The development of the Curriculum Preparation feature within Child Paths forms part of a wider programme of work aligned with the updating of Aistear: The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (NCCA, 2024). The revision of Aistear represents a significant shift towards agentic learning, emergent curriculum, reflective practice, inclusion, and partnership with families. These developments necessitated a review of several Child Paths features to ensure continued alignment with current pedagogy, policy expectations, and educator workflows.
The existing curriculum planning tools within Child Paths were originally developed in the context of Aistear (2009) and had not undergone substantive revision for over ten years. During this period, the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector has evolved considerably in terms of professional learning, research evidence, inspection expectations, and the realities of practice in increasingly complex settings. Feedback from educators consistently highlighted that while planning is a core professional responsibility, it is carried out in flexible, responsive, and time-constrained ways that are not always well supported by digital systems.
Educators described a planning process that begins with a broad, flexible long-term plan at the start of the year, often informed by seasons, anticipated events, and children’s emerging interests. Medium-term planning typically occurs monthly or every six weeks, allowing teams to identify more specific learning goals while remaining responsive to change. Short-term planning, however, is largely spontaneous and informed by daily observations, conversations, and children’s immediate interests. Educators emphasised that some of their most meaningful planning happens “in the moment,” through professional judgement and team dialogue rather than formal documentation. As one educator noted, existing templates are often self-created and adapted to fit practice, rather than imposed systems.
This feedback revealed a clear gap between how curriculum planning is lived in practice and how it is often represented in software. Educators expressed a strong desire for a tool that could show how the curriculum statement and short/medium-term planning connect; link planning to individual children’s learning; allow spontaneous planning to be captured quickly; and map learning to Aistear themes and learning outcomes without becoming rigid or overly administrative. Crucially, educators stressed that any new feature must save time, integrate with daily routines, and feel like it is “made for educators, not just another form for inspections.”
In response, the primary aim of this project was to conduct a structured gap analysis of the current Child Paths curriculum planning tools against the revised Aistear (2024) framework, examining both compliance and pedagogical integrity. Based on this analysis, the project developed integrated the curriculum statement, collection of emergent interests and short/medium-term planning templates that reflect emergent curriculum, inquiry-based learning, and slow, relational pedagogy. The feature will support educators to scaffold, respond to, and extend children’s learning in ways that are meaningful, inclusive, and manageable within busy settings.
This work is being undertaken alongside revisions to documentation and assessment features, recognising that planning, observation, assessment, and reflection operate as a continuous cycle. The project includes the development of onboarding and support materials and close collaboration with the Child Paths technical team to ensure seamless integration with the learning platform.
Ultimately, this curriculum preparation feature aims to reduce administrative burden while strengthening pedagogical confidence, making emergent learning visible without constraining it. It positions Child Paths as a professional support system that reflects how educators really work, i.e. responsive, relational, and grounded in children’s lived experiences while remaining fully aligned with Aistear (2024) and best practice in early childhood education.
