Dear Service Provider,
The 2019/2020 Annual Early Years Service Profile launches on Monday 15th June.
The annual survey is developed by Pobal on behalf of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in consultation with key stakeholders in the early learning and care and school-age childcare sector. This year’s survey in particular will help Government understand the impact of COVID-19 on the early years sector in Ireland.
The deadline for completing the survey is 5pm, Friday 26th June.
We understand that the early learning and care and school-age childcare sector is experiencing unprecedented challenges due to COVID-19, and that their focus is placed on working towards the phased reopening of services in line with the Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business. We also acknowledge and sincerely thank the sector for their participation in the recent survey, which was rolled out to inform plans on reopening.
While recognising these very challenging circumstances, we kindly ask all services to make the time over this period to complete this survey. The survey has been shortened this year and will only collect the most critical information needed to inform Government policy, planning and investment. The data provided by services has been used to advise Government for over 17 years and we hope to continue this important data collection this year, particularly given the challenges COVID-19 have presented for this sector. Only your inputs can ensure that we can maintain an accurate, up-to-date and evidence-based profile of the early learning and care and school-age childcare sector in Ireland and that we can capture a profile of services before the COVID-19 closures in March. This means that in time, when the survey rolls out again, we can objectively assess the impact of COVID-19 on individual services and on the sector as a whole.
If you have any queries about completing your service profile, please contact the Early Years Provider Centre at EYPC@pobal.ie.
Early Years Team