Academic biography

Eithne Kennedy is associate professor (Literacy Studies) and Programme Chair of the Master of Education in Literacy Professional Practice (MEdLPP) in the School of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education. She is the director of the newly formed DCU Centre for Literacy Research, Policy and Practice: https://www.dcu.ie/literacy-research-policy-practice

As the director of the Write to Read research initiative a longitudinal University and School literacy project she also works collaboratively with schools and communities to create powerful literacy environments that motivate and engage children as readers, writers and thinkers. Prior to joining the faculty in 1997, she was a classroom teacher in Dublin and the US where she earned her Master’s in Special Education at Fordham University, NYC.

She is the recipient of the International Literacy Association’s Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award (2010), Tatler Public Life Award (2011) and DCU President’s Award for Public Engagement (2014).  

She has authored and co-authored several publications in the field of literacy including: Raising Literacy Achievement in High-Poverty Schools: An Evidence-Based Approach (Routledge, US, 2014), and a range of papers on literacy research, policy and practice. Her second book Teaching and Assessing Writing in the Primary School: A Whole School Approach will be published in January 2025 with Routledge, UK.  She recently led the largest IoE collaboration to date to deliver a report and 29 systematic reviews commissioned by the Department of Education to inform the development of the National Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy (DE/DCEIDY, 2024-2033). 

She is a past president of the Literacy Association of Ireland and Chair of the LAI Biennial Outstanding Dissertation Subcommittee.