Research 

In Richter, L., et al. (2012). Diagnostic review of early childhood development. Pretoria: Department of Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation & Inter-Departmental Steering Committee on Early Childhood Development 

Suitably qualified staff is critical for service quality, and Children's Act regulations require this. There is no new national data on numbers or training levels of ECD practitioners but recent local studies indicate that the ongoing problem of very large numbers of un- or under-qualified practitioners identified in the 2000 National Audit. The Department of Basic Education working with the Department of Social Development has provided for a large scale learnership programme to address the training backlog in the sector, mostly through the Expanded Public Works Programme. By mid-2011 27,419 ECD qualifications had been verified by the ETDP SETA. The current target for 2014 is to train 80,000 practitioners and Grade R teachers at Levels 4 and 5. Between 2009 and 2011, 26,032 learnerships had been made available highlighting the limited capacity of training providers to meet current needs and those of an expanding system of provision. Further, large numbers of those trained are being absorbed by Grade R classes. No subsidised training has been made available for ECD outreach workers. 

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