Education Studies

Biographical Details:

Dr Majella McSharry is a lecturer at the School of Education Studies and director of teaching practice for Science Education and PE with Biology programmes. Majella also qualified and worked as a secondary school teacher. In 2006 she completed a PhD in Sociology at NUIM entitled 'Schooled Bodies: Adolescents Encountering Complexities in the Pursuit of Embodied Validation'. She was one of two Doctoral students in Ireland to be awarded a three year scholarship by the National Children's Office in 2002 to undertake her research. In the past Majella has lectured on the Sociology of the Body, the Sociology of Education, on the area of 'Adolescence' and on Research Methods in colleges such as NUI Maynooth, St. Patrick's College Drumcondra and the National College of Art and Design. Majella is an Advising Examiner for CSPE with the State Examinations Commission and is an expert assessor for CSPE with the Teaching Council of Ireland. She is an executive member of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland, where she presently acts as the Association's annual conference coordinator.

Research Interests:

The sociology of the body and particularly the embodied narratives of children and adolescents. The experiences of Irish youth in second level schools with regard to teaching and learning and the dynamic of peer networks. Gender studies and the construction of gendered identities, with particular reference to participation in school sport. Citizenship education focusing on the school structures that facilitate student action. Click here to view my current research projects.

Selected Books

• Majella McSharry. Schooled Bodies? Negotiating Adolescent Validation through Press, Peers and Parents, Trentham Books, 2009.

Selected Chapters

• Majella McSharry. 2008. Stuck in a Ruck: The Impact of Rugby on Social Belonging. Belongings: Shaping Identity in Modern Ireland
• Majella McSharry. 2008. Living with Contradictions: Teenagers' Experiences of Active Citizenship and Competitive Individualism. Education for Citizenship and Diversity in Irish Contexts

• McSharry, Majella, Bad Body, Fat Friends, Sociology and Anthropology Symposium, Jan 2004, - , NUI Maynooth
• McSharry, Majella, The Projection of the Self among Adolescents, 'Sociological Imaginations' Annual Conference, Sept 2004, - , Queens University Belfast
• McSharry, Majella, The Embodied Influences of Family and Friends, Annual Postgraduate Openday, April 2005, - , NUI Maynooth
• McSharry, Majella, Bodily Control as a Solution to Social Insecurity, ESAI Annual Conference, March 2006, - , NCAD Dublin
• McSharry, Majella, Embodied Stigmatisation in Adolescent School Communities, AERA (American Educational Research Association), March 2008, - , New York, USA
• McSharry, Majella, Do schools have time for active citizenship?, ENERCE Conference, Sept 2008, - , Seville, Spain
• McSharry, Majella, Active Citizenship Vs Competitive Individualism, ESAI Annual Conference, April 2009, - , Kilkenny
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• McSharry, Majella, Too Fat or Too Thin to Fit in?, What Ivory Towers? Gender, the body and sexuality. May 2008, - , UCD
• McSharry, Majella, Are you a man or a mouse? - The role of the body in establishing adolescent peer networks, ESAI Annual Conference, March 2007, - , Cavan Crystal Hotel