Alan Gorman
Dr
Dr Alan Gorman is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Doctor of Education (EdD) programme at Dublin City University (DCU), where he also serves as the Area of Professional Focus Leader for Professional Learning and Teacher Education on the EdD. He is a recipient of the prestigious DCU President’s Medal for Excellence in Teaching (2022). He is the external examiner for the MSc in Educational Leadership at the University of Stirling, Scotland.
He has published widely in leading Q1 international journals. His research interests span policy analysis, educational leadership, professional learning policy, and teacher education, including the integration of artificial intelligence in teacher education. He has successfully supervised numerous doctoral candidates to completion (EdD and PhD) in these fields.
He is currently co-leading a tri-nation, funded research project on system leadership in collaboration with Professor Alma Harris, Professor Michelle Jones (Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales), and Dr Romina Madrid (University of Stirling, Scotland).
He has been invited as a keynote speaker and panellist at international conferences on professional learning and teacher education, including engagements with the Ministry of Education and Teacher Training Agency in Zagreb, Croatia (2024) and the AI in Education Fair at the University of Florida (2025).
He has led and contributed to several national and cross-border studies, including research on early career principalship across Ireland and a teacher education initiative using AI-enabled virtual reality, which was featured on RTÉ news. His work has also appeared in RTÉ Brainstorm and TheJournal.ie.
Dr Gorman is a Research Fellow at the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC) and has contributed directly to national education policy. He undertook a policy audit (funded by the Department of Education), which was presented to the Oireachtas Committee as part of the Review of the 2013 Action Plan on Bullying. This research has informed the development of the national Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying.
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Gorman, Alan; King, Fiona; Madrid Miranda, Romina; Jones, Michelle; Harris, Alma (2025) 'System Leadership: Implications and Considerations for School Leaders'. School Leadership and Management, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2025 | Furlong, C.; Gorman, A. (2025) 'Exploring how the experiential narratives of cooperating teachers impact their role in supporting student teachers'. Teaching Education, . | |
| 2025 | Logan, Anna; Brennan, Aoife; Pennycook, Caitriona; Scanlon, Dylan; Furlong, Catherine; O'Grady, Sarah; Gorman, Alan; Silke, Aishling; O'Kelly, Jane; Johnson, Marie Conroy; Doyle, Audrey (2025) ''Going wild with placement': exploring a model of engagement in individual, dyadic and team reflective practice in the context of collaborative self-study supporting teacher educator critical reflection, interrogation of practice, professional learning, collaboration and the scholarship of teaching and learning'. Reflective Practice, 26 (3). [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Gorman, A.; O'Higgins Norman, J. (2024) 'Enacting anti-bullying procedures in dynamic school environments: insights from primary school principals in the Republic of Ireland'. Irish Educational Studies, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Brennan,A.; Logan, A.; Pennycook, C.; Gorman, A.; Scanlon, D. (2024) 'Collaborative self-study in higher education: lessons from redesigning school placement during the pandemic'. Journal of Education for Teaching, . [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Feijóo, S; Kuldas, S; Sargioti, A; Kinahan, A; Heaney, D.; Gorman, A.; O'Higgins Norman, J. (2024) 'A test of Dublin Anti-bullying Self-Efficacy Scale for teachers (DABSE-T)'. International Journal of Bullying Prevention, . [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Gorman, Alan; Hall, Kathy (2024) 'Exploring the impact of an online learning community to support student teachers on school placement'. European Journal of Teacher Education, 47 (5). [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Hsu, H.P.; Mak, J.; Werner, J.; White-Taylor, J.; Geiselhofer, M.; Gorman, A.; Capurro, C. T. (2024) 'Preliminary study on pre-service teachers’ applications and perceptions of generative artificial intelligence for lesson planning'. Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Education, 32 (3). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/224413/ | |
| 2024 | Barron, B.; Gorman, A.; Looney, A. (2024) 'Teacher professionalism in policy texts in the Republic of Ireland; a critical discourse analysis'. Irish Educational Studies, 43 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Doyle, A.; Conroy Johnson, M.; Scanlon, D.; Logan, A.; Silke, A.; Brennan, A.; Furlong, A.; O’Grady, S (2024) 'Reconceptualising school placement assessment in initial teacher education: a figurational perspective'. European Journal of Teacher Education, . [Link] https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2024.2345904 | |
| 2023 | Gorman, A.; Furlong, C. (2023) 'Partnership or prescription: a critical discourse analysis of HEI-school partnership policy in the Republic of Ireland'. Asia Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 51 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2023 | Brennan, A.; Gorman, A. (2023) 'Leading transformative professional learning for inclusion across the teacher education continuum: lessons from online and on-site learning communities'. Professional Development in Education, 49 . [Link] [DOI] |
Book Chapter
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Lehane, P.; Gorman, A. (2025) 'Assessment and Learning- Summative Approaches' In: Learning to Teach in the Primary School. London : Routledge. [Link] | |
| 2023 | King, F; Brennan, A; Gorman, A (2023) 'Teacher professional learning in the Republic of Ireland: Policy development to policy enactment' In: Innovation in Teacher Professional Learning in Europe. London : Routledge. [DOI] |
Online Article
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Gorman, A. (2024) How 50 years of the Transition Year programme has changed Irish schools. ELEA [Link] https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0819/1465614-transition-year-programme-secondary-schools-ireland-1974/ | |
| 2024 | Gorman, A. (2024) A guide to understanding political policy language in the 'Year of Elections'. ELEA [Link] | |
| 2024 | Gorman, A. (2024) Why election manifestos miss the mark on real education reform. ELEA [Link] |
Other Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Gorman, Alan; O'Higgins Norman, James (2025) 'Are mobile phone bans in schools a real fix for classroom distraction?' RTE Brainstorm, . [Link] |
Published Report
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Gorman, A.; Woods, C.; Brennan, A.; Furlong, C.; Curtin, A.; Hall, K. (2024) Documenting the identity formation of earlycareer school leaders: transition, socialisation, and role duality. SCOTENS, . [Link] https://scotens.org/site/wp-content/uploads/DPIF.pdf | |
| 2024 | Gorman, Alan (2024) The Enactment of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools (2013): Perspectives from 10 Principals in Irish Primary Schools. Dublin City University Anti-Bullying Centre, . [Link] |