Our students come from all sorts of backgrounds and go on to follow a wide variety of careers and paths through life. Read about the experiences of some graduates below.
Maynooth University Department of Education
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Students
Course Undertaken: Doctor of Education
Course Undertaken: Ph.D. Education
Course Undertaken: Ed D Teacher Education Specialism
Stacey Cannon
Thesis Title: Exploring Life Skill Development, Leadership and Transfer: Experiences of Uoung Sportspeople in a youth leadership development programme, within a specific community-based sports setting.
Supervisor(s): Dr Rose Dolan
Short Biography: Stacey is currently the course director/lead in the MA in Leadership Workplace Health and Wellbeing in Technology University of Shannon (TUS). She also supervises research MA students and lectures full time on the Sport Performance/Management and Early Childhood Studies undergraduate programmes within Business and Humanities Department.
Colm Dooley
Course Undertaken: Ed.D.
Thesis Title: Unearthing Pedagogy: Frome recitative to reasoned practice.
Supervisor(s): Professor Aislinn O’ Donnell
Short Biography: Dr Colm Dooley is a school leader, teacher, teacher educator, student and researcher. His primary research interests are in curriculum and teacher education with a specific focus on pedagogy. He was the 2020 inaugural recipient of Maynooth University School of Education's Professor John Coolahan Scholarship Award and completed his doctoral studies in late 2021. He has also conducted diploma and Masters studies in education with a particular focus on Curriculum and Pedagogy. Colm is now in his eleventh year as a second level school leader and is based in Goatstown, Dublin.
Two recent publications:
Colm has recently published articles on the importance of pedagogy in K12 Digest and NAPD Leader
Audrey Doyle
Course Undertaken: Doctor of Philosophy in Education
Thesis Title: Curriculum Becoming in the assemblage of lower secondary education in Ireland.
Supervisor(s): Dr Majella Dempsey and Professor Sharon Todd
Short Biography: I am assistant professor in the School of Policy and Practice and programme chair for the Bachelor of Religious Education with English/History or Music. I am a fellow in the Anti-Bullying centre in DCU and have been awarded the Higher Education Senior Fellowship in Teaching and Learning. In 2021, as part of a team, I won the DCU President’s Award for Teaching and Learning for our work on changing teacher placement during Covid-2019.
Two recent publications:
Mouraz, A. & Doyle, A. (2023). The effects of international mobility on teachers’ power of curriculum agency. The Curriculum Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.226
Doyle, A. (2023). Disturbing the teacher’s role as assessor: the case of calculated grades 2020-2021 in Ireland. Irish Educational Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/03323315.2023.2236597
Seán Henry
Thesis Title: Queering Religious Schooling: Teachings, Values, Rituals
Supervisor(s): Professor Sharon Todd and Dr Thomas Walsh
Short Biography: After graduating in 2019, I worked as an Assistant Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at Maynooth University (2019-2021), and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Centre on Inclusive and Equitable Cultures, Technological University Dublin (2021-2022). From July 2022, I have worked as a Lecturer in Education at the Department of Secondary and Further Education, Edge Hill University, UK. In this role, I currently act as leader for the Department’s BA (Hons) Education joint honours programme, as well as the Department’s lead for equality, diversity, and inclusion.
Two recent publications:
Henry, S., Bryan, A. and Neary, A. (2023), ‘Laughing ourselves out of the closet: Comedy as a queer pedagogical form.’ Ethics & Education, 18(1), pp. 151-166.
Henry, S. (2022), ‘Pedagogies of Dissent: Bridging the Religion–LGBTQ Divide.’ Educational Theory, 72(6), pp. 731-744.
Ciara O'Donnell
Thesis Title: The Secondment of Teachers to Continuing Teacher Education: Transitions and Tensions
Supervisor(s): Dr. Rose Dolan
Short Biography: Following a career of twenty years in continuing teacher education with nine of those as National Director for the Professional Development Service for Teachers ( PDST), Ciara now works as an independent consultant in the areas of teacher education , curriculum and school leadership. Her service offers strategic review and guidance to schools and education bodies in relation to professional learning ,leadership and the process of curriculum change /development. She frequently addresses audiences of educators in these areas and has widely presented her doctoral thesis at national and international conferences. Based on her doctoral research Ciara has designed a programme for Aspiring Teacher Educators and facilitates this across Ireland’s education centre network. Ciara also works as a part-time lecturer and tutor for Maynooth University’s post-graduate and Masters leadership programmes while teaching curriculum studies in Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education and Dublin City University.
Tiernan O’Donnell
Course Undertaken: Doctor of Education
Thesis Title: Supporting New Principals as Leaders of Learning through Mentoring.
Supervisor(s): Dr. Thomas Walsh
Short Biography: Principal of CBS Thurles Secondary School.
Recent publications:
O’Donnell. T (2022) ‘Supporting new principals as leaders of learning through mentoring’ Leadership, Spring, National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals.
Natalie O’Neill
Course Undertaken: M. Lit with conversion to PhD in Education
Thesis Title: Bridging the epistemic Divide: A Design Based Research Project on Laboratory Work at Upper Second Level in Ireland
Supervisor(s): Dr Majella Dempsey and Dr Jackie Nugent
Short Biography: I am working in the Institute of Education at DCU as Programme Chair for the BSc in Science and Mathematics Education. I also coordinate and teach a number of modules on the programme and I work on school placement as a tutor to undergraduate and postgraduate students. I am an active member of CASTeL at DCU, Irelands leading research centre in STEM education, where I am building upon my PhD research by developing and researching best practice in the delivery of Initial Teacher Education. I chair the ESAI Biology Education Special Interest Group, leading a team of Biology Educators with a focus on improving Biodiversity Education and Enquiry-Based Teaching and Learning across Ireland .
Two recent publications:
O’Neill, N. (2023). From recipe to enquiry – a curriculum tool for science teachers to align policy with practice in practical lessons, Irish Educational Studies, DOI: 10.1080/03323315.2023.2261001
O'Neill, N. (2022). Bridging the Epistemic Divide: A Design Based Research Project on Laboratory Work at Upper Second Level in Ireland (Doctoral dissertation, National University of Ireland Maynooth).