The ECE Quality Ireland Podcast

S6Ep4: Children and Food - it's about familiarity and autonomy

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 15:40:37 GMT

We talk to Deirdre Doyle from The Cool Food School about young children, nutrition, picky eaters, the evolution of the children's food aisle in supermarkets and familiarising children with vegetables through fun activities which give them a sense of independence and autonomy as they explore the world of new foods and vegetables in particular.

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S6Ep3: Erasmus in Norway

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 18:10:07 GMT

We are joined by Eileanóir Malone, an ECEC student educator who tells us all about her experience on Erasmus. She visited Norway and engaged in placement in a Norwegian ECEC setting. We always hear about how the Norwegian approach is the way to go in terms of best practice...but what is it really like? Hear all about it from a student who has experienced it, what did she learn, how did it influence studies and her professional practice and how are we measuring up in Ireland in comparison?

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S6Ep2: Early Literacy, eTwinning and Nativity Plays

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 20:43:21 GMT

In this episode we chat about the importance of early literacy and Celine's trip to a literacy conference, Paula's experience at an eTwinning seminar in Cyprus for promoting active citizenship in early childhood and the timely topic of nativity plays in early childhood settings at Christmas...do we do them or not?

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S6Ep1: Changes - New Aistear, New Pay, New Department

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 13:00:58 GMT

In this first episode of Season 6 we catch up on all the changes affecting ECEC in Ireland over the last few months. A newly updated Aistear curriculum framework is live, new ERO mandatory pay rates for educators and a new government department and minister. Celine has opened 2 more ECEC settings bringing her total to 5 and Paula is heading to Cyprus on an eTwinning trip and to Brussels to fly the flag for STEM/STEAM in ECEC. So much to talk about! Listen in and share. It's going to be a great season!

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S5Ep9: Poo and the Loo - Potty training for preschool

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 16:40:17 GMT

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.

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S5Ep8: Fergus Finlay - Former CEO of Barnardos Ireland

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 19:09:55 GMT

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.

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S5Ep7: Roderic O'Gorman on Early Childhood Education

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 20:18:23 GMT

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!

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S5Ep6: Inspection - The EY Education Focused Inspection

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 19:31:33 GMT

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.

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S5Ep5: Quality School Aged-Childcare and the Importance of Play

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 16:39:57 GMT

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.

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S5Ep4: New Aistear! - An Analysis of the new ECEC Framework

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 21:24:15 GMT

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.

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S5Ep3: Bridging the Gap Between Research and ECEC Practice in Germany

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:59:27 GMT

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

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S5Ep2: Identifying and Communicating Developmental Concerns

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 13:53:57 GMT

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.

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S5Ep1: Purposeful Play

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 13:17:17 GMT

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.

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S4Ep5: The Graduation Ceremony - Who is it for?

Fri, 10 May 2024 12:09:52 GMT

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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S4Ep4: STEAM in the Early Childhood Environment

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 13:24:45 GMT

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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S4Ep3: Risky Play and Guns in Early Childhood Education

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 16:38:58 GMT

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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S4Ep2: What is the Appropriate Age to Start Primary School?

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 22:05:33 GMT

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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S4Ep1: Quality ECEC - Síolta in Practice

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 15:24:20 GMT

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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S3Ep3: Establishing a New ECEC Service in Ireland

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 15:34:16 GMT

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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S3Ep2: Updating Aistear the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 12:21:18 GMT

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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S3Ep1: Implementing a Publicly Funded Childcare Model in Ireland

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 16:14:04 GMT

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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S2Ep5: Is there a Role for Artificial Intelligence in Early Childhood Education?

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 13:50:24 GMT

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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S2 Ep4: Fostering Professional Confidence with Lewis Fogarty

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 16:06:04 GMT

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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S2 Ep3: Mindfulness Practice in ECEC

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 15:48:44 GMT

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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S2Ep2: Community Involvement

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 15:59:47 GMT

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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S2Ep1: ECEC or ELC? Does the terminology matter?

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 07:00:24 GMT

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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S1Ep11a Men in Early Years - chat with Mick Kenny

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 12:31:09 GMT

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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S1Ep10 The Key Person Approach - A Critical Analysis

Sun, 13 Nov 2022 12:16:15 GMT

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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S1Ep9 Pedagogical Leadership in Practice

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 19:01:38 GMT

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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S1Ep8 - Who Needs a Degree in ECE?

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 17:59:17 GMT

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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S1Ep7 Thriving in Nature with Gillian Powell

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 14:50:55 GMT

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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S1Ep6 The Canadian Early Childhood Sector.mp3

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 20:31:19 GMT

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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S1Ep5 If I was the Minister for Education .mp3

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 21:55:07 GMT

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".

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S1Ep4 Researching Education for Sustainability in Early Years

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 20:09:54 GMT

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S1Ep3 The Child is the Only True Curriculum

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 18:02:02 GMT

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.

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S1Ep2 ECEC Past, Present & Future

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 11:36:04 GMT

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S1Ep1 A Community of Practice 05-17-22 20:57:51

Wed, 18 May 2022 06:00:09 GMT

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