Send us a text In this episode we discuss a recent CPD programme we developed in Early Childhood Ireland with a group of educators, called Enhancing Leadership Practices. Dr Christina Egan Marnell outlines the background to and development of the programme. Siobhán Barrett, from Cahir Bears Community Creche in Cahir, Co Tipperary, was one of the participants in the programme. We chat to her about what pedagogical leadership means to her, her experience on the programme and about how she...

Send us a text In light of the Updated Aistear in 2024, the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide has also been updated to reflect the changes made to the Aistear Framework. In this episode of Early Childhood Ireland's podcast, Lorraine Farrell from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment takes us through key changes and discusses how the Aistear Síolta Practice Guide can be used by educators to support reflection and develop practice. The Aistear Síolta Practice Guide can be found on the ...

Send us a text Early Childhood Ireland is calling on the Government to announce on Budget Day a date for bringing Early Years and School Age Care graduates within public sector pay and conditions, in line with teachers. In this episode, Frances Byrne, Director of Policy at Early Childhood Ireland takes us through the rationale for this ask in our Budget 2026 submission.

Send us a text In a very special episode, to mark the very special milestone of our 100 episode, we were delighted to have a wide-ranging conversation with Wendy Lee. Wendy is the Director of the Educational Leadership Project in New Zealand. Wendy discussed the importance of relationships, values, celebrating children's learning journeys and importance of ensuring childhood is valued as a right by policy makers and educators.

Send us a text In this week’s episode of Early Childhood Ireland’s podcast Taking Part in TIME, we hear from Claire Walsh and Marsela Vangjeli, both from The Children’s Village in Balbriggan. They chat about the Practitioner Inquiry project they worked on when they took part in the TIME CPD programme earlier this year and the impact this had on their setting. The TIME CPD programme and the new member resource, now available on the Early Childhood Ireland Learning Hub was funded by the RTÉ Toy...

Send us a text Members and regular listeners know that the work of Early Childhood Ireland is influenced and inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach. In April of this year, we were saddened to learn of the death of Carla Rinaldi, who was Honorary President of Reggio Children and the Centro Loris Malaguzzi. To pay tribute to this shining light and examine some of the ways in which she has influenced the Early Years and School Age Care sector in Ireland we are delighted to be joined by Milica At...

Send us a text We were delighted to chat with Dr Aaron Bradbury from Nottingham Trent University in the UK. Aaron recently edited a document called Play Matters and in this special conversation to mark International Day of Play we discuss the joy of play, slow relational pedagogy and advocating for play. As Aaron says, the possibilities that come from play are endless!

Send us a text Early Childhood Ireland is delighted to introduce a brand new member CPD resource called TIME: Thriving through Interactions and Meaningful Engagements. In this episode we discuss the programme with Dr Christina Egan Marnell, from Early Childhood Ireland. We chat about how it was developed, how will support educators to reflect on and develop their engagements with children. The development of the CPD programme and resource was supported by the RTE Toy Show Appeal. Early Childh...

Send us a text What does consulting with children mean, how do we do this? In this episode Prof Deirdre Horgan from University College Cork takes us through her work with Hub na nÓg developing the recently published toolkit to support consulting with children. She discusses how so much consultation goes on with children everyday and gives ideas on how we can recognise this and capture it. You can find the toolkit refereed to here https://hubnanog.ie/resources/toolkit-guidance/?_sf...

Send us a text This week we talk to Valerie Gaynor, Manager of Creative Kids and Co in Dublin, who participated in the NCCA's Updating Aistear Development Group about her experiences of the process. She also discusses how the updated Aistear is impacting on practice in her setting.

Send us a text Today, 22 April is World Earth Day. To mark this important day we were delighted to chat about the enhanced focus on Sustainability in the Updated Aistear, with Dr Marlene McCormack, from Dublin City University. In this episode Marlene discusses how values play a role in attitudes to sustainability, with a mindset of caring at it's heart. She gives practical ideas on how we can support children and families to think of sustainability and ecology.

Send us a text This week we chat with Grahame Brown, Account Director at Arachas Insurance. Grahame takes us through what a Group Insurance scheme is and outlines the benefits contained in the Early Childhood Ireland scheme which is underwritten by Allianz and administered by Arachas.

Send us a text In a new series of Early Childhood Ireland's podcast, we are exploring the recently Updated Aistear. In this episode, Fiona Kelleher, from Early Childhood Ireland tells us about the consultation process carried out with babies, toddlers and young children as part of the updating process. She discusses some key findings and shows how these findings influenced the updated Principles of Aistear. The reports Fiona mentioned on the Consultations with babies, toddlers and young...

Send us a text In a special episode of Early Childhood Ireland's podcast to celebrate International Women's Day we invited the Chair and the CEO of Early Childhood Ireland Sheila Nunan and Teresa Heeney to have a conversation. In the episode we explore leadership, gender equality, and the work for better pay and conditions in Early Years and School Age Care. In the context of International Women’s Day, the discussion highlights the personal experiences of these two women lea...

Send us a text In this episode of the podcast, we delve into the findings of the eighth annual Barometer, with Director of Policy Frances Byrne. This opinion poll is conducted for Early Childhood Ireland, by Red C and explores public attitudes to Early Years and related issues.

Send us a text This episode of Early Childhood Ireland's podcast provides an update on the Eco-Emotions suite of materials and resources. Guest, Milica Atanackovic, tells us how Eco-Emotions was created to support educators to develop a deeper appreciation of the importance of co and self-regulation and the role nature pedagogy can play in this for children. Milica also discusses the plans to extend the resources in 2025.

Send us a textAistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework has been updated. In this episode we chat to Dr Sharon Skehill from the NCCA about some of the key developments and changes in the Framework. You can find the Updated Aistear here https://curriculumonline.ie/early-childhood/aistear-2024/

Send us a textFor our first episode of 2025, and as the final stages of government formation are taking place, we chatted with Frances Byrne and Emily Clarke of Early Childhood Ireland about our policy work during the recent General Election campaign.

Send us a textIn this episode we are delighted to be joined by Laura Dagger, from the National Child Safeguarding Office. She discusses the legal responsibilities of Early Years, School Age Care and registered Childminding settings in relation to Child Safeguarding. She outlines the requirements of the Safeguarding Statement and finally stresses the fact that Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. Laura also signposts us to training and resources that can be found here https://www.childsa...

Send us a textIn this episode we have a conversation with two passionate educators about children thriving outside in nature. Johanna Davis and Mary-Ellen O'Sullivan, from Seedling Nature Schools in Limerick share their experiences of children developing self-regulation and a value for the environment in their outdoor setting.