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ESAI Celebrates International Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day on 8th March 2024, the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) would like to honour the wonderful contribution that our female former presidents have made both to the Association, and to Irish Education. International Women’s Day is an annual event that recognizes women for their achievements and raises awareness about gender parity. Our former Presidents continue to shape research and policy in Ireland and internationally. Follow our campaign online #IWD2024 #IWD #InternationalWomensDay

Prof Áine Hyland

(ESAI President from 1990- 1992)

Emeritus Professor of Education and former vice-president of University College Cork, Ireland. She is interested in educational policy and practice at all levels of education. Áine’s contribution to education is inestimable; she has been involved in numerous initiatives over the course of her career, beginning with the key role she played as Researcher to the Investment in Education project, the first ever OECD review of national policies for education (OECD, 1991: 7), on which she worked as a very young civil servant in the 1960s. She was a member of the Constitutional Review Group (1995-96); Vice-Chair of the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (2003-09), a founder of the multi-denominational Dalkey School Project, and subsequently Chair of Educate Together. Her publications include a three volume collection of extracts from Irish educational documents from earliest times to the 1990s. Read some of her work here.

Prof Sheelagh Drudy

(ESAI President from 1998-2000)

Emeritus Professor of Education at University College Dublin and former Head of the UCD School of Education. She studied at University College Galway and obtained her doctorate from the University of Cambridge. She was Chair of the Task Force on Autism 2000/2002. She has researched and published numerous books and peer-reviewed papers on education including the sociology of education, gender, class, teacher education and inclusion. Prof Drudy has published papers on inclusive education in international peer-reviewed journals. Her books include Schools and Society in Ireland (1993) (co-authored with K. Lynch), and Education in Ireland: Challenge and Change (2009). She is a former member of the Teaching Council of Ireland. Read some of her work here.

Prof Elizabeth Oldham

(ESAI President from 2000-2002)

Lecturer in Mathematics Education at the School of Education, then School of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin. Prof Oldham has a long association with cross-national studies of curriculum and attainment. She was a member of the international Curriculum Analysis Group for the Second International Mathematics Study in the 1980s; she worked with the Educational Research Centre in Dublin with regard to curriculum aspects of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study in the 1990s; she was a member of the National Advisory Committee for the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and remains on the National TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) Post-Primary Advisory Group. She served as an Education Officer (Mathematics) for the Irish National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in the 1990s. She also engages with aspects of teaching and learning mathematics, particularly with regard to teachers’ and prospective teachers’ philosophies of mathematics and mathematical identities and with prospective teachers’ understanding of concepts. She was awarded the ESAI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. Read some of her work here.

Dr Margaret Reynolds

(ESAI President from 2002-2004)

Lecturer at St Mary’s University College, Belfast, was one of the founding members of SCoTENS, whose commitment to a shared vision for teacher education contributed to its growth and development.

Rev. Canon Prof. Anne Lodge

(ESAI President from 2006-2008)

Rev. Canon Prof Anne Lodge is Director of the Church of Ireland Centre (CIC) in the DCU Institute of Education. The CIC was established under the legal agreement between DCU and CICE enabling the incorporation of the latter into the University on 1st October 2016. Rev. Prof. Lodge played a key role along with other institutional leaders in the incorporation of three Colleges of Education in the Dublin region into DCU. Rev. Canon Prof Lodge was appointed a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral in 2024. Announcing the appointment, Archbishop Michael Jackson said ‘the Reverend Canon Professor Anne Lodge has contributed to the worlds of education and of the Church of Ireland for decades in a broad range of ways and at high levels of expertise’. Her lecturing and research interests are in the areas of equality, educational culture and ethos, and individual and community identities and relationships. She is a member of the School of Policy and Practice in the DCU Institute of Education. Read some of her work here.

Rose Malone

(ESAI President from 2012-2014)

Rose Malone was Course Director for the Childhood Development Initiative at Maynooth University and President of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (2015).

Dr Delma Byrne

(ESAI President from 2014-2016)

Dr Delma Byrne is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Maynooth University. Her research interests focus on social stratification and the sociology of education, and the role of education in shaping life chances over the life-course, including labour market experiences. This work spans primary, second-level and higher education sectors as well as post secondary education and training; transitions between education and the labour market and the evaluation of educational interventions. Dr Byrne has been a Research Assistant and Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin (2001-2003 and 2007-2010 respectively) and at the University of Edinburgh where she obtained a PhD in Educational Sociology (2003-2007). Read some of her work here.

Prof Teresa O’Doherty

(ESAI President from 2020-2022)

Prof O’Doherty is President of Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, and Adjunct Professor of the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin. A teacher educator and scholar for more than thirty years, Prof. O’Doherty is a member of a wide range of academic, professional and administrative committees at national and international levels. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (RHS) in recognition of her contribution to historical scholarship, and was elected to the Academic Council of the Association of Teacher Education in Europe. She was appointed by the Minister for Education to the Teaching Council in April 2022, and previously held the position of member of the State Examinations’ Commission (2015-2022). Prof O’Doherty was a former Co-Chair of the Standing Conference of Teacher Education, North and South (SCoTENS, 2009-2013) and is a member of the Institute of Directors. Her research interests are in the area of teacher education and the history of education. Read some of her work here.

 

 

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