Dr. Elaine Keane

Lecturer (Sociology of Education), Programme Director Master of Education, Chair of School of Education Research Committee.

Qualifications and background

BA (Political Science & Sociology, French), 1996; HDipEd, 1998; Ceard Teastas Gaeilge, 1998; Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language ( TEFL.), 1999; M.Ed., 2002; PhD (2009) (NUI Galway).

PhD Dissertation Title: 'Widening Participation' and Traditional-Entry' Students at an Irish University: Strategising to 'Make the Most' of Higher Education. Recipient of Dr. Mary L. Thornton Scholarship in Education (NUI, 2005)

• Post-primary teacher of French and Civic, Social & Political Education
• DES Oral Examiner of Leaving Certificate French
• Project Development Co-ordinator Líonra/Equal Ireland (Regional Higher Education Network)
• Researcher (Diversity in Higher Education) (Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching, NUI Galway). Organiser of NUI Galway’s 4th Annual Learning & Teaching Conference: ' The Challenge of Diversity: Teaching, Support & Student Learning' (June 8th-9th, 2006) http://www.nuigalway.ie/celt/conference/conference2006.html
• Selected participant on Boston College/the Irish Institute’s Cultural Diversity in Education Programme (Boston & San Francisco, USA, November 2006)
• Participant in Grounded Theory Seminar with Dr. Barney Glaser (New York, USA, October 2008)

Teaching and research supervision

Professional Diploma in Education : Lecturer in Educational Sciences (Education, Diversity and Social Justice), Professional Studies (Catering for Diversity), Specialist Teaching Methodology (Learning to Teach for Social Justice - Service Learning module in conjunction with community partners). Teaching Practice Supervisor. Reflective Practice tutor.

Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Education : Educational Sciences/Sociology of Education, and Catering for Diversity lecturer on both 1BA and 3BA.

Master of Education : Programme Director. Lecturer in General Research Methodologies, Qualitative Research Methodologies, and Sociology of Education modules. Thesis Supervision.

I also contribute to CELT's Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, on the topics of Widening Participation in HE, and Service Learning & Civic Engagement.

Research Supervision

MEd supervision: I have supervised MEd research projects to successful completion on topics including

• Youthreach and early school-leaving
• Intercultural education
• Induction and ethnic minority students in Irish primary schools
• Travellers, Further Education, and the closure of the Senior Traveller Training Centres
• Access students' experiences of access and factors impacting their progression to Higher Education

PhD supervision:

1. Hannagh McGinley ("Post-primary Teachers and Travellers in Education: Preparation for and Expriences with Education for Social Justice"). Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) Postgraduate Scholar. Recipient of the Dr. Mary L. Thornton Scholarship in Education (National University of Ireland)
2. Una Shannon (“Reimagining the Gaelscoil - Action Research for Interculturalisation”)
3. Maeve Dunne (Active Teaching and Learning in Irish Higher Education)

PhD GRCs

1. Lisa-Anne Kennedy (“The acculturation experiences of refugee and asylum-seeking adolescents living I Ireland”) with Dr. Padraig McNeela and Dr. Caroline Heary (School of Psychology)
2. Amy McDonald (“Gender and education: The implications and merits of male teachers as a role model for boys in primary school”) with Dr. Kevin Davison and Dr. Manuela Heinz (School of Education)
3. Michael McNamara ("Educational Assessment: Examining the Extent to which Standardised Testing is being used as a Tool of Accountability in Irish Primary School Education") with Dr. Josephine Boland and Dr. Pat Eaton (School of Education)
4. Peter Mannion (Higher Education Policy) with Dr. Kelly Coate and Dr. Iain MacLabhrainn (Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching)
5. Carina McGinty (“ Supporting the First Year Student Experience in Higher Education: Impact on Student Engagement and on Academic Practice”) with Dr. Josephine Boland and Dr. Pat Eaton (School of Psychology) (MLitt)

Research

Interests: Social class and education at both school and HE levels, the student experience in HE in a widening participation context, educational disadvantage, intercultural education, teaching for social justice and the design of inclusive learning environments, qualitative research methodologies, including constructivist grounded theory and participatory approaches. My work has been funded by the National University of Ireland Dr. Mary L. Thornton Scholarship in Education, NUI Galway Millennium grants, and, in the past, by HEA Strategic Initiatives and SIF.

