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Image of Elizabeth signing a presentation. Her hair is tied back in a pony tail and she is wearing a black dress.

Dr. Elizabeth Mathews

Elizabeth is an Associate Professor with the School of Inclusive and Special Education at DCU St. Patrick's Campus, where she specialises in the area of deaf education. She completed her MA in Deaf Education at Gallaudet University, Washington DC (2005) and her PhD with Maynooth University (2011). Previously, she was the coordinator of the Deaf Education Centre in Cabra, Dublin, sat on the Board of Management of Holy Family School for the Deaf in Cabra and is currently the co-chair of the Education Partnership Group. She is the project lead for the Irish Sign Language STEM Glossary Project along with a number of other research projects. She has also designed and delivered a pathway into primary teaching for Deaf ISL-users. Her recent research publications include work on power in the deaf education system, literacy and deafness, socio-emotional development of deaf children, life skills development in vulnerable deaf adults, and teacher self-efficacy.

Research Interests

  • Deaf education, in particular educational attainment, social inclusion.
  • Teacher education, in particular for children who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deafblind
  • Language acquisition, cognitive development and literacy in deaf children.
  • Inclusion/exclusion and belonging in the education system, in particular, intersectionality and marginality in education.
  • Geographies of education, in particular spatial inequalities in education, use of GIS as a research tool.
  • Power and resistance in the education system.
  • History of special and inclusive education, in particular Foucauldian analyses of same.

Teaching Interests

My teaching interests focus on Deaf Education, including the history of deaf education, changing models and discourses of deafness, educational attainment, literacy, and language acquisition and cognitive development in deaf children. I have used my interest in deaf education to interrogate broader issues of education inequality and inclusion/exclusion, and diversifying teacher education.

I contribute to the following modules on the Bachelor of Education:
1. Major Specialism in Special and Inclusive Education SI201/202; 2. Collaborative Practice SI301; 3. Curriculum and Pedagogy SI302; 4. Special and Inclusive Education and Social Inclusion ED445.

I contribute to the following modules on the Graduate Diploma in Inclusion, Learning Support and Special Education:
1. Principles and Concepts SI701; 2. Assessment, profiling and Planning SI702; 3. Planning, Teaching and Learning for All; SI703 4. Learner Identity and Educational Implications; SI704 5. Collaboration and Leadership SI705; 6. Reflective Practice and Inquiry SI706. I coordinate the assignment on Reflective Inquiry.
I contribute to the Masters in Special Educational Needs on the quantitative research methods module and by supervising students.