Celebrations are afoot at UCD after graduate Dr. Bernadette Brereton (BA, 1989) scooped a prestigious National Teaching Expert Award. With only seven awards presented across the country, it is a huge achievement for Bernadette who received the award for her work in delivering the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MALT) at Dundalk Institute of Technology. Bernadette and the MALT team also received a Special Commendation Award for their work in “effecting systemic cultural change in teaching and learning in their Institute”.
The awards are organised by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education which wished to recognise high levels of subject expertise, a strong focus on students and an innovative approach to teaching in an increasingly digital world. Following an intensive and competitive national process, the winners were presented with their awards at a ceremony in Dublin Castle.
As well as winning these prestigious awards, Dr. Brereton continues to take a leadership role in higher education, with a strong national and international publishing profile. She is a member of the European Sociological Association Sociology of Education research network which is currently organising its up-coming international conference entitled ‘Education and Empowerment: theories and practices’ to be held in Milan, Italy in Spetember, 2016. She is also Secretary of the All-Ireland Society for Higher Education (AISHE) which recently published a series of Academic Practice Series, designed to support the development of teaching and learning in practice. The series is made of five guides, available to download by following the links or by going here
Pictured above at the National Forum Awards ceremony in Dublin Castle are: Dr. Brereton, her partner Dr. Neil Hurley, (Senior Lecturer in Computer Science, UCD) and their four children, (l-r)Eoin (14), Éabha (11), Medb (15) and Seán (9).
