In this week's episode of Early Childhood Ireland's podcast Mairéad Gallagher, music teacher and director of Wriggletto discusses how the OWLET lullabies can be used throughout every day by educators and parents in simple ways to support children sense of cultural identity and awareness.  ..read more

In Early Childhood Ireland’s podcast this week we chat to Leah Ahern de Leastar, Early Years educator and lecturer about music. We discuss how music is a universal language and how we can weave music through the day. Leah also reminds us that it is about process, not product, we can all enjoy music whether we are great singers or not.  ..read more

In this episode we chat with Dr Christina Egan Marnell and Maria Cleary from Early Childhood Ireland about our beautiful new member resource called OWLET: Lullabies of the World . This resource supports babies and young children to practice language, develop their own positive identity, and develop an understanding of the identity of others. Many children aged 1 to 2 years hear foreign languages spoken in their Early Years settings in Ireland, which creates space for them to explore and speak their home language. Lullabies in different languages foster children’s development of positive attitu ..read more

In this episode of our podcast we chat with Frances Byrne, Director of Policy at Early Childhood Ireland. We tease out the findings of Early Childhood Ireland's Barometer 2024. Now in its seventh year, the Barometer is an annual opinion poll, conducted nationwide by Red C market research and polling company,  to gauge public attitudes to Early Years care and education.  You can find the Barometer here https://www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/about/advocacy/childcare-barometer/early-childhood-ireland-barometer-2024/ and if you have any queries about the Barometer please email policy@early ..read more

Early Childhood Ireland recently released the 2022  Barometer. This is the 5th Barometer published by Early Childhood Ireland. In this special edition episode of Early Childhood Ireland's podcast, Frances Byrne, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigning discusses key findings from this years research, identifies keys trend over the past 5 years and as today is International Women's Day she outlines the implications for the mainly female workforce ..read more

In this episode of Early Childhood Ireland’s podcast Dr Lynn J McNair, from the University of Edinburgh and Kathleen Tuite from Early Childhood Ireland outline what Practitioner Inquiry is and how becoming a Practitioner Inquirer supports the building of bridges between theory and practice. Kathleen also discusses the new Practitioner Inquiry programme which Early Childhood Ireland is commencing soon.  ..read more

In this final episode of our Delving into Adventurous Play series, Early Childhood Ireland member Dairíona Ní Mhuirí outlines her approach to Adventurous Play and how children in her Naíonra (Irish language preschool) use real tools and fire. She describes how every child is able to play the way they want to play in the outdoors and discusses the benefits of this for relationships as well as children's learning experiences.  ..read more

In this final episode of our Delving into Adventurous Play series, Early Childhood Ireland member Daríona Ní Mhurí outlines her approach to Adventurous Play and how children in her Naíonra (Irish language preschool) use real tools and fire. She describes how every child is able to play the way they want to play in the outdoors and discusses the benefits of this for relationships as well as children's learning experiences.  ..read more

In this first episode of a new series all about  adventurous play, Chloe Keegan, from Early Childhood Ireland discusses what adventurous play is and why children need to be challenged in their play, with specific reference to supporting children to use real tools.  ..read more

Our World of Languages: Episode three In this episode Liz Kerrins, from Early Childhood Ireland and Dr Francesca La Morgia, from Mother Tongues discuss the changing terminology around languages and why the term plurilingualism is more inclusive and respectful.  The refer to the OWL provocations pack, which you can check out at https://www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/learning/owl-project ..read more