João Costa is a qualified post-primary Physical Education teacher, with a Doctorate in Educational Sciences - Teacher Education. His professional career includes: 1) practicing PE teacher in all the education continuum (K-12) for 4 years; 2) coaching sports (collective games and martial arts) to athletes across the lifespan since 2000; 3) preparing teachers, exercise instructors and sport coaches in their initial and continuing education in multiple professional preparation settings which include Universities, Professional Schools, and CPD Centres since 2012; 4) researching and lecturing at the University since 2013; 5) serving as board member for the European Journal of Teacher Education and Journal of the Portuguese Society of Physical Education; 6) serving as board member and vice-president of the Portuguese Society of Physical Education; and 7) Participating and leading funded research, namely Co-Coordinating the Eramus+ Project "European Physical Education Observatory" (EuPEO).
Currently, João serves as Lecturer in Education (Sport Pedagogy) for the UCC B.Ed (Hons) in Sports Studies and Physical Education with contributions to the modules related to Sport Pedagogy, Curriculum and Assessment, Sport Psychology, School Placement, Research Methods, and Research Project. His role also involves the support to postgraduate researchers, and engaging with the community, mainly through CPD and partnering with schools. He is also involved as member of the core team of the Global Observatory of Physical Education (GoPE!).
At the wider community, João contributes to represent UCC at relevant bodies, namely PETE Ireland, and PEPAYS Ireland.
João welcomes opportunities to engage with national and international colleagues, professionals and students around these and other related topics, through the following links:

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3623-6715
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joao_Costa8
Canvas Profile: https://ucc.instructure.com/profile
Twitter: JoaoPintoCosta (@JoaoC81)

João's research interests focus on linking the fields of teacher education and teaching quality, sustained on the socioecological paradigm, from the conceptual perspectives of Learning Communities, Communities of Practice, Collective Efficacy, Instructional Alignment, and Promotion of Wellbeing. In these interests, João is actively pursuing ways of developing a connected curriculum of initial teacher education with the local school community, expanded by an international view through inter-institution partnerships with other teacher education programmes.
These research interests are strongly pursued from interpretive and community-based participatory research stances by connecting with academics, teachers, students, school management, and other community stakeholders, through a shared responsibility of creating substantive, inclusive and meaningful opportunities to engage with and learn through physical activity.
Moreover, João is highly interested in working with different subject departments on the development of integrated curriculum approaches to connect different subjects and disciplines into a coherent, authentic, inclusive and meaningful learning experience that enriches students and teachers.

Interested in teaching subjects related to Curriculum, Assessment, Pedagogy, Instructional Alignment, Pedagogical Models, Coherence, Sport Psychology, Teacher Education, and School Placement, generally in Education and in the subject of Physical Education.

Module Coordinator to:
ED1308 - Sport Psychology - Fundamentals and Application
ED1325 - Curriculum and Pedagogical Coherence in Junior Cycle
ED2322 - Curriculum and Pedagogical Coherence in Senior Cycle

Lecturer in:
ED1314 - Curriculum-Based Physical Activities 1 - Combat Sports (Olympic Wrestling)

Supervisor in taught programmes:
ED4320 - School Placement 3
ED4315 - Final Year Project
ED6035 - M.Ed Research Dissertation