معرفی
Prof. Maeve O'Brien holds a Professorship in Sociology and Human Development at DCU's Institute of Education (St Patrick's Campus). She previously served as Head of the School of Human Development and has extensive experience as a teacher and Home/School Liaison Coordinator in Dublin's inner city. Her academic journey spans roles in full-time research, teacher education, and curriculum development, particularly in human development frameworks for wellbeing education.
Education:
- BEd (Initial Teacher Training)
- MEd (Boston University)
- MA in Education (UCD)
- PhD (Equality Studies, UCD)
Research Interests:
- Social class and gender inequalities in education
- Caring relationality in pedagogical practices
- Well-being curriculum development (e.g., NCCA Human Development Framework)
- Teacher educator identity and professional praxis
- Critical community-building in teacher education
Her work emphasizes dialogic methods for exploring professional identity and has led initiatives like the ESAI SIG on transformative pedagogies. She co-edited the Irish Educational Studies journal and initiated DCU's Faculty reading group on educator wellbeing.
Grants & Collaborations: Current projects include a transnational wellbeing-teacher education initiative with the University of Florida Valencia and a book project on 'Community of Praxis' in ITE. Past collaborations include EU-funded research on childcare labor valuation and Freire-inspired pedagogy symposia.
Her research outputs span wellbeing frameworks, care ethics in education, and gendered labor analyses, with a focus on bridging theory and practice in equitable educational systems.
