Malta – ECEC workforce profile

Abstract

As a result of recent changes within the system of early childhood education and care in Malta, the country now has a coordinated ECEC system known as the Early Years Cycle (MEDE 2012). This comprises three rather distinct stages of ECEC provision: childcare services for under 3-year olds; kindergarten settings for 3- to 5-year olds; and the first two years of compulsory primary school, for 5- to 7-year olds. For the purpose of this report, attention will be given to the workforce engaged with the under 5-year olds. However, where necessary and in order to help readers contextualise and position the information about childcare and kindergarten practitioners, salient differences between the non-compulsory and compulsory sectors of the Early Years Cycle will be included. Retrieving data about the qualifications of Childcare Workers and Kindergarten Assistants currently employed in Early Years settings was one of the challenges faced in drawing up the cur- rent report and the research methodology employed to collect the information deserves a short overview. Where available, data were compiled from different sources including going through documentation pertaining to individual early years settings. Where data about staff qualifications were not available, an attempt was made to collect these through a short questionnaire which was distributed after seeking and gaining approval from the Research Department within the Education Directorate. To the extent possible, data cited in this report are quoted from the official documentation maintained by the Education authorities. Whilst gratefully acknowledging all the assistance offered by several departments and personnel within the various offices at the Education Directorate (see Acknowledgements at the end of this report), it needs to be emphasised that some of the data cannot be interpreted as official or exhaustive. However, it is highly indicative of the status of the early years workforce. Information provided refers to data from 2015/16 and 2016/2017.