Reviewing and Editorial Work:

• I am an invited reviewer for the Journal of Education Policy. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tedp .
• I am also an invited member of the Editorial Board for the Adult Learner Journal (Aontas).
• I am an invited member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Education and Culture. http://www.untestedideas.com/ijec.html

Current Research Projects (2012 - onwards)

NUI Galway Access Students' Undergraduate Experiences, Performances, and Early Labour-Market Experiences: In this project, I am working with the Access Office at NUI Galway to ascertain relevant students' academic degree performance, academic and social expriences at undergraduate level, and their early labour-market experiences. Ethical approval was granted by NUIG REC in Spring, 2012, and following a pilot study in summer 2012, the main study is currently being implemented.

Diversity Profiling in Initial Teacher Education (DITE) : Dr. Elaine Keane and Dr. Manuela Heinz, School of Education. In this project , we are aiming to collect and analyse background data from all applicants and entrants to initial teacher education programmes (NUI, and possibly other universities) in order to explore their diversity profiles, to review entry procedures and selection criteria for teacher education courses, and to explore ways of facilitating entry to the profession by under-represented groups. The survey will be implemented in September 2012.

Gender, Education and the Knowledge Economy : This group is part of the NUI Galway – University of Limerick Gender Advanced Research Consortium. With seed awarded under the Gender ARC, in July 2001, we held the Rural Gender Education Symposium: Gender, Education and Employment in a Rural Context, which explored changing patterns of gendered inequalities in rural areas, educational attainments of rural women, the role of women on farms in rural development, and in a wider employment context in rural areas. 

Former Projects:

From Engaging the 'Margins' to Transforming the Core: Considering International Best Practice in Embedding Inclusivity in Higher Education. This is a collaborative inter-institutional project (Elaine Keane, NUI Galway; Saranne Magennis, NUI Maynooth; Jen Harvey, DIT), funded by the HEA (Strategic Initiatives). Outcomes from our former collaborative project ("Supporting 'Non-Traditional' Groups in HE - 2006-2006, funded by the HEA) included the development of a database on teaching, learning and support interventions across Irish HEIs (see: http://elearning-events.dit.ie/diversity), the publication of "Every Student Matters (selection of activities from the database), and NUI Galway's (in assocation with NUIM and DIT) 4th Annual International Conference on Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, "The Challenge of Diversity: Teaching, Support and Student Learning" (June 8th - 9th, 2006). This follow-up project aims to harness international good/best practice in the area of inclusivity in HE and to consider applications to the Irish context. (2009-2011)

Global Citizenship and Diversity Literacies Project: Elaine Keane and Kevin Davison (School of Education) and Su-Ming Khoo (School of Political Science and Sociology). This is an international research project involving colleagues from universities in the UK, US, and Australia, and explores the perceptions and experiences of students with respect to citizenship and world-mindedness. It uses the 'Citizenship and World-Mindedness' (devised by Prof. Luanna Meyer, Victoria University Wellington) survey with undergraduate and postgraduate student teachers, practising teachers undertaking a Master's degree, and undergraduates from a range of other disciplines.

The Education, Diversity and Social Justice Workshop for Teachers: Initially developed by the Galway Traveller Movement in 2008 for delivery to practising teachers, this workshop is being re-designed by the School of Education (Elaine Keane) and a number of community partners to include numerous ’forms’ of diversity and for wider implementation. A working group, comprising representatives from the School of Education, the Galway Traveller Movement, the Galway Refugee Support Group, the Galway One World Centre, SHOUT (a local LBGT group), the St. Vincent de Paul and the Galway City Partnership has been formed and meets regularly to collaboratively plan and design the workshop. The aim of the workshop is to support teachers’ development as educators committed to a social justice ethos, through an interrogation of their own class, ethnic, gender and dis/ability positionality and through an exploration of pedagogies for social justice.

