Professional Development and Learning to Support Enhanced Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education

Working in early childhood education has become increasingly complex and demanding with regard to the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to support children’s development. With increased expectations now accompanying the possibilities for early education, there is a sense of anxiety as ECE services strive to address the challenges of meeting enhanced quality requirements, within the constraints of inadequate support, poor remuneration and working conditions ECE staff qualification levels and requirements in Ireland remain significantly below European standards. Ensuring quality provision at this most critical period in children’s development should be the primary aspiration driving developments within early childhood education. The social and educational benefits of high quality early childhood education are clearly evident. However, it is equally important to bear in mind that poor quality early childhood education may impact negatively on children’s learning and development and this is especially the case for vulnerable children.


The present study will explore how best we can ensure and enhance quality provision in early childhood education settings within this context.

Three phases of data generation are envisaged as follows:

(i) Documentary analysis of the professional skills and dispositions implicit in Aistear;
(ii) Semi-structured interviews with ECE mentors;
(iii) Focus groups with key stakeholders (e.g. managers of ECE settings, early childhood educators, academics teaching on ECE programmes and other third level educators and trainers).

Key research questions include:

• How can pedagogical skills, dispositions and attributes be developed among early childhood settings and educators to support effective curriculum implementation?
• How can we better acknowledge early childhood educators as active and knowledgeable contributors to their own learning, using approaches which draw on professional experience as a basis for learning?

Student Requirements:
The position will be of interest to graduates in early childhood education and the social sciences who have a particular interest and experience in working with children in the early years. A minimum of 2:1 in a relevant Honours degree is required.
Candidates are recommended to upload a CV with their application form online.

For further information on this project, please see

http://www.dit.ie/researchandenterprise/graduateresearchschool/phdopportunities/phdprojects/artstourism/