Main Object

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The Literacy Association of Ireland (LAI) aims to support and inform those concerned with the development of literacy nationally and internationally (teachers and educators at all levels and in a variety of formal and informal settings), encourage them in reflection and dialogue, challenge them in their practice and give public voice to their concerns through organising bilingual events such as conferences, seminars, workshops, courses, and webinars.

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Committee structure:

The committee is elected on an annual basis at the Annual General Meeting, which occurs during the Autumn Conference. All current members are eligible to vote.

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Current Committee:

Officers

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President: Patrick Burke

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Assistant Professor in the School of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education, DCU Institute of Education. 

Prior to joining the faculty at DCU, Patrick worked as a primary school teacher, advisor with the Professional Development Service for Teachers and as a Lecturer at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. He also spent a year working in the Children’s Literature Centre at Frostburg State University, Maryland. He is the current chairperson of the NCCA Primary Language Development Group and a member of the editorial board of Literacy, published by UKLA. 

Patrick is engaged in a range of research projects relating to literacy and education more broadly. This includes Erasmus+ funded research on the role of artificial intelligence in literacy development and research funded by the NCCA focusing on curriculum integration. He is also particularly interested in inclusive practice for children who encounter difficulties in literacy acquisition. Tá suim ar leith aige sa churaclam comhtháite agus i dtraschur scileanna ó theanga go teanga.

Patrick has been an executive committee member of LAI since 2020 and membership secretary since 2021. He served on several LAI conference committees, including the local organising committee for the 2022 European Conference on Literacy held in DCU.

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Past President: Clara Maria Fiorentini 

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Assistant Lecturer in Education (Literacy), Department of English & Roinn na Gaeilge, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.

Clara Maria Fiorentini has been lecturing in literacy and early childhood education in Marino Institute of Education since 2017. Prior to this, Clara taught for eleven years in an urban, DEIS primary school in Co. Dublin, Ireland. Clara provides CPD for primary teachers and early childhood professionals in the areas of literacy, children's literature, play based learning and school transitions. Clara completed a Masters in Children's Literature (DCU) in 2013 and is currently completing her PhD research on preschool literacy practices at Trinity College Dublin. 

Clara is interested in promoting the use of the read-aloud and high-quality children's literature to support language and literacy instruction in the early years and the primary classroom. She is the co-author of Sounds Like Phonics (2019).

Clara has been an executive committee member of LAI since 2019 and has coordinated the association's website and social media responsibilities since 2020.

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President-Elect: Sylvaine Ní Aogáin

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Sylvaine is a lecturer in Education with expertise in Irish in the Department of Language and Literacy at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.

Sylvaine previously worked as a primary school teacher and as a Language Advisor and  Acting Team Leader of the Primary Language Curriculum Team with the Professional Development Service for Teachers. She was awarded the Michael Jordan Fellowship to complete her PhD in DCU which focused on the teaching and learning of Irish in immersion primary school settings.

Sylvaine’s research interests include immersion education, second language acquisition, inclusive teaching and learning of Irish and play-based pedagogies to support language acquisition.

Sylvaine has been a member of the LAI Executive Committee since 2018 and served as the Secretary of LAI from 2020-2023.

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Treasurer: Miriam Colum

Senior Lecturer in Education and Head of the Department of Inclusion, Religious Education and Student Life in Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.

Miriam Colum, Phd, is a former primary school teacher with experience in both mainstream and special school settings. Prior to joining MIE, Miriam was a lecturer in St. Angela’s college, Sligo, on the Postgraduate Diploma in Special Educational Needs (PGSEN). She also co-coordinated the nationwide level 7 course for Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) and was the module leader for the blended course on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Her current research interests are focused on inclusion; special educational; national and international special education policies; school leadership; distributed leadership; role of the Special Needs Co-Ordinator in primary schools; Diversity in teaching; Traveller education and Foucauldian theory.  She completed her PhD in 2023 at the University of Galway by conducting qualitative research on the importance of a distributed leadership approach to support the inclusion of children with emotional and behavioral difficulties in primary schools in Ireland.

Miriam sits on the Consultative forum of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and is a member of the editorial board for the REACH Journal of Inclusive Education in Ireland.

 

Secretary: Róisín Ní Mhúlláin

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An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta

Prior to working as Education Officer with COGG Róisín was an Irish lecturer in St. Angela’s College, Sligo for fifteen years, delivering lectures in the area of Irish language, academic content and literacy. She worked as a primary school teacher in an Irish medium setting, with junior and senior classes. 

