Maria Barry

Dr

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Maria Barry, PhD, is Assistant Professor in history education and global citizenship education in the School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies in DCU's IoE.  Maria is also a co-Director of DCU's Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Education. Prior to joining DCU, Maria worked as a post primary school teacher and in Trócaire's (NGDO) development education team.


Currently, Maria and her colleague Dr. Benjamin Mallon sit on the Management Committee for Irish Aid's strategic programme for GCE across primary education, Global Village. This programme is supported and overseen by a consortium of four partners - DCU, the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), the Irish Primary Principal's Network (IPPN) and Trócaire. Maria is co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) for the programme's research activities that include a national survey of Global Citizenship Education and Irish primary teachers and a scoping study on the possibilities and challenges for GCE in Early Childhood Education.

Previously, Maria was co-PI on the INOVATE project with Dr. Machowska-Kosciak.  Funded through the National Integration Fund 2021-2023, this project sought to incorporate authentic minority ethnic young people’s voices within teacher education programmes at both pre-service and in-service levels. One research output from the project is 'Brave', a 4-part series of digital storytelling videos, featuring Ashley, Moses and Roxanna, as they explore the themes of identity, belonging, racism and creating a better future.

In 2020, Maria completed her PhD fellowship with the Centre for Human Rights & Citizenship Education.  Her doctoral studies focussed on global citizenship education teaching and learning practices in post primary schools.  Other scholarly interests include; dialogue and discussion in the classroom, making connections between history education and citizenship education, cultural diversity in school history, student and youth participation, creative and participatory research methodology and dissemmination.

Maria has served on a number of Boards and committees in the area of history education and development education over 20 years.  At the moment,  Maria is sitting on the NCCA's development group for Leaving Certificate History. She is also a member of the DICE and Ubuntu networks and IDEA.  



Book

Year Publication
2020 Martínez Sainz, G.; Barry, M.; Urrea Monclús, A. (2020) Child and adolescent agency and digital activism in children’s rights and global citizenship education. Lleida: University of Lleida. [Link]

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2021 Waldron, F.; Cassaithe, C.N.; Barry, M.; Whelan, P. (2021) 'Critical historical enquiry for a socially just and sustainable world' In: Teaching For Social Justice And Sustainable Development Across The Primary Curriculum. [Link] [DOI]
2020 F. Waldron, B. Mallon, M. Barry & G. Martinez-Sainz (2020) 'Climate Change Education in Ireland: Emerging Practice in a Context of Resistance' In: Ireland and the Climate Crisis. Cham : Palgrave Macmillan. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47587-1_13
2008 Barry, M (2008) 'Trócaire’s development education programme: a case study of NGO involvement in citizenship education' In: Education for citizenship and diversity in Irish contexts. Dublin : Institute of Public Adminstration.

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2024 Barry, M.; Waldron, F.; Bryan, A. (2024) 'Understanding global citizenship education in the classroom: A case study of teaching practices'. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, . [Link] [DOI]
2021 O'Connell, C., Mallon, B., Ní Cassaithe, C., & Barry, M. (2021) 'Addressing the complexity of contemporary slavery through critical development education'. Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review, 31 .
2021 O'Connell, Chris; Mallon, Benjamin; Cassaithe, Caitriona Ni; Barry, Maria (2021) 'ADDRESSING THE COMPLEXITY OF CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY: TOWARDS A CRITICAL FRAMEWORK FOR EDUCATORS'. Policy and Practice, (32).

