School of Human Development header
School of Human Development

Dr
Jones
Irwin

Primary Department
School of Human Development
Role
Academic Staff
Phone number:
01 700
9227
Campus
St Patrick's Campus
Room Number
SPC M 104

Academic biography

I am Associate Professor in Philosophy and Education at the IOE and Chair of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education. My original undergraduate/postgraduate work in Philosophy and Politics was at University College, Dublin and my PhD at University of Warwick, England. More recently, I have held a Visiting Professorship at the Faculty of Education, University of Catania, Italy, 2022-23, and 2023/24 am Visiting Fellow in Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Hertfordshire, England. I am also Subject Leader at DCU for Philosophy on the Open Education programme. From 2015-2019, I was seconded as Project Officer on the first state curriculum in values and multi-belief education for primary schools in Ireland (there are currently 29 such Community National Schools). In 2023/24, this will connect with the CHANGEMAKER programme at DCU and its network of schools (with a particular connection to the multi-denominational and pluralist sector of schools). I have co-supervised with colleagues at the Institute ten doctoral students to graduation in recent years in areas of education, philosophy and pluralism, and currently have five doctoral students working in related areas. New teaching work for 2023/24 is as module co-ordinator of both the Disciplines Specialism in 4TH BEd and Transformative Leadership Across Diverse Contexts module as part of the new PG Certificate in RSE/SPHE. I am also taking up a new role in the Centre for Educational Disadvantage as Thematic Co-Ordinator for Critical Theory and Community Development.

Research interests

Philosophy of Education
Values Education inc. Comparative Beliefs and Religious Education
Curriculum - Theory and Practice
Multi-Denominational and Pluralist Schools and Ethoi
State Role in School Values (national/international)
Theory in Early Years Education (Steiner/Froebel)
19th and 20th Century European Philosophy
1960s and Post-'68 French Theory and Influence on Leftist Politics
Existential Thought
Participatory Action Research
Ethics
Aesthetics/Poetics/Fiction (Literature and Philosophy)
Emergent Approaches to Introducing Philosophy