Purpose:

In partnership with the NCCA, the Researching Early Childhood Education Collaborative (RECEC) at the School of Education in Trinity College is hosting a symposium entitled ‘Early Educational Alignment: Reflecting on Context, Curriculum and Pedagogy’.

Early Educational Alignment: Reflecting on Context, Curriculum and Pedagogy

Halpern (2013) observes that in the US ‘…. the idea of joining Early Childhood Education and schooling has gained currency in the educational reform arena’ (p. 1). This trend can be seen in Ireland also. Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (2009) prompted greater attention to the educational dimension of provision for children from birth to 6 years. It also created a bridge between the variety of early childhood settings, which had grown over the previous decade and the infant classes of the primary school. More recently, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has begun the redevelopment of the primary school curriculum.

This work focuses initially on language, mathematics, and Education about Religions and Beliefs and Ethics for children in junior infants to second class (4-8/9 years of age). These developments provide an important impetus for discussion on what early childhood education means and looks like for children and teachers, and what implications this has for curriculum development and practice. In partnership with the NCCA, the Researching Early Childhood Education Collaborative (RECEC) at the School of Education in Trinity College is hosting a symposium entitled ‘Early Educational Alignment: Reflecting on Context, Curriculum and Pedagogy’.

The symposium is organised around four key topics with each topic contextualised by a short research paper.

1. Does Terminology Matter?
2. Learning Environments
3. Professional Identity
4. Multiple Transitions

Read the SYMPOSIUM REPORT

Learning environments that work: softening the boundaries
Margaret Kernan, International Child Development Initiative

Multiple Transitions in Early Childhood Education
Mary O’Kane, Lecturer in Psychology and Early Education

Concluding reflections and ways forward
Anne Looney, Chief Executive, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment