Academic biography

Ann Marie Farrell is Assistant Professor in the School of Inclusive and Special Education in the Institute of Education, DCU. She has taught across the Irish education system (primary, post-primary and special school sectors) in multiple teaching roles (infant single and multi-grade classes, special classes, learning support and subject teacher). In 1995, she introduced the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme to the special school in which she worked as one of 45 pilot schools; the first special school in the country to adopt this programme - a groundbreaking curricular innovation in the special school sector. She joined the Special Education Department, St.Patrick’s College in 2001 and has been a member of the School of Inclusive and Special Education, DCU since 2016.

Ann Marie teaches across multiple programmes in the IoE, focusing on inclusive pedagogy, special and inclusive education, universal design for learning and other related themes. She has supervised numerous student’s research projects and has engaged extensively in research projects in the field of Special and Inclusive Education. She is also a leader in the field of Higher Education, actively engaging in formal and informal professional learning, culminating in her doctorate which focused on assessment in the Higher Education Sector. She regularly contributes to professional development events nationally and internationally. She is co-founder of the Pedagogy for Higher Education Large Classes (PHELC)