Deactivation notice for the Level 5 & Level 6 Early Childhood Care & Education Major Awards

Please note that QQI is deactivating the QQI Level 5 & 6 Childcare Major awards in December 2023.

This deactivation of the old Childcare awards is in response to the 2019 award standards for Early Learning and Care (ELC) which have been developed to replace the existing ECCE standards at Levels 5 and 6.

This means that any learner who is planning to enrol or who is currently completing or intends to finish their QQI Level 5 ECCE Major Award (5M2009) & QQI Level 6 ECCE Major Award (6M2007) must have all eight modules completed no later than the end of August / early September 2023 in order to be certified in the QQI’s December certification period.

There will be no option to extend the old programmes past this deadline date.

Important: The Level 5 & Level 6 certificate in Early Childhood Care and Education will still be a recognised qualification in Early Years by the Department of Children, Equality, Diversity, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) and learners who have successfully completed their awards by December 2023 will not be required to complete the new ELC awards.

Learners who have previously partially completed level 5 or 6 awards consider finishing off any remaining modules on their major award before the programme is deactivated to ensure they can use all of their previously completed components.