Biography
Dr. Geraldine Mooney Simmie PhD MSc BSc HDE is an Associate Professor In the School of Education at the University of Limerick and Director of EPI-STEM The National Centre for STEM Education.My research independence and excellence lies in Critical Curriculum & Policy Studies in the social science field of education, and STEM Education, with a special interest in policy enactment processes in teachers' identities and work practices, for example, in 'Teaching', 'Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) .
My studies contribute original and substantive research to the academy while, at the same time advocating for emancipatory and transformative practices for the greater good of humanity and sustainability of the planet (e.g. ethics/democracy/social justice and gender justice).
My methodology specialism lies in Critical Feminist Policy Analysis and draws from methods, such as critical discourse analysis and critical feminist policy analysis (Mooney Simmie, 2023).
My studies theorise TPL as a boundary crossing practice, a multifaceted construct for a cultural and transformative endeavour [Mooney Simmie, 2021]. My research studies interrogate the multiple faces of this complex construct, for example, as a Researcher-in-Residence in a school-university partnership, and as Productive Mentoring and Teacher Design Teams for teachers' extended professionalism. My studies include the personal (reflexive), pedagogical, professional and the political (critical) for ethical learning and deep democracy [Teachers' Democratic Assignment].
My collection of twenty four refereed journals and five books to date, interrogate and theorise policy processes in relation to the framing of these constructs, drawing from philosophical and critical sociological perspectives.
I am modules leader and lecturer in EN7031 Policy Studies in the Structured PhD in Education and in Leadership & Change in the International M.ED. in Leadership in the School of Education.
I am a member of the editorial board of The Curriculum Journal, the International Advisory Board of Educational Review, and the Paulo Freire Special Interest Group (SIG) in the American Educational Research Association. I am a national convener of the honorary ESAI SIG on Critical & Feminist Research Policy Analysis. She is a visiting Professor at the University of Gävle in Sweden where she is a member of the STORY project and an honorary member of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project at Chapman University, California, USA.
I have acted as a Principal Investigator, and a co-investigator for a number of research and development projects concerned with the CPD and upskilling of STEM teachers. I was awarded competitive research grants from the European Commission, British Educational Research Association, Department of Education & Skills, Higher Education Authority, and the National Forum for Teaching and Learning. I have worked with colleagues in UL to secure research and development funding for CPD and outreach projects in STEM education in excess of Euro 3.5 million. To date, I have successfully supervised 10 PhD studies and 71 M.ED. studies, and acted as External Examiner for 19 PhDs, including at University College London and the University of Lancaster. My role as an academic and activist for Gender Justice and Social Justice in teaching, and STEM teacher learning is reflected in invitations to partake in public policy debates in the Irish media.
EU project grants are as follows:
EUDIST 2002-2005 106278-CP-1-2002-1-DE-COMENIUS-C21 European Development of Innovative Science TeachingGIMMS 2006-2009 128749- CP - 1 2006 - 1 - IE- Comenius-C21Gender, Innovation and Mentoring in Mathematics and Science (GIMMS) Euro 240,000CROSSNET 2006-2009 129358-CP-1-1-COMENIUS-C21 Crossing Boundaries in Science Education (CROSSNET)DLIS 2008-2010 Cirrius: Leonardo da Vinci Datalogging in Science Education 2008-0009 Project Number LLP-LdV-ToI/2008/803
Research Interests
Geraldine Mooney Simmie PhD has been successful in making a number of high profile grant applications for extensive research funding from the European Commission (Comenius projects in teacher education and training) and nationally, from the Department of Education and Skills and the National Forum for Teaching and Learning in relation to teacher learning, curriculum and pedagogical innovation. These research and development projects worked with emancipatory and deliberative designs: the teacher as an extended professional and teaching with 'open enough' intellectual spaces for critical engagement and mediation with the wider moral, social and political world.RESEARCH GRANT (S) AWARDED ROLE Amount Euro
EUDIST 2002-2005 106278-CP-1-2002-1-DE-COMENIUS-C21 European Development of Innovative Science Teaching
Role: Transnational Partner 10,000
GIMMS 2006-2009 128749-CP-1-2006-1-IE-Comenius-C21 Gender, Innovation and Mentoring in Mathematics and Science
Role: Project Coordinator: 240,000
CROSSNET 2006-2009 129358-CP-1-1-COMENIUS-C21 Crossing Boundaries in Science Education
Role: Transnational Partner 20,000
DLIS 2008-2010 www.dlis.eu/ Cirrius: Leonardo da Vinci Project Datalogging in Science Education 2008-0008 Project Number LLP-LdV-ToI/2008/803
Role: Evaluator and Transnational Partner 20,000
Once-Off Start-Up Grant-Assistance Masters in Education (Mentoring) 2006-2019: Department of Education and Skills Role: Course Director 48,000
NTIPP 2006-2010 Pilot Programme Induction : Department of Education and Skills
Role: Local Coordinator
46,000
National Teacher Induction Programme UL & Mary Immaculate Collaborative Research Funding Bid FUNDING: Department of Education and Skills
Role: Researcher 20,000
TOTAL Euro 435,500
Professional Activities
Committee
- 2015 Coarse Board Structured PhD in Education,
I have now taken on the role of Course Director of the Structured PhD in Education, starting in January 2015. This will involve ensuring the progression of sPhD students, the new applications, organising the taught modules, liaison with the external examiner, post-graduate office and student academic administration. I have responsibility for assuring academic regualtions are adhered to and that module grades are inputted. I will work with the Course Board, the supervisors and the ADR to ensure the overall success of the programme. - 2012 Teaching Council Working Group on School Placement,
I was a member of the working group with responsibility for drawing up national policy guidelines in relation to school placement, Teaching Council Guidelines for School Placement 2013. I served as an elected representative of the post-primary higher education institutes (HEIs), of which there were 19 HEIs at the time. - 2006 Course Board for Master's in Educational Mentoring,
I have acted as Course Director for the Master's in Educational Mentoring  at the Department of Education and Professional Studies from 2006 to date. In that time we have submitted 46 master's studies, 145 Graduate Diploma studies, 145 Graduate Certificate studies. These studies have been completed by teachers, school principals and tutors from primary, secondary and higher education. The pathway of accreditation has been funded and supported in a variety of ways by the Department of Education and Skills, through a start-up grant in the early years and nowadays through the Fee Refund Scheme. - 2004 Academic Coordination of Teaching Practice and Mentoring,                       Â
I served as Academic Coordinator of Teaching Practice and Mentoring, Department of Education and Professional Studies, University of Limerick from 2004 to 2014. This involved monthly management meetings with my Head of Department and Co-Operative Education, monthly meetings with Course Directors for all Initial Teacher Education programmes on campus, continuing professional development and induction of all tutors, providing information to all UL students (over 850 students per year), liaison with 740 post-primary placement schools in the Republic of Ireland, ensuring validity and reliability of the grading of school placement, liaison with external examiners and ensuring that the school placement at the University of Limerick meets the requirments of the Teaching Council.
Award
- 2012 - Member of Editorial Advisory Board
- 2006 - Coordinator
Education
- 2009 Trinity College Dublin - PhD
- 1981 NUI Galway - M Sc
- 1979 NUI Galway - Higher Diploma in Education
- 1978 NUI Galway - Bachelor of Science