I have been working on the BEd Sports Studies and Physical Education in the School of Education, University College Cork, since 2012 when I began my job as lecturer in Physical Education and Coordinator of School Placement. During this time I have enhanced the school placement element of the programme in the following ways:·        

• Building strong school-university school partnerships; ·     
• Developing and refining four school placement modules involving 150 students and approx. 24 part-time placement tutors;     
• Providing ongoing continuing professional development for the team of part-time placement tutors;
• Supporting the team of tutors to establish effective models of supervision and assessment of student teachers;     
  
• Assisting second, third and fourth year student teachers to meet the challenges of learning to teach. 

I recently completed my Phd in the area of teacher education, entitled: An Investigation of the Roles, Relationships and Experiences of Part-Time Placement Tutors in their Supervision of Student Teachers on School Placement.

My previous work has included:
2011-2012: Placement Tutor, University College Cork.
2003-2011: Placement Tutor, University of Limerick. 2003-2011: Lecturer in Dance in Education, Hibernia College, Dublin. 
2003-2005: Facilitator for design and delivery of the dance strand of the Primary PE Curriculum
2000-2003: Facilitator for design and delivery of the dance strand of the Junior Cycle PE programme.   
1998-2010: Lecturer in Dance in Education, St Patrick's College Drumcondra, Dublin.
1997-1999: Advisor for the creative dance curriculum for the (1999) Physical Education Primary Curriculum 
1993-2003: Director of Pegasini Youth Dance Company, Cork.
1991-2012: Teacher of Dance in Education, Primary & Post Primary schools in Cork.
1990-1992: Dancer in Residence, Triskel Arts Centre, Cork.
1986-1989: Teacher of Physical Education and Dance in Education, St Ursula’s SS, Greenwich, London.
1986-1988: Teacher of Physical Education and Dance in Education, Scoile Mhuire SS, Athy, Co Kildare

Initial Teacher Education, School placement, Supervision of student teachers, Mentoring, School-University Partnerships, Curriculum and Assessment, Reflective Practice, Teacher as Life Long Learner.

Previous Research

• Masters Dissertation, 2000. Title ‘The Value of Dance in the Primary School Curriculum and a Journey towards Self Reflective Practice’

Current Research
Having recently completed my PhD on the role of part-time placement tutors in the supervision of student teachers I am now exploring possible research projects/opportunities in the field of teacher education. These include:

Student teachers’ perspectives and experiences of supervision by part-time placement tutors in school placement.
Enhancing links between school placement programmes and partner schools.
Exploring Third Space Learning in school placement.
Investigating opportunities for part-time placement tutors, beyond their role in school placement, to become involved in initial teacher education programmes.
Examining the induction and programmes of continuing professional development provided for part-time placement tutors in initial teacher institutions in the Republic of Ireland.

My teaching interests lies in Initial Teacher Education and the related elements of pedagogy, curriculum and assessment which prepare the student teacher for their journey of learning to teach. I am interested in particular in the areas of school placement, supporting part-time placement tutors, school-university partnerships, active learners, differentiated learning, innovative pedagogy, assessment and reflective practice. The modules I teach on are:

ED2317 :Placement 2
ED3317: Placement 3
ED4320: Placement 4
ED4316: Placement 5