Assistant Professor in Early Childhood Education and Care

anna.barr@ncirl.ie

Key Responsibilities at NCI

• Lecturing on the Honours degree programme in Early Childhood Education and Care

• Placement Lead for the Honours degree programme in Early Childhood Education and Care

Education

• M.A in Teaching and Learning (2019), National College of Ireland
• B.A (Hons) in Early Childhood Education and Care (2015), Institute of Technology, Carlow
• B.A (Hons) in Industrial Design (Textiles) (1994), Herriot Watt University, Edinburgh

Academic Experience

• Assistant Professor in Education, National College of Ireland, Ireland (2019 to present)
• Tutor, Leadership for Inclusion (LINC) in Early Years Programme, Mary immaculate College, Ireland (2017 to 2020)
• Tutor, Early Childhood Care and Education Level 5 and Level 6 FET programmes (2015- 2017)

Research Interests

Professional development of ECEC; STEM education in ECEC; Digital learning in ECEC

Key Publications

Journal article

• Haals Brosnan, Maja, Hayes, Noirin, Oke, Meera and Barr, Anna (2025) Protecting Professional Selves Through Student-Centred Supervised Professional Practice Placement Preparation: Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Early Childhood. ISSN 00207187

Book chapter

• Barr. A, and Hilliard. P (2021). Realising and Building Partnership with Parents and Families. In Ring, E, O’Sullivan, L, Ryan, M and Daly, P (Eds), Leading Inclusion from the Inside Out: A Handbook for Parents and Early Childhood Teachers in Early Learning and Care, Primary and Special School Settings, Peter Lang: Oxford.

Conference Papers

• Barr, A. (2021). Creative embodied learning experiences; making the move online. Practice Paper. EdTech Winter Online Conference 2021 Paradigm Shift: Reflection, Resilience and Renewal in Digital Education. 15th January 2021