Academic biography

Dr Tara Concannon-Gibney lectures in the area of literacy. A former primary school teacher, she has worked with pre-service and in-service teachers in Ireland and in New York for two decades. Prior to joining D.C.U. in 2017, she was programme coordinator of the B.Sc. in Early Childhood Education at Marino Institute of Education (Dublin) where she lectured in literacy and Early Childhood Education. From 2009 until 2012, Dr Concannon-Gibney worked at Adelphi University in New York.

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 currently leads the BEd4 Self-study Research Project module. 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 past president of the Literacy Association of Ireland and the current Irish representative for FELA (Federation of European Literacy Association). 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 Up