"PEMI is of the sector and for the sector. It focuses solely on professional standards and professional practice" - PEMI launch, May 2022.
A Landmark Professional Body for Early Childhood and School Age Professionals was Officially Launched by Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman Today, at Buswells hotel in Dublin, a new professional body for Early Childhood and School Age professionals called ‘Professional Educators and Managers Ireland’ (PEMI) was officially launched by Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman.
The birth of this professional body represents a significant milestone in the drive to professionalize the Early Childhood and School Age profession. According to Dr. Mary Moloney, Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at Mary Immaculate College, and founder of PEMI (chair of CRANN), “All professions; doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers have a professional body, which is recognised as the hall mark of a profession. The Early Childhood and School Age profession does not have such a body. Today changes that.
Following national research, funded by CRANN, and undertaken by Mary Immaculate College, involving 1,200 early childhood educators and managers, we are excited to launch PEMI. This professional body, has been established in response to thisresearch, and is based on the premise that Early Childhood and School Age educators themselves must define their profession. PEMI is of the sector and for the sector. It focuses solely on professional standards and professional practice. The ultimate aim of PEMI is to raise the professional status of the Early Childhood and SAC workforce”.
In addition to raising the profile of the Early Childhood and School Age profession, PEMI will progress actions within Nurturing Skills (the recently published workforce plan for the Early Childhood and School Age sector). Among many things, PEMI will serve to identify and agree terminology for the profession, promote careers in Early Childhood and School-Age Care, and give the profession a unified voice.
Speaking at the launch, Marie Daly, co-founder of PEMI, and CEO of CRANN, said, ‘PEMI will transform how the sector is viewed in Ireland. We cannot do this alone. Ongoing consultation and engagement with all relevant stakeholders is key. We need everyone’s perspective and voice to be heard. We want the voices of the profession itself to be front and center as we move forward, and work towards defining a unified identity for the Early Childhood and School Age profession’.
Denise McCormilla, CEO of the National Childhood Network, says that ‘For Educators and Managers, PEMI, will provide a home PRESS RELEASE within which each member can find a cohort that includes other likeminded professionals carrying the same work responsibilities. Working with likeminded professionals, be they educators or managers can lead to the establishment of shared goals that will enhance professional practice”.
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