Academic biography

Christina Hannify is an Assistant Professor in the School of Inclusive and Special Education. She teaches across a range of programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level, including the Graduate Diploma in Inclusive and Special Education and Master of Education in Specific Learning Disabilities (Dyslexia). Christina also supervises research as part of the Master of Education in Autism.

Having initially qualified with a Degree in Psychology from UCD, Christina subsequently trained as a primary school teacher in St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. Christina has completed a number of post-graduate courses with DCU, including a Graduate Diploma in Inclusive Education and Learning Support and Masters in Special Educational Needs. She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Leadership and Management from NUI Maynooth.

Having taught across mainstream primary and special schools, Christina has extensive teaching experience in a range of roles, including as a mainstream class teacher, special education teacher and special class teacher. During her time as a primary teacher, Christina was a member of Professional Support Teams and mentored newly qualified teachers undertaking the Droichead induction process. She was later seconded as an Advisor to the National Council for Special Education, where she provided in-school support and national training in the area of Autism. As part of this role, Christina piloted communities of practice for teachers in newly established Autism classes, worked across interdisciplinary teams to develop inclusive practice in schools, and co-developed seminars and resources focused on supporting teachers of Autistic students. She also collaborated with Middletown Centre for Autism, NEPS and the Department of Education’s Inspectorate in the national roll-out of training for the Autism Good Practice Guidance.

Christina’s teaching and research interests pertain to inclusive practice in education, with a particular focus on evidence-informed literacy instruction and response to intervention for struggling readers. Her Master’s research, which was nominated and shortlisted for the Literacy Association of Ireland’s Biennial Award for Outstanding thesis, focused on a morphological analysis intervention for EAL students experiencing language and reading difficulties. Christina is also interested in effective teaching approaches to support students with complex communication challenges and is passionate about the development of inclusive communication environments in Irish schools.