Staff Details

Departments

Literacy Team

Masters Level

Short Description

As Masters Level Co-ordinator I lead and manage all matters pertaining to the MEd degree at St Mary’s. I also hold the role of Literacy Course Team Leader for which I have responsibility for all aspects of Primary and Post-Primary Literacy teaching across the College. I teach BEd1 to BEd4 undergraduate literacy courses as well as being the tutor for the postgraduate MEd module ‘Meeting the Needs of the Bilingual Learner’.

In addition to being the Chair of both the M-Level Programme Team and the Literacy Course Team I am a member of the following professional organisations and College committees;

• College Management Committee


• Education Programme Team


• Independent Professional Development Association Ireland (IPDA)


• Judging Panel for the Reading Association of Ireland’s Outstanding Dissertation Award


• Professional Studies Course Team


• Queen’s University Postgraduate Advisory Body


• Research Ethics Committee

I am also Northern Ireland’s representative on the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) National Committee.

Research Interests

My research interests include teaching English as an additional language, teaching reading and comprehension, critical literacy and literacy and personal development.

In association with UKLA I have organised several national literacy conferences in Northern Ireland including:

• 2013 Raising Standards in Literacy


• 2010 Practical Bilingual Strategies for Multilingual Classrooms


• 2010 Reading for Pleasure and Independence


• 2008 Becoming an Independent Reader


• 2006 Creating Writers


• 2005 Developing Response to Fiction: Ways Into and Out of Texts

Current Research Projects

I am currently working on a SCoTENS funded project on dyslexia support North and South, and on contributing inserts into a number of chapters in the third edition of the bestselling text - Arthur, J. & Cremin, T. (2010) Learning to Teach in the Primary School ? London; Routledge.

Publications

Murray, D. (2010) Stories in the Classroom are Marvels. Le Chéile: 14: pp13-14. Belfast, St Mary’s University College.

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