The survey collected data from staff and managers in early learning and care (ELC) settings, which are registered centre-based settings serving pre-primary children and children under age 3. The survey focused on the professional development of the staff and managers and their work with young children. We also asked managers and staff about their job satisfaction and wellbeing, the ELC environment, and gained an understanding of the positive impact that staff can have on the children in their care. As this is the first iteration of this survey in Ireland, the data in this Frontier release represents a new baseline for an emerging evidence base in the ELC sector.

ELC Settings - ELC managers were asked how strongly they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements about the neighbourhood of their setting. The majority reported positively on their setting’s neighbourhood as more than seven in ten managers disagreed or strongly disagreed that there is litter lying around (73.6% of pre-primary settings, 71.8% of settings for children under age 3) or that there was vandalism (76.1% of pre-primary settings, 75.4% of settings for children under age 3). More than seven in ten ELC managers also agreed or strongly agreed that there are public places where children can play safely (73.9% of pre-primary settings, 76.9% of settings for children under age 3) and that there are nearby services for families (72.0% of pre-primary settings, 77.5% of settings for children under age 3). More than four in ten ELC managers (47.7% of pre-primary settings, 42.1% of settings for children under age 3) agreed or strongly agreed that there are drug related problems in their setting neighbourhood (See report Table 1.2 and Table 1.3).

ELC Staff - ELC staff were asked how often during their work week they used four different practices to support children’s prosocial development. These practices were: encouraging sharing amongst children; encouraging children if they helped each other; encouraging small group play that included other children and encouraging children if they comforted each other. More than eight in ten ELC staff, from both settings, reported using all four practices to support the children’s prosocial development more than once a day. Encouraging sharing among children (93.4% of staff in pre-primary settings, 91.5% of staff in settings for children under age 3) and encouraging children if they helped each other (92.8% of staff in pre-primary settings, 91.6% of staff in settings for children under age 3) were the two practices reported most frequently (See Table 3.9 and Table 3.10).

Regarding emotional development, ELC staff were asked how often during their work week they used four different practices to support children in this area. These practices were: talking with children about feelings; helping children understand their feelings; comforting children who were upset, and helping children express their feelings. Comforting children when they were upset (88.6% of staff in pre-primary settings, 87.8% of staff in settings for children under age 3) and helping children express their feelings (86.7% of staff in pre-primary settings, 80.3% of staff in settings for children under age 3) were the top two practices to support emotional development that the ELC staff had used more than once a day in their previous working week (See Figure 3.5 and Figure 3.6).