It is with great pleasure that the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE) presents the Second Edition of the
Audit of Research on Early Childhood Care and Education in Ireland, which spans the entire period 1990 to 2006. This update is
warranted owing to the efflorescence of research within early childhood care and education (ECCE) in Ireland in recent years, displaying
the vibrancy of the developing and evolving early years sector. Moreover, the Second Edition of the Audit is timely in order to inform research priorities into the future, both for the CECDE and the wider ECCE sector, to ensure that policy and practice in the Irish context
is informed by current indigenous research.
The Second Edition of the Audit of Research is divided into three substantive sections. First of all, the Introduction provides a background and rationale for the Audit and is presented in the following three divisions:
Context for the development of the Second Edition of the Audit of Research;
A description of the initial Audit of Research produced in 2003 (CECDE, 2003a);
An overview of the Second Edition of the Audit of Research, including the methodology employed in its compilation, an outline of the twenty-four themes and their associated sub-themes, findings of interest, research gaps identified and details of the online searchable research database.
Secondly, the publications within the Second Edition of the Audit of Research are organised into twenty-four themes of research. Sixteen relate to the Standards within Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education (CECDE, 2006a), while there are an additional eight more general themes. Furthermore, the majority of these are further broken down into a number of sub-themes in order to make the Audit more accessible and navigable. In general terms, themes that contain in excess of forty references have been further sub-divided. Each theme and sub-theme is preceded by a short narrative, outlining the main focus of the research contained therein and analysing the key trends. The twenty-four themes are presented in alphabetical order in order to facilitate ease of use. Within each of the themes and sub-themes, all publications are also listed in alphabetical order.
Finally, the third section is comprised of an A-Z author bibliography of the entire contents of the Second Edition. This is preceded by an Author Index to assist the location of specific authors throughout the Audit.
Centre for Early Childhood Development & Education
Gate Lodge, St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9. Tel: 00353 (0)1 8842110 Fax: 00353 (0)1 8842111
Email: early.childhood@spd.dcu.ie
