Jackie Durkan – Making a Difference in the Early Years Sector with an MA in Early Childhood Studies

Jackie Durkan is as experienced as they come in the early years sector. She and her sister have been running Stepping Stones Creche and Montessori in southwest Dublin for the last 20 years.

For many of those years, they were working year-round with full days of 7 am to 6.30 pm. However, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, they decided to roll back the service slightly, moving to a 38-week per year service, reducing the working day to 8.30 am to 1.30 pm.

Part of this decision was thanks to Jackie’s longer-term ambition for her career in the early years sector.

She has her eyes set on working for a governing body of the sector and trying to bring about change that can improve working conditions for those in early years settings. This is where Portobello Institute comes in.

“I wanted to have the MA. I was doing a bit of psychology teaching online for another college last year. With the MA, I was planning on going into Tusla or An Cosán or one of the training colleges,” she said.

Jackie is passionate about the working environments and circumstances of early years practitioners and she is hoping that she can play a role in improving life for them.

“If I was going into Tusla, I’d maybe look into the way things are run in early childhood settings and try to change them for the better.

“There is an awful lot required for very little pay. I’d be looking to go in and see what changes can be made,” she said.

Jackie came to Portobello in order to add more academic knowledge to her existing level eight degree and extensive experience in working.

She has gained her MA in Early Childhood Studies and says she really enjoyed the educational experience at Portobello, particularly the role our tutors played in her learning.

“I really enjoyed it. I thought Marguerita was brilliant. She was a fantastic tutor. You only send her a text or an email and she’s back to you straight away. She’s top of her game. She knows the stuff inside out. She’s a great tutor and a lovely lady, really easy to communicate with,” she said.

At Portobello, we strive to make our courses work for our students and their schedules, something that Jackie says was of real benefit to her.

“There was one other course I was considering. Portobello didn’t require any Saturdays, which a lot of them do. Some of them required block weeks of going into college.

“Portobello very much suits the working mother. It suited my schedule. The timelines were great. You could get extensions but we didn’t need them. The essays were spread out. Everything was online which was great for me. I would be able to do my work in the evening. That was great,” she said.

Jackie has already passed the details of the course on to her colleagues so that they too can fulfil their potential and follow their passion in the early years sector.

If you’d like to hear more about the MA in Early Childhood Studies or any of our other early years qualifications, you can do so by visiting the department page here.

If you are interested in any of our Early Childhood Studies degrees or courses you can book a consultation call with our expert early years advisor Jennifer Matteazzi here, email [email protected] or call 01 892 0031.