Shows Alex Grogan and fellow student teachers at launch event

DCU Educational Disadvantage Centre Hubs Shortlisted for European Social Services Network Award

16/09/2025

Research News - Alex Grogan Community Hubs Launch

DCU Educational Disadvantage Centre’s local community outreach hubs, in conjunction with Northside Area Partnership and Dublin North West Partnership, to promote access to the teaching profession have been shortlisted for the European Social Services Network Award in the Strengthening Communities and Social Inclusion Award category. The European Social Services Network Awards focus on projects that ‘deliver impactful social services’, to ‘demonstrate long-term solutions that break cycles of disadvantage and promote autonomy and self-determination’.with ‘clear, lasting benefits for individuals and communities facing systemic barriers’.

Since their establishment in 2017, the Higher Education Authority funded community outreach hubs in Darndale, Coolock, Kilbarrack and Finglas have enabled 51 students from the areas supported to gain entry to primary school teaching at DCU’s Institute of Education, from a baseline of close to zero.

The hubs were launched in Darndale in December 2017 by the then Minister for Education, Richard Bruton, T.D and by Professor Daire Keogh, DCU President. They were subsequently expanded to Finglas, with the Finglas hub opened by Professor Keogh and Professor Anne Looney, Dean of the Institute of Education in June 2022.

The evaluation report for the hubs was launched by High Court Judge, Justice Siobhán Phelan in DCU Institute of Education in October 2024. The hubs’ coordinators engage with over 12 local DEIS secondary schools in the supported areas. While the initial focus of the hubs was on 5 th and 6 th year students to support them with the Leaving Certificate, support is now also available for early secondary students. Mature students have also been a target group for support from the very start of the hubs.

Darndale-Coolock and Kilbarrack Hubs Coordinator, Elaine Davis states:

“The best part of my role is witnessing the energy and determination of Hub students as they pursue their dream of becoming a Primary school teacher. Their commitment to shaping the future through education is a testament to their resilience and potential.”

Welcoming the shortlisting for the European Award, Professor Paul Downes, Director of DCU Educational Disadvantage Centre in DCU Institute of Education states:

“This European Social Services Network Shortlisting for the Award for Strengthening Communities and Social Inclusion is recognition of the real, substantial impact of our outreach hubs on the ground in local communities. It is testament to the drive and commitment of the students themselves and their families, as well as to the immense work of the hubs’ coordinators, Elaine Davis and Sarah McManus, in going the extra mile, and the hubs’ tutors. As a model of active collaboration between DCU and our community partners, Northside Area Partnership and Dublin North West Partnership, as well as local DEIS schools, our hubs’ approach is ripe for expansion not only nationally but also more widely across European contexts.”