Academic biography

Dr Una McCabe is Head of the School of Arts Education and Movement at DCU Institute of Education. She lectures in drama, leads the Masters in Arts Education Practice and  her research focuses on the potential of drama and the arts as catalysts for learning and development.  She worked as a teacher, and as a teaching artist, prior to joining DCU and takes a praxis oriented approach to her research. Her national and international publications, presentations and projects are in the areas of drama pedagogy, sociodramatic play training, early years drama, play frameworks, interactions in arts rich classrooms, youth theatre, arts based research 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 Studies, and a H.Dip.Ed., from Trinity College Dublin. 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. Previous roles include Drama Lecturer in St Patrick's College, Lecturer in Drama and in Early Childhood Education at DKIT and the Froebel College of Education, as well as a variety of national and international roles as an arts education practitioner, leader and evaluator.