Dr Paul Downes appointed to Department of Children and Youth Affairs National Working Group

Dr. Paul Downes, Director of the Educational Disadvantage Centre, DCU, has been appointed as a member of the recently established Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) National Working Group on Standards for School Age Childcare to implement the National School Age Childcare Action Plan 2017. The national standards are due to be finalised before the end of 2017.

In 2016, Dr. Downes gave an invited presentation to the interdepartmental group for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Education and Skills (DES) to inform many of the key principles of the School Age Childcare Action Plan 2017. The National School Age Childcare Action Plan 2017 is a joint strategy of the DCYA and DES and it has committed €3million to support increased capacity for the provision of school age childcare. The new Capital Scheme will be open to schools, community/ not-for-profit and private services. 

The National School Age Childcare Action Plan 2017 is a key strategic commitment long advocated for by the national network Quality Development of Out of School Services (QDOSS). The Educational Disadvantage Centre is a founding member of QDOSS, established in 2006. Dr. Paul Downes in 2007 and Dr. Catherine Maunsell (School of Human Development, Institute of Education, DCU) in 2011, have both chaired this national network on behalf of the Educational Disadvantage Centre. Paul Downes was the author of the QDOSS national network’s founding document, Quality Development of Out of School Services: An Agenda for Development (2006). The QDOSS national network includes a range of organisations such as Barnardos, Trinity College Dublin Children’s Research Centre, Early Childhood Ireland, Transforming Education through Dialogue (TED) Project, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Dublin City Childcare Committee and the National Childhood Network (NCN). The independent chairperson of QDOSS is John Carr, former general secretary of the INTO.

Invited presentation of Dr. Downes to the DCYA and DES Interdepartmental Group: School Based Afterschool Services: Key Issues for the InterDepartmental Group to Consider

DCYA and DES School Age Childcare Action Plan 2017: https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Education-Reports/Action-Plan-On-School-Age-Childcare.pdf