Academic biography

Dr Patrick Burke is an Assistant Professor in the School of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education. He is a member of the literacy education team and also serves as Teaching and Learning Convenor for the school. He holds degrees in education, psychology, and literacy. He completed his PhD on a cross-sectoral analysis of disciplinary literacy in Irish primary and post-primary schools.

Patrick is engaged in a number of projects relating to literacy and education more broadly. He is the DCU Co-PI (with Dr Eithne Kennedy) for the Erasmus+ funded Artificial Intelligence in Literacy (AILIT) project. He recently completed a significant review of the research on curriculum integration, pedagogy and assessment, funded by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to inform the redevelopment of the national primary school curriculum (with Dr Paula Lehane). 

Patrick is chair of the NCCA Primary Language Development Group and member of the Chairperson’s Working Group for the ongoing development of the Primary Curriculum Framework. As an active executive committee member of the Literacy Association of Ireland, he currently holds the position of membership secretary and incoming president. He was recently appointed to the editorial board of Literacy, published by the United Kingdom Literacy Association. His teaching and scholarly work has been recognised by several organisations including the American Educational Research Association and the International Literacy Association.

Patrick started his career as a primary school teacher in a primary school in North County Dublin, where he also held the post of special duties teacher/APII with responsibility for mathematics and technology. While studying for his M.Ed in Reading/Literacy Education, he worked as an International Fellow in the Children’s Literature Centre at Frostburg State University, MD, USA. He later held the role of Advisor with the Professional Development Service for Teachers, which involved the design and delivery of professional development on a national basis. Immediately prior to joining DCU, he worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at MIC Limerick.