In policy and practice it has been an eventful year for early childhood education and care in Ireland. This article outlines the most important events, developments, and controversies in Irish ECEC in 2019. It looks at the choices made and those that lie ahead, and considers the implications for future developments.

A curriculum for babies and toddlers is often difficult to conceptualise, raising questions such as: What does it look like? Where does it happen? Who develops it? This article looks at these questions and how using Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework can support this.

Creativity involves deep exploration and practical skills. It also requires a high level of focus and critical thinking. For teachers, the goal is to create conditions where creativity can begin. Many learning and care settings hinder the conditions required for children to enter a state of flow. Children must be given the opportunity and conditions to move into this state.

This article outlines the process behind publication of the NCCA’s Mo Scéal reporting templates. Mo Scéal means ‘My Story’, and the templates provide an opportunity to tell the story of the child’s interests, strengths, and challenges. The reports can be shared by preschools with parents and, with parents’ consent, with the primary school. The article also lists the types of resources provided by the NCCA to support this important transition.

A global consensus is emerging that early childhood services, and the policies to develop them, can only be sustainable and beneficial for all children and all families once we take public responsibility and start building a coherent ‘competent system’ of supports around them. This article looks at what that means in practice in Ireland, based on best current international thinking.

The government’s First 5 strategy identifies over 150 actions across the domains that affect young children’s lives, including ambitious and far-reaching actions related to the early learning and school-age childcare sector. In this article the Minister summarises the challenges facing the sector and the actions planned and currently being taken to meet them.

The much-needed resources put in place by DCYA to address diversity, equality, and inclusion in early childhood education and care (ECEC) are welcome. However, an ideological shift from needs to rights is required to provide a comprehensive diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) approach to ECEC policy, training, and practice.

Universal Design ensures access for all to buildings and premises and ensures those premises are easy to use and understand. These guidelines, funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, show how ELC settings can make their environments, inside and outside, easier to access, understand, and use.

Máire Corbett
Tom Grey
Teresa Heeney
Prof Emer Ring
Dr Lisha O’Sullivan