Who we are

This project is funded by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Affairs as part of The LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy 2018-2020 which is a cross-Government strategy. Capacity building for professional service providers working with LGBTI+ young people is a key action within the Strategy and the funding is specifically for organisations with proven expertise and specialist knowledge in the provision (of services) to LGBTI+ Young People.

Supported by the School of Education, University College Dublin (UCD) and the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the project is entitled Queer(Y)ing Teacher Education: LGBTI+ Youth and Schooling and focuses on how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) prepare their student teachers and school leaders for an increasingly diverse school landscape, particularly in reference to minority sexual identities and orientations.

Background

Research has consistently revealed gaps in, and challenges for, the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based and research-informed Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for in-service teachers and educational professionals in Ireland.

This is particularly the case concerning CPD which addresses issues related to sexual identity, sexual orientation and gender performance (see Fahie et al. 2019, Duarte and Murphy, 2020, Neary, 2019). Likewise, for initial teacher education, there is a lack of evidence-based and research-informed approaches to developing LGBTI+ inclusive practices for children and young people, particularly those which are underpinned by principles of human rights, equity and critical theory (Jones, 2019; Swanson & Gettinger, 2016; Szalacha, 2004).

Founders

Dr Declan Fahie

Director of School Placement and Director of Research, School of Education, UCD

A qualified teacher, Declan has worked in the area of teacher education for over 12 years. As well as teaching Sociology of Education on the Professional Master of Education (PME) programme at UCD, Declan has published nationally and internationally on workplace bullying, heteronormative organisational cultures, sensitive research, school effectiveness, toxic leadership in higher education and queer issues in education. He was lead editor of the publication Fahie, D., Quilty, A. and DePalma Ungaro, R. (eds.) (2019) Queer Teaching – Teaching Queer London: Routledge

Dr Gavin Murphy

Assistant Professor, School of Education, Trinity College Dublin

Gavin is a post-primary school teacher and now researches and teaches educational policy and leadership at TCD, as an assistant professor. Gavin’s research and teaching centres on professional education of teachers and school leaders through the Professional Master of Education and Master of Educational Leadership programmes. He is keenly interested in the intersection of professional education with educational policies of equality, diversity and inclusion.

Gavin was awarded competitive international scholarships to the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge (2015/16) and to the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne (2018/ 19). In 2019, Gavin was selected to represent UCD in the OUTstanding Emerging Leaders Programme, an organisation working directly with LGBTI+ and ally leaders to drive cultural change.