Scéalta is 1 year old!

Máire Corbett and Kathleen Tuite in conversation about Scéalta, a year in the life…….

Communication with members is important to us in Early Childhood Ireland. Drawing on the expertise and good practice we see in settings every day and finding a way of sharing that with other members is something we felt should be happening more. Out of this desire to disseminate ideas, promote reflection and maybe add a bit of challenge, the idea of Scéalta was born.

Kathleen………”Over the last year our Scéalta blog has had contributions covering a wide range of topics, from curriculum, transitions, relationships, research, play, books, creativity, inclusion, arts, loose parts, children’s rights, following children’s interests and beautiful examples of listening to children.  We have had some wonderful insights into early years educators, how they support young children in their settings, reflected through the eyes of parents and grandparents! Scéalta has brought to life examples of childhood, inclusion, the arts, science and maths, and highlighted the place of play in all children’s lives. It brought up interesting topics around the early years educators well-being, the importance of ‘minding themselves’, training and research and the celebration of children as competent and confident!”

Máire………..”One of the things I particularly like about Scéalta is it’s relaxed style. I like that the pieces are short and conversational in tone. I think this makes the contributions easy to read and in this way can help busy people reflect.  I think the blog needs to support educators to realise they are on the right track and help them see simple, effective ways of developing their practice further. The examples mentioned by Kathleen were contributed in the main by ECI staff, drawing on the rich examples we observe in member settings. Our guest contributors have added immensely to this sharing too.”

Kathleen…  “during the first year of Scéalta, we have had 112,713 collective views of our Scéalta page, and this number continues to rise.  As we move into our second year, we want to extend a very big thank you, to all our contributors and readers and we look forward to providing our readers with interesting and timely topics in the year ahead.  We take this opportunity also to invite guests to contribute to our Scéalta blog and a copy of the guidelines is available for guest bloggers by contacting Máire or Kathleen on mcorbett@earlychildhoodireland.ie or ktuite@earlychildhoodireland.ie “

So here’s to many more years of lovely tales and Scéalta. Keep reading, enjoying, sharing and contributing!