Jolene (EYQS) and Aoife (QM) recently attended the EECERA Conference 2026 in Madeira, joining early childhood researchers, educators and policy colleagues from across Ireland and further afield.
This year’s conference theme, ‘The Development of Agency, Participation and Democracy in the Digital Age,’ connected strongly with many of the conversations taking place through PEACEPLUS Aspire. Across the conference, we attended symposia and presentations exploring children’s voice and participation, relationships, family and community engagement, inclusion and belonging, peacebuilding, creativity, digital learning and collaboration.
A real highlight was the opportunity to meet and network with people working across many different areas of Early Childhood Education and Care. We connected with colleagues from universities, government departments, community-based programmes and early childhood organisations. These conversations gave us opportunities to exchange ideas, hear about new research and practice and, importantly, share our own experiences of Shared Education through PEACEPLUS Aspire.
We were also delighted to present our poster, ‘Co-Constructing Peace Through Digitally Enabled Shared Education: Early Findings from PEACEPLUS Aspire.’ The poster shared some of the learning emerging from the programme and brought to life the relationships and friendships developing between children, educators, families and communities through Shared Education.
The poster session became a wonderful networking opportunity. Many delegates stopped to talk with us, asked questions about PEACEPLUS Aspire and were keen to learn more about how Shared Education is working within early childhood settings. Many had not previously encountered the programme or National Childhood Network, and delegates scanned our QR code and were encouraged to continue following the Aspire journey through our website, Facebook and Padlet.
Perhaps the greatest value of EECERA was the two-way exchange. We returned home with new ideas, perspectives and professional connections, while having the opportunity to share the PEACEPLUS Aspire story with a wider international early childhood community.
Being at EECERA reinforced something that sits at the heart of our work: relationships matter, between children, educators, families, settings and communities, and between professionals who come together to share, learn and create new possibilities.