Researcher Details |

Annie Ó Breacháin

Contact Details

Fg13

T:Ext. 9103

E:annie.obreachain@dcu.ie

FG13
T:Ext. 9103

E:annie.obreachain@dcu.ie

I am an Assistant Professor in Drama Education in the School of Arts Education and Movement at the Institute of Education, Dublin City University (DCU). I teaches and research in the area of Drama Education. I have a B.Ed. from St Patrick’s College, DCU, an M.St. (Drama Education) from the University of Dublin, Trinity College and an Ed.D. from the University of Exeter. Before I began working in Initial Teacher Education, I worked as a primary school teacher and in teacher in-service, with the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) now OIDE, offering support in the areas of Drama and Gaeilge. I have a particular interest in drama, embodiment, student-teacher relationships, phenomenological inquiry, children’s participation rights, and Social Justice Education. I am also interested in the practice of teaching, the art of storytelling, curricular integration using Mantle of the Expert, performative pedagogy and visual and embodied research data. I was chairperson of the Association for Drama in Education in Ireland (ADEI) from 2017 to 2021 and vice chair for several years. I still serve on the ADEI committee for curriculum matters. I joined the board of directors at The Ark, a dedicated cultural centre for children, in April 2021

Book Chapter

	Year	Publication
	2021	Ó Breacháin, Annie and Fagan, Ciara (2021) 'Drama, Social Justice Education and Education for Sustainable Development: Theory in Action' In: Teaching for Social Justice and Sustainable Development Across the Primary Curriculum. London : Routledge.

Peer Reviewed Journal

	Year	Publication
	2013	Ó Breacháin & O'Toole (2013) 'Pedagogy or politics?: cyclical trends in literacy and numeracy in Ireland and beyond'. Irish Educational Studies, 32 :401-419. [DOI]

Other Journal

	Year	Publication
	2011	Ó Breacháin (2011) 'Soaring and Swooping: Drama on the Primary School Curriculum in Ireland' . [Link]

Conference Contribution

	Year	Publication
	2020	Ó Breacháin, Annie (2020) THRIECE International: Placing the Child at the Centre of Quality in Early Childhood & Primary Education All of Me and All of You: Lived Experiences of the Child-Teacher Relationship in Upper Primary School VISUAL, Carlow, 16/01/2020-16/01/2020.
	2018	Annie Ó Breacháin (2018) IAFOR European Conference on Education (ECE) On the Nature of the Child-Teacher Relationship in Upper Primary School Contexts: Findings from a Phenomenological Inquiry Brighton, 29/06/2018-01/07/2018.
	2017	Ó Breacháin, Annie and Students on the B Ed 3 Minor Specialism 2017 (2017) Arts in Education Portal National Day Student teachers in their third year of the Bachelor of Education programme at the Institute of Education, DCU took part in a new short specialism module in drama in which they re-designed portable objects (e.g. shopping trolleys, suitcases, prams) into Wonderful Worlds featuring mysterious characters. The portable object encourage interactive storytelling and story-making which serves as a stimulus into fuller process dramas. Following a short introduction, participants were invited to venture into the Wonderful Worlds created by the student teachers DCU Institute of Education, 06/05/2017-06/05/2017.
	2017	Annie Ó Breacháin (2017) Asylum Narratives Panel chair at a one day colloquium looking at asylum narratives from a variety of perspectives DCU, .
	2017	Ó Breacháin, A (2017) Scenario Forum for Performative Teaching, Learning and Research Paper presented on the opportunities and obstacles associated with generating embodied data in educational research University College Cork, 25/05/2017-28/05/2017.
	2015	Delaney, S; Ó Breacháin, A and Macken, S (2015) American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Conference Teaching Simulations that assess the use of teaching knowledge and skill Chicago, .
	2014	Delaney, S, Ó Breacháin, A & Macken, S. (2014) American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Conference Innovation in Practice: Implementing and Evaluating a Course on Approximations of Practice Philadelphia, 03/04/2014-07/04/2014.
	2013	O'Toole, L. & Ó Breacháin, A (2013) Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) Annual Conference Going round and round with the 3 R’s: International experiences of standardised testing and league tables: Implications for educational policy in Ireland Limerick, 21/03/2013-23/03/2013.
	2013	Ó Breacháin, A & Glavey, A (2013) Heathcote Reconsidered National Drama (UK) London, 04/07/2013-07/07/2013.
	2012	Ó Breacháín, A (2012) International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDEIRI) Transcending the Borders of Subject Disciplines: Using Drama to Integrate Teaching and Learning in the Early Years’ Limerick, 10/07/2012-15/07/2012.
	2012	Ó Breacháin, A (2012) Launch of the Arts in Education Research Group (AERG) How Can Drama be used as a Framework to facilitate Integrated Teaching and Learning in the Early Years? Trinity College, Dublin, 19/06/2012-19/06/2012.

