Education

Margaret O'Donoghue

Lecturer in Early Childhood Education and Care

Tel: 01 2201541

Dr Margaret O Donoghue is a lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Law, and Education at the Technological University Dublin. Margaret joined the Early Childhood Education and Care team in 2011. She was course coordinator on the Early Childhood Care and Education Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Degree programme from 2017-2020. Other academic roles include research supervision at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Professionally, I have been involved in early childhood education for over 15 years. My practice base and pedagogical approach draw on my experience of running my own Montessori school for fourteen years.

Interests

As an ECE professional, my beliefs on how children should experience learning are strongly rooted in the spirit of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC,1989). Throughout my work, I promote a World/Child-centred rights-based approach to early childhood education, believing that the voice of the child matters. The centrality of play and a children’s rights perspective are key components of Aistear (NCCA, 2024), and I consider both components to be critical to its integration within the enactment of curricula. I am interested in how early years educators can be supported to develop a pedagogy that enables children to engage as active participants in Education for Sustainable Development. I am also interested in developing an understanding of how children can be engaged in food literacy within early years education.

Collaborative engagement within the ECEC Community

In 2024, working collaboratively, students researched, designed, and developed a Student Toolkit to promote Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) during placement. Their goal was to help early years educators support children’s understanding of how they can engage in building a more sustainable world and encourage global citizenship.

I have worked on collaborative community projects with our students via a civic engagement approach with Fingal County Council which included taking part in the development of Fingal Libraries' Early Literacy Strategy.

In 2017 the students undertook a joint early years literacy project between TUDublin and Fingal County Libraries. As part of the project the students had to write and design their own children’s story book. The winning book was published, and the project was shortlisted for the Chambers of Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards 2017.

Research: My area of research for my Doctor of Education (ED.D.) looked at the role of context in relation to curriculum enactment in early childhood education and explored the pedagogical approaches of early childhood education teachers in Ireland. It examined the implications of Aistear (NCCA, 2009) and the new primary language curriculum (DES, 2016). Based on the study findings, I designed a model of practice to serve as a practical tool for teachers in the enactment of Aistear within the new primary language curriculum.

External Boards

Fingal County Childcare Committee – Member of the Board of Directors

Startbright Early Learning Centres – Member of the Board of Directors

Aistear (2024) - Submission to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment as part of a team through PLÉ (2021)

Current PhD Supervision:

Michaela Omojola – Outdoor Education in Primary Schools (ongoing)

Selected Publications

O Donoghue, M. (2021) Play as a Critical Component of Pedagogy in the classroom. Presentation at The Association for the Study of Play 46th Annual Conference, (Virtual), March 20th.

O Donoghue, M. (2019) The role of context within early childhood education in Ireland. In S. Alcock & N. Stobbs (Eds.) Rethinking Play as Pedagogy. Volume 4 in the series Thinking About Pedagogy in Early Education (Eds. A. Fleet & M. Reed)

O Donoghue, M. (2019) Supporting primary school teachers to enact the new primary language curriculum in relation to Aistear. Presented at Early Childhood Ireland’s National Early Childhood Research Conference, Dublin April 2019.

Omojola, M., Carthy, A. and O’Donoghue, M. (2021) Outdoor Education In Irish Primary Schools Presentation at the Polytechnic Summit 2021 (forthcoming).

Roche, C., O Donoghue, M. (2019) An approach to supporting primary school teachers in the implementation of Aistear (Ireland’s Early Childhood Curriculum Framework). Presented at Early Childhood Ireland’s National Early Childhood Research Conference, Dublin April 2019.

O Donoghue, M. (2018) A chapter in our story of collaborative engagement and knowledge building. Presented at the Universal Design & Higher Education in Transformation Congress, 30th October 2018, Dublin.

O Donoghue, M. (2018) The role of context in early childhood curriculum enactment. Presented at the 28th European Early Childhood Education Research Association Conference, Budapest, Hungary, 30th August 2018.