s budget was to put in place a cornerstone, upon which to start re-building our country. And how fitting, that the Government, having been forced by circumstance to look at the bigger picture for Ireland and indeed further afield, embraced the bigger picture evidence of James Heckman, and recognised that investing in the education and care of our children at pre-school level, is to invest in the future of our country. Mr. Heckman’s evidence tells us that for every €1 which we invest at pre-school level, we save €7 further down the line, that successful pre-school education for a child, underpins the child’s success in primary level education, which in turn underpins secondary level education, which in turn underpins tertiary level education and so on, so pre-school education is essential for our children’s success and the success of our country.

It’s a simple equation:  Children are our future, the success of our future depends on the investment in our future, in this case in our pre-school children.  The decision by the Government yesterday to introduce one year of free pre-school education for all children in Ireland has the capacity to impact as positively as the introduction of free second-level education many years ago, a move which opened locked doors for so many people.

Now the work begins to continue with the building required in continuing to work towards high quality, appropriate and regulated settings in pre-school services to maximise the impact of yesterday’s announcement. That is the current challenge to all in the pre-school care and education sector.

Ch – 8^th April 2009