Student teachers, interculturalism, and social justice: theory and practice, a discussion group (Funded by the Ubuntu Network)

Learning to teach for social justice through civic engagement: Initiated by Elaine Keane in 2006, 'seed' funding was provided by the NUI Galway Community Knowledge Initiative in the 2008-2009 academic year was obtained to support the further development of this service learning module within the PDE in collaboration with community partners, including the Galway Traveller Movement and the Galway Refugee Support Group. This is a credit-bearing module within the PDE. Goals, learning outcomes, pedagogy and assessment are developed collaboratively with our community partners (The Galway Traveller Movement and the Galway Refugee Support Group) and are closely linked with the academic content of the PDE, specifically the ’Education, Diversity and Social Justice’ course. Student teachers work with the GTM’s ’Pavee Study’ homework club in the community setting, providing academic and other support to Traveller pupils from local schools, and on various academic-support related activities within the Galway Refugee Support Group, Ballinfoyle Family Services and Bohermore Family Services groups. On campus we provide supportive tutorials to encourage student reflection and to support the communication of learning. The LTSJ service learning module is a School of Education civic engagement activities explicitly aimed at enhancing the educational achievement of marginalised post-primary school pupils whilst simultaneously supporting student teachers' development as educators committed to a social justice ethos. LTSJ run each year in the PDE. See newspaper article on "Pavee Study" at http://www.nuigalway.ie/education/noticeboard.html  and article in 'Education Matters' at: http://www.educationmatters.ie/2009/04/28/student-teachers-committed-to-social-justice/    

Academic staff conceptions, approaches and experiences in the context of learning, teaching and assessment: I am also working with Dr. Iain Maclaren (CELT, NUI Galway) on a survey of Higher Education academic staff to explore their approaches to teaching (Trigwell and Prosser, 1996); perceptions of the teaching environment (Prosser & Trigwell, 1997); views of student participation & engagement; us of teaching, learning and assessment methods; additional professional activities; and views re. the purposes of HE(Paterson, 2003). http://www.nuigalway.ie/celt/research/research.html#DTL

Selected Publications, Conference Papers & Reports

Keane, E. (2013) International Review of the Effectiveness of Widening Participation: Ireland Report, National Report to the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Keane, E. and Byrne, I. (2013) Undergraduate and early labour-market experiences of NUI Galway Access and Foundation course students, The Higher Education Academy Conference, 'What contribution can higher education make to social mobility in the UK from 2012/13 onward?' March 26-27, 2013, Manchester, UK.

Keane, E. (2012) Differential prioritising: Orientations to higher education and widening participation, International Journal of Educational Research, Volume 53, 150-159.

Keane, E. and Byrne, I. (2012)  Widening Participation and Students' Higher Education & Employment Experiences: Evidence from Research and Practice at NUI Galway. FACE Annual Conference, Widening Access to Higher Education in 'Divided Communities', 4-6 July 2012, University of Ulster (Magee campus), Derry.

Keane, E. (2011) Distancing to self-protect: The perpetuation of inequality in higher education through socio-relational dis/engagement, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Volume 32, No. 3, 449-466.

Keane, E. (2011) Dependence-Deconstruction: Widening Participation and Traditional-Entry Students Transitioning from School to Higher Education in Ireland, Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 16, No. 6, 707-718.

Keane, E. (2009) 'Frictional' relationships ... tension in the camp: Focusing on the relational in under-represented students' experiences in higher education, Irish Educational Studies, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 85-102

Boland, J. & Keane, E. (2009) Learning to teach for social justice: Lessons from the 'Pavee Study' service-learning project in initial teacher education in Ireland, Second International Conference on Service-Learning in Teacher Education. NUI Galway, June 25th-27th

Keane, E. (2008) Valuing higher education? The genesis, nature and implications of 'conscious' and 'unconscious' progression to higher education, Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE), Liverpool, UK, December

Keane, E. (2008) The Diversity Seminar Group: Teacher education students' views and experiences in the context of increasing student diversity in post-primary education, Poster presented at the Ubuntu Network Dialogue Day I, Limerick, March

Keane, E. (2008) Exploring similarities and differences in the reported academic experiences of ’former access’ and 'traditional-entry’ university students: a constructivist grounded theory approach, Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Educational Studies of Ireland Association (ESAI), Galway, March

Keane, E. (2007) ' In college everything is left up to you': An exploration & comparison of 'former access’ and 'traditional-entry’ students’ perspectives on learning at university. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE), Brighton, UK, December

Keane, E. (2007) ' Copping on' to the system & 'frictional’ relationships: Under-represented students’ experiences of barriers at one Irish university, Paper presented at the 16th European Access Network Annual Conference, Access to Success: The Student Experience from Pre-Entry to Employment, June 28th – 29th 2007, NUI Galway

Keane, E. (2007) Invited contribution as national expert to the " International Review and Synthesis of Initiatives to Widen Participation in Higher Education" commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (UK).

