The ECE Quality Ireland Podcast

All things poo and potty training for starting preschool! In this super interesting episode we delve into the world of poo and potty training with registered nurse Ann Costigan of 'Poo and the Loo' on Instagram. Ann shares a wealth of professional and practical knowledge about the right time to potty train, if we should use pull ups or not, her top tips for successful potty training and what to do if your child is constipated or having difficulty pooing. This podcast episode is sure to be of great interest to parents/caregivers and early childhood educators alike in anticipation of potty training children in advance of starting their preschool year in September.

We chat with Fergus Finlay, former CEO of Barnardos Ireland and columnist with the Irish Examiner about a vast array of topics including diversity, equity and inclusion, the importance of early intervention and investing in quality early childhood education. Fergus gives us insight into his homemade brown bread and we also ask him if he might consider running in the upcoming Presidential election later in 2025.

Current Leader of the Green Party and former Minister for the DCEDIY, Roderic O'Gorman TD joins us on the podcast! We have a great discussion with Roderic about his time as the Minister of the Department with responsibility for the ECEC sector and his early childhood experiences which shaped him as a future member and leader of the Green Party. We also ask Roderic some important questions about recent issues impacting the ECEC sector such as professionalisation and terminology, funding, plans for a public system and the change of the sector name from ECEC to ELC. This was such an insightful and interesting chat.......we hope you enjoy it!

In this episode we discuss the call that makes all educators nervous - the notification of the inspection calling. We discuss the education focused inspection carried out by the Department of Education and we go through the EYEI inspection guideline document. We finish up with some practical tips and key takeaways which feedback from recent inspections have highlighted as important for you to consider in your practice.

We chat with Shelly McGee who is the Quality Support Specialist for School-Aged-Childcare and Play with National Childhood Network (NCN). We discuss what school-aged childcare and afterschool care is, how to support quality and play for children in SAC and how to ensure that children in SAC are supported, valued and their voice is heard.

On 5th of December 2024 the eagerly awaited updated version of Aistear, the early childhood curriculum framework in Ireland, was published online by the NCCA. In this episode, we discuss the main changes to the new framework and whether or not the updates are a 'big tick' for us or not. Have a listen and find out what we think.