| Study Title |
A44 Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE): Free Pre-School Year Electronic Return Form |
| Data Owner |
Department of Children and Youth Affairs (www.dcya.ie) |
| Description |
Data are collected in relation to each child participating in theECCE, CETS (Childcare Employment and Training Support) or CCS(Community Childcare Subvention) programmes in each childcarefacility. Data include demographics of the child; number of ECCEhours; information for use by the Department of Education and Skillsto assist with plans for the following year’s primary school education;information on childcare staff; and estimated running costs of thepre-school year. The number of children in the facility who are notparticipating in any of the ECCE, CETS or CCS childcare programmesis also collected, but details of the individual children are not. |
| Primary Function |
The ECCE e-Return Form is completed by childcare facilities participating in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme in order for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) to calculate the correct ECCE capitation for the year. |
| Key Variables |
ID Other; PPSN; Sex; DOB |
| Themes |
Financial/Economic |
| Unit Of Observation |
Individual child |
| Start Date |
January, 2010 |
| Frequency |
Annually, through e-Return. Data generally collected in 2nd week of September. However, children may start at any time during the year and may also transfer, etc; therefore, manual collection of data is ongoing throughout the pre-school year. |
| Target Population |
Individual child |
| Format |
Separate record for each child |
| Method |
Electronic data collection. An electronic e-Return is submitted to the DCYA by each childcare facility. |
| Most Recent Publication |
Information is not published. However, general information collected, such as primary school data, is shared with other Government departments. Some limited data have been published in:
- DCYA (2010) State of the Nation’s Children: Ireland 2010. Available at: http://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/publications/
State_of_the_Nations_Children_2010.pdf |
| Access Further Information |
Department of Children and Youth Affairs (www.dcya.gov.ie) |
| Notes |
For September 2012, children must have been born between 02/02/2008 and 30/06/2009 (both dates inclusive) in order to be eligible for the ECCE programme. For each subsequent year, just add on one year to 2008 and 2009 in each case, e.g. for September 2013, children must be have been born between 02/02/2009 and 30/06/2010. Children can only avail of one year in the ECCE programme. Take-up is over 60,000 each year.
It should be noted that children eligible for the ECCE programme may as an alternative be availing of the CETS or CCS programmes. These programmes assist parents with childcare costs and these details are returned to the DCYA separately. |