Researcher Details |

Andrew O'Shea

Andrew is lecturer in philosophy of education and human development. He teaches in both Humanities and Education, courses include: Philosophy of Education, Constructions of Childhood, Wellbeing and Human Development. His research involves understanding and navigating 'being and becoming' in times of crises. His research focuses primarily on questions of phenomenology and hermeneutics that bear on: childhood studies, citizenship, wellbeing, practical wisdom, ethics and new beginnings (natality). One of the first graduates of human development in Ireland, he has held the post of programme chair of the subject of human development, served on various boards to advance wellbeing, spoken regularly at international conferences, and collaborated in local and national art exhibitions. He is a member of a special interest group that examines the role of praxis in education. His current inquiry is exploring the factors that inhibit the knowledge that comes through lived experience.

Book

	Year	Publication
	2012	O'Shea, A. (2012) Selfhood and Sacrifice: René Girard and Charles Taylor on the Crisis of Modernity. New York and London: Continuum Books.

Book Chapter

	Year	Publication
	2013	O'Shea, A. (2013) 'Rethinking Transformation in Light of Post-Modern Education: ‘Freire is dead, long live Freire’' In: Pedagogy, Oppression and Transformation in a 'Post-Critical' Climate. London and New York : Continuum.
	2011	O'Shea, A. (2011) 'Strong pedagogy and the making of a secular age' In: The Taylor Effect: Responding to a Secular Age. UK : Cambridge Scholars.
	2007	O'Shea, A. (2007) 'The Lysistrata project: Intercultural resistance and the economy of sacrifice' In: Intercultural spaces: Language, culture, identity. New York : Peter Lang.

Edited Book

	Year	Publication
	2013	O'Shea, A. and O'Brien, M (Ed.). (2013) Pedagogy, Oppression and Transformation in a 'Post-Critical' Climate. New York and London: Continuum Books,
	2011	Ó Duibhir, P., McDaid, R., & O'Shea, A (Ed.). (2011) All Changed? Culture and Identity in Contemporary Ireland (The Fifth Seamus Heaney Lecture Series). Dublin, Ireland: Duras Press,

Peer Reviewed Journal

	Year	Publication
	2022	O’Shea, A. (2022) 'Natality and Development in Education: A Rapprochement Between Hannah Arendt and Gert Biesta?'. Teachers College Record, 124 (6):176-195. [DOI]
	2022	O’Shea, A. (2022) 'Fashioning Suburban Space'. Architecture Ireland, (322).
	2019	Andrew O'Shea (2019) 'Memory, Origins and the Searching Quest in Girard's Mimetic Cycle: An Arendtian Perspective'. Forum Philosophicum, 24 (1 Spring 2019):43-90. [Link]
	2017	Andrew O'Shea (2017) 'Book Review: 'Sacrifice in Modern Thought''. Louvain Studies, 40 (2):230-232. [Link] [DOI]
	2015	O’Shea, A.; Lorenzi, F. (2015) 'The unquantifiable as a measure of good education'. Ethics and Education, 10 . [Link] [DOI]
	2013	O'Shea, A. (2013) 'Wholeness, Transformation and Dialogue in an Age of Global Citizenship'. Irish Educational Studies, Oct .

Conference Publication

	Year	Publication
	2017	O'Brien, M and O'Shea, A (2017) Citizenship Education 100 years on: An SPHE Network conference . In: Anne Marie Kavanagh eds. *A Deeper Well: Reclaiming Wellbeing for Teachers of SPHE*
	2014	O'Shea, A. (2014) Conference on Religion and Violence, Ottowa, Canada . In: Vern Neufeld Redekop and Thomas Ryba eds. *Modern Freedom and Creativity in Girard, Eagleton and Taylor* Ottawa, Canada,

