The Early Years’ Service Profile is now available for all services to complete via the PIP portal. When you login to the PIP portal, you will land on the ‘Service’ page which contains a link called ‘Early Years’ Service Profile 2016/2017’. The Service Profile will remain open for services to complete and submit until close of business on Tuesday 16th May 2017.
The Service Profile explained; The ‘Service Profile’ has been developed by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and Pobal, in conjunction with key stakeholders and has become an important national data source on the Irish Early Years Sector. This year marks the 2nd time the Service Profile is completed via PIP to capture information on the Early Years sector. Services will be asked to complete the Service Profile for each facility (i.e. one for each DCYA Reference) once a year.
What data is collected; A wide range of data will be collected, to allow for in-depth analysis and mapping of trends over time,
· Service Details and Provision
· Capacity and Attendance
· Child Protection
· Staffing (numbers, qualification, level of turnover, etc.)
The data collated through the Service Profile will be used to inform future policy development and planning for the early years sector. It will also be available to key stakeholders and agencies involved in the early years sector such as; Better Start Early Years Specialist Service, Túsla, City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs), Voluntary Childcare Organisations (VCO’s) as well as Government Departments such as Department of Children and Youth Affairs and Department of Education and Skills. The data may also be provided to other organisations for research and statistical purposes e.g. Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Some minor changes have been made to this years’ survey with the addition of some new questions and the removal of others. Pobal have made every effort to keep the survey concise and relevant.
How long will it take to complete the Service Profile?: The length of time it takes to complete the survey depends on the size of the service, the number of staff and number of children enrolled. It is expected to take anytime between 30 minutes to an hour, based on feedback from last year. However, services are reminded that the Service Profile contains a ‘Save as Draft’ function, meaning that it can be completed in more than one sitting before final submission.
Who to contact for help? If services experience any difficulty accessing or completing this survey, please contact our Client Services Team by email to: onlinesupport@pobal.ie or alternatively, by telephone to 01-5117222.
We thank you for your co-operation in the above and appreciate your contribution to improving our knowledge of the sector.