It's not so long since childcare courses were regarded with some suspicion in Ireland. Indeed, legend has it that the first VEC childcare course made available in Dublin was cancelled by the Archbishop who regarded it as unacceptable that this qualification would take women out of the home and into the workforce.

Nevertheless, training in early childhood education and care did start to develop, if on an ad hoc basis. The necessary skills have largely been learned on the ground. Typically they are enhanced by seminars, workshops and part-time short-term courses.

Until recently people involved in this area couldn't get recognition for prior learning. Yet the early childhood education arena is changing fast and parents have a better understanding of the meaning of good quality care and employers expect qualifications.

Staff working in State services such as Early Start must have a nationally recognised qualitifcation, regardless of experience. In an attempt to regularise the various courses on offer and acknowledge the skills of women who have been working with children for years, the DIT/NOW (New Opportunities for Women) Childcare Project was set up two years ago under the guidance of a consultative group comprising representatives of all the key childcare organisations.

Project manager Clare Healy explains that the initiative has two strands. "First of all we wanted to look at a way of co-ordinating the whole motley mix of courses and establish common criteria for national accreditation. Second, we wanted to devise a system whereby women who had been involved in early years education and care could gain recognition for what they had done."

A guide and workpack of agreed standards for early childhood training is now available. As part of the next phase of the project, a certificate incorporating various approaches will be developed. It will be possible to specialise in a method and, assuming the course meets various criteria, the student will get a nationally recognised certificate.

"Throughout Europe there has been growing realisation that we have to recognise and measure the skills developed through working on the ground with children for years," says Healy. "In Ireland we've been a bit slow to provide accreditaion for prior-learning courses."

She says that there has been a substantial increase in demand for good quality early childhood services including childcare and preschool in recent years. "People are more aware now of the value of these facilities and expect a high standard for their children. The implementation of the preschool section of the Childcare Act has also effected training standards. Although there is no demand for qualifications in the Act, we believe it's only a matter of time before it will be included in the regulations."

As part of the Childcare Project, 28 women took part in an Accreditaion for Prior Learning pilot project. It is based on building a porfolio of evidence to match required skills. Participants are encouraged to include material from seminars or workshops which they previously attended.

A modular programme, it has courses covering areas such as education and play, social environment and personal/professional development. "There are seven modules, but participants do the course in their own time and take as many modules as they wish," says Healy. "People who do all the modules will eventually get a national certificate. This is part of the next phase, which begins in January."

Among the participants were Teresa Gleeson and Betty Sheedy. They had done a number of courses and worked in childcare for several years. "I needed a way to put everything I had done together," says Gleeson. "Doing the accrediation project I was able to use notes from the various seminars and talks I've been to for my portfolio. It gave some value to all sorts of things I had attended and, looking at it all together, made me realise just how much I had done. It gave me a lot more confidence and now I have something very substantial to show for the work I've been doing."

Sheedy has three children. "I couldn't find a course suitable for someone with family commitments," she says. "Nor was there anything which gave me recognition for what I'd done over the years. Also I had learned all sorts of things which most courses would repeat, but parents expect a high standard now and they tend to ask for qualifications.

"Through the pilot, I was able to get credit for everything I had learned over the years and I found the course really stimulating. It was about the sort of thing I had been doing for years, but it helped me develop a fresher outlook and look at things anew."