Nóirín Hayes
Biographic Data
| ID | 6561102 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nóirín Hayes |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nóirín |
| FAMILY NAME | Hayes |
| SIGNATURE | HAYES N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Trinity College Dublin |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8086-5474 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Oral Storytelling and Emergent Critical Thinking in Early Childhood
In a time characterised by widespread misinformation and the increasing sophistication of artificial intelligence, the capacity to think critically has become a foundational educational priority. While critical thinking initiatives have largely focused on adolescents and adults, far less attention has been paid to how such dispositions can be nurtured in early childhood. This paper draws on design-based doctoral research conducted in two preschoo…
The storythinking programme
The Storythinking Programme, focusing on oral storytelling, was designed to investigate critical thinking skills and pedagogical practices to nurture these skills in preschool children. The aim of the study was twofold: (1) to clarify what type of skills preschool children use and (2) to explore those teaching practices that nurture these skills. One of the study’s central claims, examined from a sociocultural lens, is that children from age 3 be…
‘What's the magic word?’
The nationally funded Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) programme aimed to design, deliver and evaluate interventions to improve a range of outcomes for children growing up in areas of low socio-economic status (SES). A key focus for many PEI programmes was to improve the oral language abilities of children, recognising its important link to a range of literacy, learning, social, emotional and behavioural indicators. This paper reviewed the…
Capturing the perspectives of a diverse range of early childhood education and care stakeholders
Current approaches to research in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), in particular in relation to methods designed to interrogate policy and practice developments, tend not to focus on gathering empirical data through collaborative networks. This article provides a critical reflection on a novel qualitative methodological approach to gathering data through engaging participants in a professional conversation that involved a b…
Bored of the rings
Bronfenbrenner's ecological (and later bioecological) theory has been a mainstay in the theoretical wheelhouse of developmental and family sciences since its inception in the 1970s. However, few studies accurately operationalize Bronfenbrenner's process‐person‐context‐time (PPCT) research model. The aim of this paper is to provide a practical guide to the design, implementation, and analysis of PPCT research studies. Using recent qualitative and …
Childminding professionalism and professionalisation in Ireland
This research focussed on documenting the praxis and paedagogy of paid, professional childminding (family childcare/day care) in Ireland. It explored professionalism and professionalisation among childminders in the context of the evolving understanding of professionalism in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) nationally and internationally. The research was conducted within the framework of Ecocultural Theory (ECT) on the eve of mandatory …
Childminders’ Close Relationship Model of praxis
The present study seeks to address the dearth of research focussed on childminding (family day care or family childcare) in Ireland, despite its significant role in national childcare provision. One overarching aim was to explore childminders’ cultural models of praxis and pedagogy in the Irish context. This research was conducted within the theoretical framework of Ecocultural Theory (ECT) (Weisner, 2002. “Ecocultural Understanding of Children’s…
The Politics of Hospital Provision in Early Twentieth-Century Britain, By Barry Doyle
I write this review in the immediate aftermath of the party conference season, and in receipt of a generic email from Andy Burnham, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health, endorsing the view that in the 1920s and 1930s ‘public healthcare didn’t exist’, and that back then ‘hospitals, doctors and medicine were for the privileged few because they were run for profit rather than as a vital state service’. Burnham’s understanding is a commonly held …
Pre-school manager training
Objective To evaluate the impact on nutrition- and health-related practice of two methods of delivery of a nutrition and health intervention in Irish full-day-care pre-schools: training of pre-school managers only or training of managers and their staff. Design A simple randomised study with pre-schools divided into two training groups: ‘manager trained’ and ‘manager and staff trained’. Direct observational data – food and fluid provision, physic…
Exploring socio-cultural influences on infant play occupations in Irish home environments
Home learning environments have been the focus of concern in recent years, due to evidence of the impact of the home environment on early development. To date, few studies in occupational science have researched infant play development in the home. This study aimed to explore sociocultural influences on infant occupational development through the lens of play events that occurred in home settings of five families from urban and rural settings in …
Who benefits from early childcare subsidy design in Ireland
Best Newcomer Article\nThe design of policy tools reveals underlying biases that are not easily identified in policy documents. A review of two early childhood education and care subsidies in Ireland aimed at different target populations exposes differential treatment of children, parents and service providers. It also demonstrates how in a split system ‘early education’ is prioritised over ‘childcare’. The designs serve to reinforce stereotypes …
Bored of the rings
Bronfenbrenner's ecological (and later bioecological) theory has been a mainstay in the theoretical wheelhouse of developmental and family sciences since its inception in the 1970s. However, few studies accurately operationalize Bronfenbrenner's process‐person‐context‐time (PPCT) research model. The aim of this paper is to provide a practical guide to the design, implementation, and analysis of PPCT research studies. Using recent qualitative and …
Exploring socio-cultural influences on infant play occupations in Irish home environments
