Academic biography

Dr Una McCabe is Head of the School of Arts Education and Movement at DCU Institute of Education. She specialises in drama education, and her work focuses on inspiring creativity and artistic expression with students of all ages. She is passionate about the importance of drama and the arts as catalysts for learning and development. With a wealth of experience as a teacher, teacher educator and teaching artist, Una brings extensive theoretical and practice based knowledge to her role as a researcher and educator. Her experience, research, and international publications are in the areas of drama pedagogy, sociodramatic play training, play frameworks, interactions in arts rich classrooms, youth theatre, arts based methods, creativity and education, and arts curricula.

Una was awarded a DCU Institute of Education Research Fellowship in 2019. She is a member of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment Primary Arts Education Development Group; the Thematic Coordinator for Arts and Social Inclusion in Education for the Educational Disadvantage Centre at DCU; a member of DCU's Civic Engagement Committee; and a member of the (National) Arts and Culture in Education Research Repository committee. She sits on the editorial board of NJ: Drama Australia.

Una holds a degree in Drama from Trinity College Dublin, and a H.Dip.Ed. from Trinity College. She has also completed an M.A. at the National College of Art and Design entitled 'Artists, the Arts and Early Childhood Education' and obtained a Phd from University College Cork in which she investigated drama as a method of sociodramatic play training. Prior to joining DCU, Una lectured in St Patrick's College; DKIT, and the Froebel College of Education, as well as holding a variety of national and international roles as an arts education practitioner, leader and evaluator.