Conference Contribution

Year Publication
2022 Machowska-Kosciak, M., Kavanagh, A.M. & Barry, M. (2022) ATEE Spring Conference: teacher Education and Practice: Foresight and Hindsight Towards culturally responsive education: Listening to ethnic minority young people in Ireland Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, .
2021 Maria Barry (2021) ESAI Annual Conference Possibilities in education: Reimagining Connections with People, Purpose and Place Pedagogy, Purpose & Person: A typology of global citizenship education classroom practices online, .
2021 Maria Barry (2021) ANGEL Annual conference: Pedagogy of Hope and Global Social Justice School-based action: Empowering students to experience democracy within enabling and experimental environments online, .
2019 Barry, M; Martínez-Sainz, G (2019) World Conference of Online Learning: Transforming Lives and Societies Digital Technologies for Global Citizenship Learning: current evidence and future challenges Dublin, .
2019 Barry, M; Ní Cassaithe, C; Waldron, F; Whelan, P (2019) Public History, Historical Culture, Identity and Pedagogy: HEIRNET 16th Annual Conference Narratives of the nation among Irish student primary teachers Vienna, .
2018 Barry, M (2018) ESAI Annual Conference, Values & Purpose in Education Global Citizenship Education: A counterpoint to “normal class” and dominant practices and values within post primary schools? Dublin, .
2017 Barry, M (2017) EADI General Conference: Globalisation at the Crossroads The overlooked linchpin: young people as active and social participants within Global Citizenship Education (GCE) Bergen, Norway, .
2016 Barry, M (2016) Annual Conference of Educational Studies Association of Ireland Global challenges, global citizenship; what is the local classroom reality? A qualitative study of global citizenship education teaching and learning practices Galway, .
2015 Marron, S; Barry, M; & Oberman, R. (2015) CREATE Seminars Internal Let's Talk: Inclusion, Internationalisation and Identity St. Patrick's College Dublin, .
2024 Barry, M., Farrell, T. and Mallon, B. (2024) Sustainability in ECE Sustainability in Early Childhood Education Stranmillis University, .
2021 Waldron, F.; Ní Cassaithe, C.; Barry, M.; Whelan, P. (2021) Paper presented at HEIRNET 2021: Public history, historical culture, identity and pedagogy Using the CHEC framework to think critically about the past online, .

Book Review

Year Publication
2016 Barry, M (2016) The Inclusion Delusion? Reflections on Democracy, Ethos and Education. BELFAST: BREV

Reports

Year Publication
2020 Barry, M; Martínez-Sainz, G (2020) Digital Technologies to advance Global Citizenship Education in Schools. REPORT

Published Report

Year Publication
2022 Machowska-Kosiack, M and Barry. M. (2022) A report on issues facing second-generation ethnic minority young people in Ireland. IHREC/DCU, .
2024 Barry, M., Farrell, T. and Mallon, B. (2024) Global Citizenship Education in Early Childhood Education - Practices and Possibilities. Global Citizenship in Primary Schools, .
2023 Barry, M., Mallon, B., Bourke, A., Usher, J., Daly, A. (2023) Teachers and Global Citizenship Education: Values, Attitudes and Practices A Research Report on a National Survey of Irish Primary Teachers and Global Citizenship Education. Global Village, .
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2025) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Professional Associations

Association Function From / To
Irish Development Education Association Member -
Historical Association Member -

Honors and Awards

Date Title Awarding Body
01/01/2014 PhD fellowship Centre for Human Rights & Citizenship Education

Committees

Committee Function From / To
Centre for Human Rights & Citizenship Education -
Global Village Management Committee -
NCCA Junior Cycle History Development Group 01/01/2016 - 31/05/2017
Development Perspectives Board 01/09/2014 - 31/07/2015
Ubuntu Management Committee 01/01/2013 - 31/12/2014

Enterprise Engagement

Year Engagement Type Client Description
2017 Consultancy Dóchas Report on state investment in Development Education 2011-2017
2016 Invited talk/presentation Worldwise Global Schools Teacher Conference Keynote
2016 Continuous Professional Development/Training Poetry Ireland Development Education for Primary Teachers

Outreach Activities

Year Engagement Type Organisation Description
Other Griffeen Valley Educate Together National School Member of Board of Management

Research Projects

Title Role Description Start date End date
Global Village – Global Citizenship Education in Primary Schools DCU PI 16/09/2023 15/07/2026
Strategic Partnership with Irish Aid for the delivery of Global Citizenship Education in the primary education sector DCU PI 01/04/2022 01/04/2023
Increasing and integrating minority ethnic young people’s voices and experiences into teacher education programmes- Integrating Our Voices Across Teacher Education (INOVATE) DCU PI 01/01/2021 31/12/2023
A scoping study on issues facing second-generation minority ethnic young people in Ireland (SGMEYP) DCU PI 02/11/2020 02/08/2021
Integrating Development Education into post primary Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes 2020-2021 DCU PI 15/02/2021 30/06/2021

Teaching Interests

Maria teaches on a number of both compulsory and specialism courses, including history education and local and global citizenship education. She also teaches qualitative research methods.

Modules Coordinated

Term Title Subject
2022 Description of 2021_SG308 SG308
2022 Global Citizenship & Local Studies ED3053
2023 SG314
2023 SG315
2023 ED4015aa History Education Research projects
2023 Education for Sustainable Development, Climate, and Citizenship ED9035