Academic biography

Dr Tara Concannon-Gibney lectures in the area of literacy in the School of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood. She is the chair of the Professional Masters in Education (Primary Teaching). She is a former primary school teacher and has worked extensively with in-service and pre-service teachers for over twenty years. Dr Concannon-Gibney teaches across a number of undergraduate and postgraduate teacher education programmes up to and including doctoral level.

She was awarded an Advanced HE Fellowship in 2021 and earned a Universal Badge for Learning (UDL) in 2020 (AHEAD/CAST). Dr Concannon-Gibney has a keen interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning and has conducted and published self-studies in recent years to enhance her teaching. She led the BEd4 Self-study Research Project module from 2023-25. She was a key member of a community of practice that pioneered the use of Interactive Oral Assessments at DCU. She was nominated (as part of a team) for the DCU President’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2021.

Dr Concannon-Gibney has a sustained and substantial publishing record in highly-ranked peer-reviewed journals. She is also the sole author of Teaching Essential Literacy Skills: A guide for students and teachers (Routledge). She is the past president of the Literacy Association of Ireland (twice) and was the Irish representative for FELA (Federation of European Literacy Association) from 2021-2024. She was a member of an expert advisory panel for Doodle Den (Childhood Development Initiative), which developed a website and support materials to enhance the literacy development of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. She also worked with AMBER (Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research) in 2020-2021 to develop lesson plans integrating science, maths, and literacy. Her recent SCOTENS-funded project focused on the 'Exploration of the Use of Children's Literature in Early Reading'. She recently worked with a large team of researchers from the IoE on the research report in relation to the updating of the national literacy (including digital literacy) & numeracy strategy and another team within the LLECE (DCU) on a Literature Review to Support the Updating of Aistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (NCCA, 2019). She is also interested in the area of plurilingualism and conducted a collaborative research study focused on this in 2023-24 that was funded by An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta & Gaelscolaíochta (CoGG).

Dr Concannon-Gibney is the primary co-ordinator of the DCU Partnership for Learning committee that provide high quality professional development for DCU partnership schools and settings. She was nominated (as part of the team) for the DCU President’s Award for Engagement in 2025 for this work.

Her current research interests include early literacy, the literacy instruction of English language learners, literacy integration, creativity in literacy education, teacher professional development in literacy, and teaching and learning in higher education.