Published Report

	Year	Publication
	2019	Ó Breacháin, Annie, O’Gorman, Róisín, Piazzoli,Erika, Schewe, Manfred, Woodhouse, Fionn (2019) Performative Arts & Pedagogy: An Irish Perspective. Scenario, . [Link]

Invited Seminars

	Year	Publication
	2021	Annie Ó Breacháin (2021) Drama for Children with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties: CPD for Support Teachers (DEIS context). INVS

Professional Associations

Association	Function	From / To
Association for Drama in Education in Ireland	Vice Chairperson	07/09/2009 - 12/12/2016
Association for Drama in Education in Ireland	Chairperson	28/01/2017 - 20/01/2021
Association for Drama in Education in Ireland Subcommittee	Member	28/01/2017 - 30/10/2019

Honors and Awards

Date	Title	Awarding Body
01/08/2017	Teaching and Learning Award	DCU IoE
01/01/2018	Elevator Funding	DCU IoE
01/01/2021	IoE Funding for Publication	DCU IoE
01/01/2022	IoE Elevator Funding	IoE

Committees

	Committee	Function	From / To
	The Ark - Director		14/04/2021 -
	The Ark : Educator Advisory Group		01/03/2020 -

Languages

	Language	Reading	Writing	Speaking
	Irish	Fluent	Fluent	Fluent

Reviews

	Journal	Role
	International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism	Reviewer
	SCENARIO	Reviewer

Research Interests

My research interests include relational pedagogy, embodiment, the child-teacher relationship, the practice of teaching, untranslatable words, Drama-in-Education, storytelling and curricular integration using Mantle of the Expert. I am also interested in phenomenological inquiry, research with children and generating and analysing visual and embodied research data.

Current Postgraduate Students

	Student Name	Degree	Supervision
	Binabdulrahman ,Hibah	PhD	Supervisor

Internal Collaborators

	Type	Name	Company	Role
	Internal	Dr Paula Murphy, Dr Una Mc Cabe, Sharon McArdle, Dr Kate Mc Auley	DCU IoE School of Arts Education and Movement
	Internal	Dr Lucy Hill	DCU	Academic

External Collaborators

Type	Name	Company	Role
External	Dr Seán Delaney	Marino Institute of Education
External	Prof. Paul Gallagher and Dr John Hayden	Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland	Academic
External	Dr Leah O'Toole	Marino Institute of Education
External	Dr Erika Piazzoli	University of Dublin, Trinity College	Academic
External	Prof Manfred Schewe	UCC	Academic

Teaching Interests

I am passionate about the central role of the teacher to create high quality drama experiences for children. I teach drama modules on undergraduate, postgraduate and specialist programmes in the Institute of Education, DCU. I work closely with The Ark in the final year specialism module Leadership in Drama Education. I am interested in the practice of teaching and worked with colleagues on developing modules to explore how its complexity can be taught to novices. I love opportunities to learn about assessment techniques and try to employ modes of assessment that are fair, creative and dialogic. Cé gur Béarla mo chéad teanga, is í an Ghaeilge teanga amocroí agus déanaim iarracht í a fhuáil tríd mo chuid múinteoireachta .