Early Childhood Education

PL04 - Counting in preschool. More than just 1,2,3

Course Outline

Early childhood environments provide numerous, valuable, concrete experiences that allow children to practice their counting skills in meaningful ways.  Pre-school children love to count, but it is a difficult skill to master involving a number of stages. This course will explore rote and rational counting and outline the four counting rules that every educator should know; stable order, one-to-one correspondence, order irrelevance and cardinality. Children require lots of opportunities to hear counting language in context and associate language with real objects and experiences. Practical ideas will be shared to support educators to ‘build up’ children’s counting skills using play-based approaches and harnessing daily routines and activities to help children build a foundation for early maths.

Profile of Course Leader

Sandra O’Neill is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education in in DCU’s Institute of Education. She is the founder and chair of the Early Childhood STEAM network, an organisation committed to supporting young children’s understanding of STEM and it's individual disciplines. 

PL12 - An Introduction to restorative practices in educational settings

Course Outline

Restorative Practice is evidenced to have a significant impact on reducing the need for, and use of sanctions, fostering more positive relationships between staff, students, and parents/caregivers in educational settings. It has also been shown to increase academic performance due to less time spent on dealing with conflict and/or wrongdoing and more time spent on classroom learning. Restorative Practice increases capacity for emotional and social learning and helps pupils self-regulate when faced with challenging situations and/or people.

Through this course participants will;

• Gain an understanding of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) and Trauma which impact on pupil behaviour
• Explore traditional versus restorative approaches to conflict, harm and wrongdoing.
• Acquire knowledge and skills in addressing disputes or wrongdoing on a relational, human-emotional level

Profile of Course Leader

Martina Jordan, a social worker, worked in the youth justice system for 20 years and was a restorative practitioner and trainer in the Youth Justice Agency NI for 13 years before setting up her consultancy and training company in 2015 (martinajordanrestorativepractices.com). Since then she has provided RP training to numerous schools in NI and bespoke interventions including circles, restorative conferences and mediation to schools which are experiencing particularly complex problems. Martina has also provided restorative practice training in various parts of Europe and South Asia. In April 2018 and November 2020 Martina led the planning, organisation and facilitation of two highly successful symposiums on Restorative Practices in Schools. She is currently leading a project on developing RP with the Education Authority in N Ireland. Martina is a member of the Restorative Practices Forum NI, a board member of Family Group Conferencing NI and is an approved trainer with the European Forum for Restorative Justice.

PL18 - Building Relationships with babies and toddlers

Course Outline

This interactive workshop will focus on why it is important to consider babies’ and toddlers’ learning and development. We will consider the characteristics of quality early childhood education and care settings, in general, for that age range and, in particular, the ‘slow relational pedagogy’ required for babies’ and toddlers’ flourishing. Practical strategies for building relationships with young children are discussed. There will be opportunities to clarify and ask questions as we go along and there will be an open discussion at the end of the session.

Profile of Course Leader

Dr Geraldine French is an Associate Professor, and Head of School of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education, Programme Chair of the Masters of Education in Early Childhood Education. She has published in the areas of parenting and the experience of poverty amongst families with very young children. In the context of early childhood settings, she has published on quality professional practice in early childhood education and care, supporting early language, literacy and numeracy and nurturing babies’ and toddlers’ learning and development.

PL20 - Supporting language and literacy in early childhood

Course Outline

This interactive workshop will consider why we should focus on early childhood and language and literacy followed by what the research says about language and literacy. The key skills that children need will be discussed, ending with strategies to support the development of language and literacy in early childhood. There will be opportunities to clarify and ask questions as we go along and there will be an open discussion at the end of the session.

Profile of Course Leader

Dr Geraldine French is an Associate Professor, and Head of School of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education, Programme Chair of the Masters of Education in Early Childhood Education. She has published in the areas of parenting and the experience of poverty amongst families with very young children. In the context of early childhood settings, she has published on quality professional practice in early childhood education and care, supporting early language, literacy and numeracy and nurturing babies’ and toddlers’ learning and development.