Research / literacy interests: Children’s literature in Irish, reading for pleasure in Irish and teenage literature in Irish.

Tá an-spéis ag Róisín sa churaclam chomhtháite, teagasc agus cleachtais léitheoireachta sa Ghaeilge, agus i gcur chun cinn na léitheoireachta i measc déágóirí agus déaglitríocht.

This is Róisín’s first year on LAI executive committee

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Members

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Claire Dunne

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Head of the Department of English and the Department of Irish, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.

Claire delivers lectures in the area of Irish language and literacy. She has given in-service training to teachers in this area too. She is the author/co-author of two handbooks on reading for pleasure in Irish: Scéalta den Scoth: Ag Cothú Fonn Léitheoireachta and An Bosca Leabharlainne: Bímis ag Léamh!

Claire is very interested in encouraging reading for pleasure in Irish, developing plurilingual capacities in young children, and inclusive language teaching.

Claire has previously acted as Treasurer of the LAI (2020-2022), and President (2022-2023).

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Cillian O'Sullivan

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Cillian is an assistant principal at Douglas Rochestown Educate Together National School where he currently teaches 6th class. 

Cillian completed undergraduate degrees in education and psychology, and a postgraduate degree in literacy education. He spent a year working as a graduate assistant for the Literacy Department at West Chester University, Pennsylvania. He also has experience working as a research assistant and undergraduate dissertation supervisor at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. 

At present, Cillian’s research interests include reading comprehension, text-based discussions and cross-lingual transfer.

Cillian has served on the LAI executive committee since 2023.

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Gene Mehigan

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Vice President for Education & Strategic Development, Marino Institute of Education

Gene has been a primary school teacher, a literacy specialist, an educational consultant, and a teacher educator over the past thirty years. He completed his Master’s in Education at St Patrick’s College, Dublin and was awarded his PhD in Education from University College Cork. His research interests are in teacher education, early literacy development and struggling readers, particularly among children living in disadvantaged settings. Gene is a member of a wide range of academic, professional and administrative committees at a regional and national level. He has worked in The Gambia as a Government advisor to the Department of State for Education on the development of a sector wide approach for the reform of literacy education and serves as a board member and consultant for a number of education and policy organisations. He is past President of both the Literacy Association of Ireland (LAI) the Irish Learning Support Association and a former chair of the Standing Committee of Heads of Education and Teacher Unions. ​​

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Máirín Wilson

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Research Fellow, Trinity College, Dublin.

Máirín’s fields of expertise include the education and professional development of post-graduate teachers in the field of inclusive education, learning support and special educational needs. Just recently retired from fulltime work in Dublin City University, she has designed, delivered and assessed the teaching practicum, explored the concepts of teachers as leaders, collaboration in education, and reflective practice. Máirín has a special interest in inclusive policy, practice and procedures in Post-primary education. She is particularly concerned with the assessment of literacy (formal and informal), the development of comprehension skills across all modalities (aural, oral, reading, written, digital), and the range of literacy skills needed to read the world. Máirín is Chairperson of FELA (the Federation of European Literacy Associations) and Chair of the Jury of the LAI Biennial Children’s Book Award.

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​​Adrian Lohan

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Adrian is a primary teacher and assistant principal based in Co. Dublin, as well as a part-time staff member in DCU and MIE. 

Adrian was awarded the LAI Biennial Medal for Outstanding Master’s thesis for his dissertation in Special Educational Needs. He is a tutor and assessor on the Graduate Diploma in Special and Inclusive Education in DCU. He has lectured in Inclusion, Early Language Acquisition and Literacy, as well as co-writing CPD courses in both Literacy and Inclusion in MIE.  He is a former PDST associate advisor in Literacy and Inclusion, and a member of the ERC development team for the Drumcondra Primary Reading Tests. 

Adrian is a member of the REACH Editorial board (IATSE) and has been published in the areas of self-esteem, collaboration and vocabulary development. 

Adrian has been a member of the LAI executive committee since 2016. He has previously served as secretary, as well as Chair of the Biennial Book Awards. 

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Susan Nic Réamoinn

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Assistant Lecturer in Education (Literacy) in the Department of English and Roinn na Gaeilge, Marino Institute of Education.

Susan has been lecturing in literacy and early childhood education in Marino Institute of Education since 2021.  She qualified as a primary teacher in 2008 (DCU, St Patrick’s College), and completed an MSc. i nGnó agus i dTeicneolaíocht an Eolais in 2011 (DCU, Fiontar).

