The ECE Quality Ireland Podcast

In this episode we have an engaging and critical discussion as we review the proposed draft for updating the Aistear curriculum framework. We talk about the positives and provide our opinion on the changes including suggestions which we feel we would like to see incorporated into the forthcoming update.

In this episode we discuss the recent calls within the media for a publicly funded childcare (ECEC) model in Ireland. We discuss what it might look like and how it might be implemented and compare Ireland with Norway who already have a publicly funded model in place.

In this episode we discuss the possibilities and pitfalls for using artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool in early childhood education and care. We think about how AI could potentially save us precious time on planning and documentation, the possibility of using facial recognition for parent or child access to the building or calculating our attendance and fees as well as utilising AI for developing our knowledge to facilitate emergent interests. We also acknowledge the risks and issues that AI could bring and why it is really important for us as educators to be knowledgeable and prepared as a gatekeeper for issues such as GDPR, online safety, developmentally appropriate practice, reliable information and ethical decision making so that we can engage with this area as it becomes embedded in education and wider society in the decades to come.

Our guest, Lewis Fogarty, joins us for a really interesting conversation about what professional confidence is and why it is an important skill for ECE educators to have. Lewis runs two early years settings in the UK so we chat with him about his journey as a man into a female dominated sector and how he fosters professional confidence and leadership among his team. Lewis is a lecturer at Brunel University, a PhD candidate on the topic of leadership and is also on the board of TACTYC - a UK based Association for Professional Development in Early Years.

In this episode we discuss the emerging area of mindfulness based practice in ECEC with our guest Leesa Flanagan who is undertaking PhD research on this topic. Leesa tells us all about what mindfulness it, her journey to a mindful approach both in her life at home and in her ECEC practice and how we can use simple strategies to begin to introduce mindfulness in our own lives and with children in our ECEC settings.

In this episode we discuss how ECEC children can become involved in their communities, active citizenship and bringing the community in to the ECEC setting. We consider the barriers to Community Involvement and how to overcome them and we also hear about how Celine and her ECEC children get out and about and involved in her locality!