Keane, E.  (2006) The views & experiences of academic staff in the context of increasing student diversity: A post-positivist grounded theory approach, Paper presented at the 'Higher Education Close-Up 3, Qualitative Research into Higher Education’ Conference, July 2006, Lancaster University, England. Available at http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/events/hecu3/papershecu3.htm

Keane, E. (2006) Experiencing the challenge: The views & experiences of staff & students in the context of increasing student diversity, Paper presented at NUI Galway’s 4th Annual Conference in Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, 'The Challenge of Diversity: Teaching, Support and Student Learning’, June 2006, NUI Galway

Keane, E., Farrell, A., Harvey, J., Coughlan, A. (2006) ' Every student matters'. Activities for engagement and widening participation in higher education: a preliminary collection, Resource developed as a result of collaborative NUI Galway, DIT and NUI Maynooth publication, supported by the HEA Strategic Initiatives.

Keane, E. (2005) Learning, teaching, assessment and academic culture: Former school-leaver access students’ experiences of university, Paper presented at the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Annual Conference ’New Perspectives on Research into Higher Education’, December 2005, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Keane, E. (2005) Widening participation in higher education: Report of research with institutional student officers, CELT Briefing Paper 4, NUI Galway.

Keane, E. (2005) Obtaining student feedback on teaching and course quality: Briefing paper II for academic staff, Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching (CELT), NUI Galway. Available at http://www.nuigalway.ie/celt/documents/evaluation_ofteaching.pdf

Keane, E. (2004) A review of the key literature on the nature of student learning in higher education and its relationship to approaches to teaching: Briefing paper I for academic staff, Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching (CELT), NUI Galway.

Keane, E., Hardiman, D., Casey, H. and Maguire, M. (2004) Introduction to Humanities. Elective module in the Líonra/Equal Ireland Open Distance Learning ’Access to Third-Level (A3L) Programme’, Galway: Líonra (Regional Higher Education Network)

Keane, E. (2003) 'A ccessing higher education without having to give up your job’: The Líonra/Equal Ireland Open Distance Learning Access Programme, 'Dochas for Women’ Conference, 'Employment and Education Opportunities’, Monaghan, Ireland

Keane, E. (2003) The Líonra/Equal Ireland open distance learning access programme: Access to higher education for the unemployed and those in low-paid employment, The ICC Transnational Conference, 'Matching Supply and Demand in the Labour Market’, Hamburg, Germany.

Invited Presentations/Workshops

February, 2010: Civic Engagement in Teacher Education at NUI Galway: Partnering with Community and Non-Governmental Organisations. Ubuntu Dialogue Day 4St. Angela's College, Sligo

2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012: Widening Participation in HE: Implications for Learning, Teaching & Student Support. Invited workshops on NUI Galway's Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, CELT, NUI Galway.

March, 2008: Intercultural Education as an Entry Point for Development Education in Initial Teacher Education, Ubuntu Network Dialogue Day I, Limerick

February, 2008: Student Diversity in HE: Strategies for Inclusive Teaching, Invited workshop on NUI Maynooth’s Postgraduate Diploma for Lecturers in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Quality Promotion Office, NUI Maynooth

October, 2006: Barriers Experienced by 'Non-Traditional' Students at NUI Galway, Invited presentation of Research Findings to Philosophy Department Tutors, NUI Galway

March, 2006: Addressing the Challenge of Diversity: Research and Practice at NUI Galway,  Invited presentation at Dublin Institute of Technology, as part of the Embracing Diversity at the DIT Campaign, Dublin Institute of Technology

Professional Memberships:

• Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI);
• All Ireland Society for Higher Education (AISHE)
• Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) (UK); and
• Grounded Theory Institute (USA)

Member of the Steering Committee of the new national research network “Equality, Access and Lifelong Learning” (the 'REAL' - Research on Access, Equality and Lifelong Learning - Network), in the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

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