Under The Child Care Act 1991 (Tusla)

“Under the Child Care Act 1991 as amended by the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) is charged with ensuring the health, safety and welfare of pre-school children attending services.”(Citizens information, 2016) Preschool regulations aim to ensure that every preschool service meets the quality standard, provide a suitable environment setting for preschoolers to develop their physical, social-emotional, and cognitive domains. There are a few specific legal requirements the preschool needs to attain, such as, preliminary and general, registration and register, management and staff, information and records, care of children in pre-school service, safety, premises and space requirements, notifications and complaints,
and inspection and enforcement.
One of the important legal requirements in the preschool regulations is the management and staff, according to the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016, section 9(1c)states “a registered provider shall ensure that there is a clear management structure in the service that identifies the lines of authority and accountability of each employee and unpaid worker.” A preschool manager should design a clear management structure and policies that stated the roles and responsibilities of each employee to assist the team works smoothly.
According to the Child Care Act 1991 (Early years services) Regulations 2016, Section 9(7) states “ a registered provider shall ensure that all employees, unpaid workers and contractors are appropriately supervised and provided with appropriate information, and where necessary training, including in relation to the policies, procedures and statement of the service.” A preschool manager should provide information that related to the policies, procedures and statements for the staffs so that they could provide the best childcare service. For example, about the fire safety policy, as a childcare services provider, he or she needs to make sure
that all the employees are aware and trained in the procedures to be followed in case of fire in the services. All the employees should be familiar with the location of fire extinguisher and ways to use it to put out the fire. According to the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016, Section 11(1) states “Subject to this Regulation, a registered provider shall ensure that there is at all times an adequate number of adults working directly with the children attending the pre-school service.” A preschool manager should make sure that the teacher-child ratio in the services. For example, it must have two teachers or caregivers in an early years children classroom. This is to protect children from danger and ensure there is no any accidents happen during the services.
Besides the management and staff, there is another important legal requirements from the preschool regulations, which is premises and space requirements.
As an educators, we know that children need spacious areas for them to exercise. According to the preschool regulations, the space requirements for children who are age zero to one is minimum 3.5 square metres, for children who are age one to two is minimum 2.8 square metres, for children who are age two to three is minimum 2.35 square metres, and for children who are age three to six is minimum 2.3 square metres. The space of an environment will affect children’s play and affect their concentrations and behaviours, indirectly. But it does not means that the spacious the classroom, the better the children’s learning behaviours. It depends on the classroom organised. When a classroom is well-organised, with wide and clean pathways, clean and tidy shelves and materials, children can move freely in the classroom, this may enhance the speed of children doing their works and the concentration they focus on their works. Other than that, a safe environment able to make children feel secure while they are learning and developing their cognitive, physical, and social-emotional domains. As we know that children easily get infected from virus and get sick,such as, Hand-Foot-Mouth disease, to minimise the probability of children getting sick, the materials and premises should be cleaned with disinfectant, every once a week. As this is
to protect children’s health and the hygiene of the premises.