Conference Contribution

	Year	Publication
	2024	Gibson, D.; Murphy, T.; O'Brien, M.; Burns, G.; O'Shea, A. (2024) Teacher Educators’ Narratives of Hope in and for a just and humanizing education It’s a CCOP Critical Community of Praxis not a “COP” Community of Practice: Teacher Educators’ Narratives of Hope in and for a just and humanizing education Symposium, .
	2023	O’Shea, A. (2023) 10th Biennial Conference Childhood Today, A Froebelian Perspective Paper Presentation: “The Highs and Lows of Childhood” Maynooth, .
	2022	(2022) IAFOR: The Barcelona Conference on Education (BCE2022) Chair: Session - Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice & Praxis Session; Speaker: Education in an Age of Crisis paper: Praxis and Wellbeing Barcelona, .
	2018	Andrew O'Shea (2018) ECER Inclusion and Exclusion, Resources for Educational Research? LEARNING FROM CHARLES TAYLOR'S PHENOMENOLOGY Bolzano, Italy, 03/09/2018-06/09/2018.
	2016	O'Brien, M and O'Shea, A (2016) Citizenship Education 100 years on: An SPHE Network conference Keynote: Identity, Wellbeing & SPHE Maynooth University, 11/11/2016-12/11/2016.
	2012	O'Shea, A. (2012) ESAI Critical Pedagogy and the Possibilities of Transformation Cork, .
	2011	O'Shea, A. (2011) ITE Conference, St. Patrick’s College, Dublin Wholeness, Transformation and Dialogue in an Age of Global Citizenship St. Patrick's College, Dublin, .
	2011	O'Shea, A. (2011) Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University, Lithuania Blood in the Word: Violence and Identity in the Work of Seamus Heaney Lithuania, .
	2011	O'Shea, A. (2011) The Humanities in Education Seminar, St. Patrick’s College, Dublin The Scene of the Crime: Foundational Violence in the Work of René Girard St. Patrick's College, Dublin, .
	2009	O'Shea, A. (2009) Presented to ‘Tracing the Contours of a Secular Age’ Conference Religion, Secular Culture, and ‘the Dark Abyss of Time’ All Hallows College, Dublin, .
	2009	O'Shea, A. (2009) Seamus Heaney Lecture Series at St Patrick’s College Chair of the Sixth Seamus Heaney Lecture, introducing Professor Richard Kearney, Boston College, who spoke on “The Poetics of the Stranger” St Patrick's College, Dublin, .
	2006	O'Shea, A. (2006) Full length paper presented to the Limerick Philosophical Society (invited speaker) Charles Taylor’s Philosophical Anthropology Likerick, .
	2005	O'Shea, A. (2005) Presented to the Conference on Religion and Violence Mimesis and Authenticity Koblenz, Germany, .
	2004	O'Shea, A. (2004) Presented at the Voices and Images of Children and Adolescence: Rethinking Young Peoples Identities Conference A child centred strategy? St Patrick's College, Dublin, .
	2003	O'Shea, A. (2003) Presented to the Royal Irish Academy The Lysistrata Project Dublin, .
	2002	O'Shea, A. (2002) Presented to the British Phenomenological Society, University College Cork The Myth of Sisyphus and Girard’s Concept of ‘Scandal’ Cork, .

Working Paper

	Year	Publication
	2016	O'Brien, M and O'Shea, A (2016) A Human Development (PSP) Framework for Orientating Education and Schools in the Space of Wellbeing. NCCA website: WP [Link]

Other Journal

	Year	Publication
	2025	O’Shea, A. and O’Brien, M. (2025) 'Looking at wellbeing from all sides now: Towards a new multi and interdisciplinary wellbeing framework for educators through the application of a spatial metaphor' International Journal of Wellbeing, .
	2025	O'Shea, A. (2025) 'Assessing the perceived effectiveness of a newly developed trauma-informed practice (TIP) programme for early childhood teachers' IES Spring 2025, .

Other Publication

	Year	Publication
	2025	O'Shea, A. (2025) IES Spring 2025. Assessing the perceived effectiveness of a newly developed trauma-informed practice (TIP) programme for early childhood teachers.
	2023	O'Shea, A. (2023) “Down a Notch”, a sculpture (mixed medium). Exhibited at the Kilkenny Art Gallery in conjunction with the Kilkenny Arts Festival, 8th – 18th August 2023.
	2022	O'Shea, A. (2022) “Fashioning Suburban Space”, an exhibition of photography. March 2nd - March 31st 2022; Launched by Mary Hanifin.
	2021	O'Shea, A. (2021) “People in Stones Should not Throw Glass Houses”, a sculpture (mixed medium). Exhibited at the Sculpture in Context Exhibition, Botanic Gardens, Dublin, September 2021.

Exhibition

	Year	Publication
	2015	O'Shea, A. (2015) Venus of the Night. Exh

Research Interests

Natality and the Crisis in Education in Arendt's Political Thought
Phenomenological and Existential Challenges for Learning
Orienting Education in a Space of Wellbeing
Hope in the PUCA - Possibilities for Critical Pedagogy
Ethics in Education beyond Post-humanism
Girardian Crises and Educational Beginnings
Childhood: Discontents and Possibilities

Research Projects

	Title	Role	Description	Start date	End date
	Dialogue across Education and Humanities Conference	Project Co-Leader		22/06/2016	24/06/2016