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Every year, around this time organisations like Early Childhood Ireland make submissions to government in advance of the Budget announcement in October. As we prepare this submission, we look at what our sector needs to ensure quality for children, taking into account what provision is already in place, what our members are telling us and national and international research into Early Years and School Age Care. Once again this year, we chat with Frances Byrne, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigning in Early Childhood Ireland, to tease out some of the detail in our Budget 2024 submission.  

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In this, the final episode of the current series on outdoor play, Chloe Keegan, from Early Childhood Ireland talks about her visits to settings. These site visits were part of the research we did into outdoor play provision.  She discusses practical ways to make nature and challenge part of children's experiences. She also refers to the upcoming nature pedagogy programme, organised by Early Childhood Ireland. 

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In this episode of Early Childhood Ireland’s podcast, Frances Byrne, from Early Childhood Ireland discusses the events at our Valuing Outdoor Play conference in March. This episode was recorded on the day that ‘When the Roof is the Sky’, Tusla’s Guidance for the registration and inspection of Early Years services operating outdoors, was launched. Frances welcomes this guidance and outlines our initial reaction to that document. 

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In this episode of our series about outdoor play, Jo Flinn outlines her approach to outdoor play and the experiences and opportunities for  play children have in the large outdoor spaces at her setting in County Limerick. She makes special mention of the benefits for autistic children and children with other additional needs. 

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In episode two of this series of Early Childhood Ireland's podcast series on outdoor play, we talk to Lee Herlihy, from Horizons Montessori School, in Cork City. She discusses how her approach, and the value she places on outdoor play and learning has evolved over time.  She outlines how she now uses her outdoor space, which is a typically sized, urban garden. 

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In the new series of Early Childhood Ireland's podcast we are exploring outdoor play. In this episode, Liz Kerrins, Director of Research at Early Childhood Ireland outlines the finding of our recent member survey on outdoor play spaces. 

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In this episode, Maria Cleary and Milica Atanackovic from Early Childhood Ireland chat to Máire Corbett about the What Works Sharing Knowledge Fund from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This programme has recently enabled us to expand our existing Learning Hub. We discuss the benefits of this project for the Early Years sector, our members, and children. We also discuss why micro learning works when it comes to nurturing a culturally and linguistically responsive environment in Early Years settings. And finally, we reveal some of the exciting plans for our new pedagogy space on the eLearning Platform.

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In this episode of our podcast we chat with Frances Byrne, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigning at Early Childhood Ireland. We tease out the findings of Early Childhood Ireland's Barometer 2023. Now in it's sixth 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. 

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To mark International Women's Day, the Irish Examiner published it's 100 women of 2023. Early Childhood Ireland CEO Teresa Heeney featured on this list. In this special episode Teresa tells us what this recognition means to her, discusses the work of Early Childhood Ireland and tells us about some of the women who have influenced her in her work and in her life. 

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Bringing our current series on the Reggio Emilia approach to a close, in this episode we feature a discussion with Milica Atanackovic, Membership, Excellence and Learning Manager at Early Childhood Ireland where she answers questions submitted by listeners to the earlier episodes in the series. We cover the ‘special rights’ ethos, the transition to primary school and how the ethos is informed by current research, which has ensured it’s ongoing evolution, and more.