Home learning environments have been the focus of concern in recent years, due to evidence of the impact of the home environment on early development. To date, few studies in occupational science have researched infant play development in the home. This study aimed to explore sociocultural influences on infant occupational development through the lens of play events that occurred in home settings of five families from urban and rural settings in …
Who benefits from early childcare subsidy design in Ireland
Best Newcomer Article\nThe design of policy tools reveals underlying biases that are not easily identified in policy documents. A review of two early childhood education and care subsidies in Ireland aimed at different target populations exposes differential treatment of children, parents and service providers. It also demonstrates how in a split system ‘early education’ is prioritised over ‘childcare’. The designs serve to reinforce stereotypes …
Who benefits from early childcare subsidy design in Ireland
Best Newcomer Article\nThe design of policy tools reveals underlying biases that are not easily identified in policy documents. A review of two early childhood education and care subsidies in Ireland aimed at different target populations exposes differential treatment of children, parents and service providers. It also demonstrates how in a split system ‘early education’ is prioritised over ‘childcare’. The designs serve to reinforce stereotypes …
The Politics of Hospital Provision in Early Twentieth-Century Britain, By Barry Doyle
I write this review in the immediate aftermath of the party conference season, and in receipt of a generic email from Andy Burnham, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health, endorsing the view that in the 1920s and 1930s ‘public healthcare didn’t exist’, and that back then ‘hospitals, doctors and medicine were for the privileged few because they were run for profit rather than as a vital state service’. Burnham’s understanding is a commonly held …
Pre-school manager training
Objective To evaluate the impact on nutrition- and health-related practice of two methods of delivery of a nutrition and health intervention in Irish full-day-care pre-schools: training of pre-school managers only or training of managers and their staff. Design A simple randomised study with pre-schools divided into two training groups: ‘manager trained’ and ‘manager and staff trained’. Direct observational data – food and fluid provision, physic…
Exploring socio-cultural influences on infant play occupations in Irish home environments
Home learning environments have been the focus of concern in recent years, due to evidence of the impact of the home environment on early development. To date, few studies in occupational science have researched infant play development in the home. This study aimed to explore sociocultural influences on infant occupational development through the lens of play events that occurred in home settings of five families from urban and rural settings in …
Childminders’ Close Relationship Model of praxis
The present study seeks to address the dearth of research focussed on childminding (family day care or family childcare) in Ireland, despite its significant role in national childcare provision. One overarching aim was to explore childminders’ cultural models of praxis and pedagogy in the Irish context. This research was conducted within the theoretical framework of Ecocultural Theory (ECT) (Weisner, 2002. “Ecocultural Understanding of Children’s…
Bored of the rings
Bronfenbrenner's ecological (and later bioecological) theory has been a mainstay in the theoretical wheelhouse of developmental and family sciences since its inception in the 1970s. However, few studies accurately operationalize Bronfenbrenner's process‐person‐context‐time (PPCT) research model. The aim of this paper is to provide a practical guide to the design, implementation, and analysis of PPCT research studies. Using recent qualitative and …
Childminding professionalism and professionalisation in Ireland
This research focussed on documenting the praxis and paedagogy of paid, professional childminding (family childcare/day care) in Ireland. It explored professionalism and professionalisation among childminders in the context of the evolving understanding of professionalism in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) nationally and internationally. The research was conducted within the framework of Ecocultural Theory (ECT) on the eve of mandatory …
Capturing the perspectives of a diverse range of early childhood education and care stakeholders
Current approaches to research in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), in particular in relation to methods designed to interrogate policy and practice developments, tend not to focus on gathering empirical data through collaborative networks. This article provides a critical reflection on a novel qualitative methodological approach to gathering data through engaging participants in a professional conversation that involved a b…
‘What's the magic word?’
The nationally funded Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) programme aimed to design, deliver and evaluate interventions to improve a range of outcomes for children growing up in areas of low socio-economic status (SES). A key focus for many PEI programmes was to improve the oral language abilities of children, recognising its important link to a range of literacy, learning, social, emotional and behavioural indicators. This paper reviewed the…
The storythinking programme
The Storythinking Programme, focusing on oral storytelling, was designed to investigate critical thinking skills and pedagogical practices to nurture these skills in preschool children. The aim of the study was twofold: (1) to clarify what type of skills preschool children use and (2) to explore those teaching practices that nurture these skills. One of the study’s central claims, examined from a sociocultural lens, is that children from age 3 be…
Oral Storytelling and Emergent Critical Thinking in Early Childhood
In a time characterised by widespread misinformation and the increasing sophistication of artificial intelligence, the capacity to think critically has become a foundational educational priority. While critical thinking initiatives have largely focused on adolescents and adults, far less attention has been paid to how such dispositions can be nurtured in early childhood. This paper draws on design-based doctoral research conducted in two preschoo…
Psychology (8 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (6 works) · Early childhood education (5 works) · Pedagogy (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Irish (4 works) · Business (3 works) · Developmental psychology (3 works) · Family and Disability Support Research (3 works)