PL29.1 - Pedagogical leadership in early childhood education

Course Outline

This course aims to provide a space for educators to develop an understanding of and responsibility for pedagogical leadership in their professional practice and in Early Childhood Educational settings. The sessions will begin by exploring separately the concepts of leadership and pedagogy from a national and international perspective and consider what it means when they are then combined to create pedagogical leadership. Policy promoting pedagogical leadership in Early Childhood Education settings will be interrogated. Educators will be encouraged to critically analyse pedagogical leadership in their practice and create a vision statement for pedagogical leadership in their setting. Participants will be required to support peer learning by contributing openly to discussion forums.

Profile of Course Leader

Julie Winget Power has worked in Early Childhood Education for over 35 years. Julie holds a degree in Early Childhood Teaching and Learning; BA in Business Studies (Management) a Masters in Education specialising in the Early Years and is currently pursuing a PhD on pedagogical leadership in Early Childhood Education. Julie currently lectures on the Early Childhood Degree programme in the Technological University Dublin, Tallaght Campus. She also holds the position of placement coordinator. Julie’s areas of expertise include leadership, management, teamwork and STEAM.

PL29.2 - Inspiring management in early childhood education settings

Course Outline

A very practical and hands-on workshop for managers and potential managers of Early Childhood Educational settings on how to build and sustain a strong team. The workshop will focus on ideas and practical ways to create an inspiring working environment with a culture of engagement and participation from all team members. Through sharing ideas and being actively engaged with the course, the participants will learn tips, tricks and ideas on how to motivate and empower their team and create a common and shared goal that everyone strives for together. The course will give practical ideas on how managers can resolve conflict within the team, create an employee package with financial incentives, engrain support and supervision within daily practice and create a mindset where leaders breed leaders.

Profile of Course Leader

Lorraine Cash is a manager/co-owner of a Síolta accredited Early Childhood Educational setting. Lorraine has a masters  in Leadership in Early Childhood Education and a degree in Early Childhood Education. Lorraine implemented the theory of leadership gained from her study into practice resulting in transforming the management style of the setting. The transformative managerial approach became award winning as Early Childhood Ireland recognised the innovative style. Lorraine aims to share her knowledge to help build leadership capacity with Early Childhood Educational settings.

PL29.3 - Supporting children's resilience through storytime

Course Outline

This workshop explores the history, and the power of storytelling from a cultural perspective. The pedoagoical pratice of storytime will be discussed along with educators role as communicator. The workshop will be fun and interactive to provide  educators with strategies to bring stories to life and engage the participation of children in the storytelling process. Nessa will be sharing her innovative approach to storytelling creating neverending stories to support children build resilience.

Profile of Course Leader

Nessa McNamara has worked in Early Childhood Education for over 20 years. Nessa has extensive experience working with children aged from birth to 12 years. She is passionate about promoting creativity in early childhood with a special focus on bringing story time to life while using it as a pedagogical tool to foster curiosity and imagination.

PL29.4 - The Reggio Emilia approach and Aistear - A strong partnership

Course Outline

This workshop offers a practical approach demonstrating the strong connections between Aistear and the Reggio Emilia approach. The workshop will provide practical examples of Reggio in practice noting how it aligns with so many of the learning outcomes identified in Aistear. Educators will be provided with a wealth of strategies and resources to encourage them to explore the Reggio approach in their settings.

Profile of Course Leader

Brenda Lattimore is an owner/ manager of a large early years setting and a part time lecturer in DCU on the BECE degree course. She has worked in early years education and care for the past sixteen years and has completed her masters through CREC (Birmingham City University). Her key interests are pedagogical practice and documentation. She has visited the schools of Reggio Emilia on two occasions and continues to be inspired by their practice, in particular the use of materials as expressive languages and the 100 Languages of children.