The ECE Quality Ireland Podcast: Recent Episodes
Paula Walshe & Celine Govern
Community of professionals sharing ideas and knowledge on all things to do with early childhood education, quality and professional practice in ECEC in Ireland and beyond.
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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?
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In this episode we talk about STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts and maths) in early childhood education. How and why would should we incorporate more STEAM into our ECEC practice, thinking of technology as more than screens, recognising the STEAM we already 'do' and intentionally extending children's STEAM learning using language and affordable resources we already have in most ECEC environments.
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We have a really interesting chat with Leah Russell, early childhood lecturer, about what risky play is, how to provide for risky play and whether or not toy guns and gun play should be incorporated into the early childhood education setting.
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With our guest. primary school teacher Dee O'Toole, we discuss the appropriate age for children to transition from early childhood education to primary school education. Why do children in Ireland start at 5 when most other OECD countries children start at 6 or 7. We wonder why some children don't avail of their second free ECCE preschool year and what impact this can have on them when they transition into primary school and beyond.
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We discuss implementing and maintaining quality standards in early childhood education and how Paula's new book "Síolta in Practice" can help educators make sense of the Síolta standards and how they are already implementing many of them in their daily ECEC practice. Paula's insightful and practical book has lots of great suggestions highlighting how all areas of our knowledge, best practice guidelines, legislation and policy feed into the implementation of the quality standards and how each standard is interlinked both with other Síolta standards and areas of ECEC practice. You can buy Paula's book from www.borupress.ie.
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Ever thought about opening up your own preschool ECEC setting and/or afterschool SAC setting in Ireland? Then this is the episode for you! From finding the right location and building to getting planning permission and Tusla certification - we chat about the important practical steps involved in opening up a new setting and making the transition from educator to owner/business person. Celine has opened up 3 settings of her own and Paula has managed an ECEC setting so between us (but particularly Celine!) we have a lot of knowledge and experience to share on this topic.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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In this episode Paula and Celine discuss how the name for the early childhood education and care sector (ECEC) in Ireland was changed to early learning and care (ELC) by the Government department with responsibility for the sector back in 2019. The internationally accepted term is ECEC, so why are we different? We take a look at the various issues associated with the removal of the term "education" from the formal name for the sector and what this might mean for the professional status of ECEC going forward.
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In our last episode for 2022 we chat with Mick Kenny from the Men in Childcare network and the Association of Childhood Professionals on two topics: men working in early years and children who are experiencing disadvantage. Come back for season 2 in 2023!
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In this episode we take a critical look at the key person approach and ask if it is still the best approach to underpin interactions and relationships in ECEC and if it perhaps meets the needs of the adult more than the children? Although they key person approach was initially intended to support educators to meet the needs of the child we wonder if, in light of changes to the ECEC profession, there are perhaps other ways to better meet the child's individual needs and create supportive relationships in current ECEC quality practice?
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In this episode we talk to the wonderful Meredith Rose from Nottingham Trent University about pedagogical leadership. We explore what it actually looks like in daily ECEC practice and consider the factors which both impede and help promote pedagogical practice.
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Paula and Celine engage in a lively discussion on the topic of a degree led ECE workforce. We wonder what is the driving force behind the decision to pursue a degree? Is it because practitioners want to do it or feel they have to do it? Do we need a 50% degree qualified practitioner workforce across the entire sector? What about the knowledge and experience possessed by those who do not have a degree and choose not to go back to college? How can the we stop the haemorrhage of degree qualified practitioners exiting the sector?
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In this episode Paula and Celine interview Gillian Powell, author of the Thrive series of books on outdoor play and nature and ECE lecturer. We discuss why access to nature and the outdoors is vital to children's mental health and wellbeing and is a fundamental part of quality ECE. Gillian gives her insights into what a quality outdoor area in ECE looks like and we consider what the barriers to outdoor play might be.
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We chat with Canadian Childcare Federation CEO Don Giesbrecht about Government funding of ECEC, the $10 a day childcare plan and professionalisation. So interesting and lots of parallels with the Irish sector as Canada are on a similar trajectory.
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What are the similarities and differences between ECEC and Primary Education. How Aistear was rolled out and implemented differently in both sectors. Should children stay in ECEC until 6? In conversation with Simon Lewis on his podcast called "If I was the Minister for Education".
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
We discuss whether, by aligning an early childhood setting with a specific curriculum model such as Montessori, Steiner or Reggio, we can truly provide an emergent child led curriculum. Instead we consider a "patchwork curriculum" approach where various elements of many curricula are blended together to create a unique curriculum for each individual child.
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.