Welcome to the Learning Zone.
The Social Care Council works with colleagues and partners in the Childcare sector to support:
- the review and development of Childcare qualifications;
- the development of relevant learning resources to support you to meet your Minimum Standards requirements.
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Childcare Qualifications and Minimum Standards
Minimum Standards for Childminding and Day Care for Children Under Age 12 (July, 2012 amended October 2018) are used by the Health and Social Care Trusts (HSCT) Childcare Social Services Teams to register new facilities and carry out inspections. National Minimum Standards describe the minimum requirements for regulated childcare settings.
Standard 11, within the Minimum Standards for Childminding and Day Care for Children under Age 12, and the associated Implementation Guidance Sessional and Full Daycare Version 3, sets out the minimum qualification requirements for staff working within the childcare sector.
For more guidance on relevant qualifications and the role of the Childcare Partnerships click on the links below:
- Qualification Guidance for the Early Years, School Age Childcare Childminding Sectors and Home Childcarers in Northern Ireland, 2022.
- Childcare Partnerships – Training and resources for childcare providers.
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Digital Learning Resources
The Minimum Standards for Childminding and Day Care for children under Aged 12 (amended October 2018) require Childminders to have core training in Health and Safety.
The Department for Health advises managers of all registered childcare settings to ensure that staff have appropriate training in infection prevention and control.
To enable the childcare workforce to meet the above requirements the Northern Ireland Social Care Council in partnership with the Childcare Partnerships, NICMA, the Childminding Association and the HSCTs Early Years Teams has developed a digital learning resource:
This resource can be accessed free from multiple devices; laptops, desktops and mobile devices with internet access.
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Register to access your certificate of completion
To access the resource and obtain your certificate of completion, childminders and early years professionals need to have registered using the My Childcare Account.
Once registered and logged in – you can begin to work through/review the content.
NB: Please note that in order to receive a certificate, you need to work through the content of the resource and complete the knowledge questions and reflective learning questions within each module before attempting the final multiple choice assessment.
Remember to download and save your reflective question answers for review by your inspector.
Click Childcare to return to the menu.