The ECE Quality Ireland Podcast

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.

We chat with Sarah Girlich about ECEC in Germany and the LaKoS project where researchers and ECEC educators in Saxony collaborate in the area of early literacy to develop resources, training and other supports for evidence based ECEC practice in an effort to bridge the gap between academic research and early childhood practice.The LakoS is a project of the Association for the Promotion of Language and Communication in Education, Prevention and Rehabilitation, funded by the Saxon State Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs in cooperation with Prof. Glück, University of Leipzig and the Institute for Language and Rehabilitation Communication. You can explore all of their work and access their resources on early literacy here: LakoS Saxony - State Competence Centre for Language Education & Language Support at Day Care Centres in Saxony LakoS Saxony

An insightful and interesting chat with Jenny Nechvatal, a parent of adult children with additional needs and an experienced early childhood educator, about practical strategies for supporting early intervention, sharing developmental concerns with parents/caregivers and the need for further educator training and policy support for this sensitive area of early childhood practice. Jenny is based in New South Wales, Australia and has written and published a book on this topic which takes the dual perspective of educator and parent.

In this first episode of season 5 we chat with Shannan Mulrooney, founder of Maia Purposeful Play, on the importance of facilitating intentional opportunities for open ended playful learning opportunities for young children. We focus on the importance of process over product, children's right to choose, parents attitudes to messy play and educator confidence to support open ended play and know when to stand back and observe the learning as an important part of their role. You can find out more about Shannan's workshops and classes on www.maiapurposefulplay.ie.

We discuss the end of year preschool graduation ceremony. Should we do it, how should we do it? Is it adult led or child led? Whose needs are we meeting and how can we find a balance to meet the needs of all stakeholders, children, parents/caregivers and educators?