Susan worked as an Education Officer (Language) with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment for three years on the Primary Language Curriculum. 

Susan is interested in language development in early childhood education and the use of digital resources to support children’s first and second language learning. 

This is Susan's second year serving on the LAI executive committee. 

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Maureen Colleran

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Principal, Dunmore NS, Co. Galway.

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Maureen has 17 years of education experience, previously as a primary school teacher and as a Literacy Advisor with the Professional Development Service for Teachers and currently works as an administrative principal.

Maureen’s research interests include early childhood education, early and emergent literacy, and digital and critical literacy.

Maureen has been a member of the LAI Executive Committee since 2023.

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Alison Nulty

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PhD Candidate at Dublin City University Institute of Education.

Alison has seven years of experience as a primary school teacher, six of which were spent teaching infant classes in a DEIS 1 school in Dublin. During this time, she led infant literacy policies and organised a variety of home-school literacy initiatives. She later worked as a Teaching Fellow in Early Childhood Education at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, where she lectured on early language and literacy development from birth to age six, playful pedagogies, and early childhood curriculum and policy. Currently, Alison is an Assistant Lecturer in Literacy Education at Marino Institute of Education, where she teaches literacy and language education on the
B.Sc. in Early Childhood Education and B.Ed. programmes. She also supervises undergraduate research focused on early literacy development. Additionally, Alison serves as a Research Assistant for the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) and is a member of the Board of Directors for Professional Educators and Managers Ireland (PEMI).

Alison’s research focuses on early language and literacy development, with a particular emphasis on unconstrained literacy skills. She was awarded a Master’s in Education Studies (Early Childhood Education) from Marino Institute of Education in 2020. Her master’s research explored dialogic shared book reading between parents and children in a DEIS 1 setting, investigating the impact of parent-teacher collaboration on shared reading experiences. Currently, Alison is pursuing a PhD at DCU Institute of Education. Her doctoral
research examines the impact of cross-sector professional learning between pre-primary and primary educators on fostering continuity and progression in vocabulary instruction. Her work focuses on the role of cross-sector relationships in promoting a continuum of literacy.

This is Alison’s first year serving on the LAI Executive Committee.

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Amy McLoughlin

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Assistant Principal, Ashbourne Community School.

Amy completed her Master of Education, Literacy Professional Practice (MEDLPP) with DCU in 2023. Her research examined the relationship between arts-based pedagogies, and student engagement, oral language, and writing development, in the Junior Cycle classroom. Teaching L2LP, Junior Cycle, and Leaving Certificate students means that Amy has a broad understanding of the literacy challenges facing students, and teachers, in today’s society. 

Amy is particularly interested in the promotion and embedding of literacy on a whole-school basis. She seeks to empower post-primary teachers of all subjects, to develop their literacy leadership, and recognise the centrality of literacy to students’ holistic development. Arts-based teaching and learning are central to her teaching practice. 

Amy has shared her research in both poster and workshop form at previous LAI conferences. This is her first year on the executive committee.

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Emma Farragher

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Primary Teacher and Teacher Fellow at DCU, Institute of Education.

Emma is a primary teacher and current Teacher Fellow at DCU Institute of Education. Prior to this, Emma worked at Scoil Thomáis in Castleknock where she was a Droichead mentor and acting APII post holder.

Emma completed her Masters in Literacy Professional Practice at DCU Institute of Education in 2023 and has since designed and delivered workshops for literacy specialism students and MEdLPP students.

Emma is particularly interested in writing, oral language development, and curriculum integration and how these areas can be meaningfully supported through arts-based and digital approaches. She is also keenly interested in children’s literature. 

This is Emma’s first year serving on the LAI committee.

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Aisling Cannon

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Primary Teacher and Teacher Educator, Marino Institute of Education

Having qualified as primary school teacher in 2010, Aisling has extensive teaching and leadership experience in Ireland and the UK. She has served as a Deputy Headteacher and Headteacher of a large Infant and Nursery School in Hertfordshire, England. Aisling completed her Masters in Education specialising in Early Childhood Education in 2022. Her research dissertation focussed on fluency in reading for children in First Class. She currently lectures at Marino Institute of Education in Literacy and Early Childhood Education.

Aisling’s research focuses mainly on literacy education, early childhood education, and the use of playful pedagogy in supporting children to thrive in our schools.

Having enjoyed presenting at past conferences, Aisling is a new member of the LAI executive committee.

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