Benjamin Mallon
Dr
Benjamin Mallon is Assistant Professor in Geography Education in the Institute of Education, Dublin City University. Ben is co-director of the DCU Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Education and is a member of the DCU Centre for Climate and Society.
Ben has expertise in educational approaches which employ active, participatory methodologies and innovative enquiry-based frameworks to develop learners' understandings of, attitudes towards, and engagement with, significant sustainability issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss and conflict.
Ben coordinates and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules across the Institute of Education, including modules in 'primary geography education', 'geographical, environmental and outdoor education', 'children's rights education' and 'global citizenship education'. Ben supervises postgraduate research projects in the areas of geography education, global citizenship education, and education for democracy. Ben teaches in the EdD Area of Preferred Focus on education for sustainability, and supervises PhD students in the field of education.
He has published a number of peer reviewed articles and several book chapters in the fields of Education for Sustainability, Global Citizenship Education and Climate Change Education, with a particular focus on transformative pedagogical approaches addressing complex global issues.
Benjamin edited (with Fionnuala Waldron and Caitríona Ní Cassithe) the book 'Pushing the Boundaries of Human Rights Education: Concepts, Challenges and Contexts' published by Routledge in 2024. Ben also co-edited (with Anne Marie Kavanagh and Fionnuala Waldron) the book ‘Teaching for social justice and sustainable development across the primary curriculum’, published by Routledge in 2021.
Ben is co-PI on the DEMOCRAT Project (HORIZON-RIA HORIZON No. 101095106) which focuses on Education for Democracy across Europe, and in particular on the creation of Living Labs working with multiple education stakeholders to design and test education responses to strengthen democracy.
Some of Ben’s current collaborative research projects include those exploring primary teachers’ understandings and practices of Global Citizenship Education in schools, investigating young people’s experiences of deliberative democracy in relation to biodiversity loss, and researching how climate change education is addressed in the curricula of island states.
He sits on the Scientific and Pedagogical Committee of the Office of Climate Education, and is a member of the organising committee of the Irish Children’s and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss.
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Mallon, B.; Molay, V.; Reid, K.; Harris, C.; Torney, D. (2025) 'Children and young people’s assemblies against the backdrop of the European Green Deal: opportunities for consolidating and extending a sustainable and democratic transition'. Journal of European Integration, 47 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2022 | Bourke, A.; Mallon, B.; Maunsell, C. (2022) 'Realisation of Children's Rights under the un Convention on the Rights of the Child to, in, and through Sexuality Education'. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHILDRENS RIGHTS, 30 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2022 | McCully, A.; Waldron, F.; Mallon, B. (2022) 'The contrasting place of political history in the primary curricula of Ireland, north and south: a comparative study'. COMPARE-A JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION, 52 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Murphy, C.; Mallon, B.; Smith, G.; Kelly, O.; Pitsia, V.; Martinez Sainz, G. (2021) 'The influence of a teachers’ professional development programme on primary school pupils’ understanding of and attitudes towards sustainability'. Environmental Education Research, 27 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Mallon, B.; Martinez-Sainz, G. (2021) 'Education for children's rights in Ireland before, during and after the pandemic'. Irish Educational Studies, 40 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Redman, E.; Murphy, C.; Mancilla, Y.; Mallon, B.; Kater-Wettstaedt, L.; Barth, M.; Ortiz, M.G.; Smith, G.; Kelly, O. (2021) 'International scaling of sustainability continuing professional development for in-service teachers'. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 17 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | O’connell, C.; Mallon, B.; Cassaithe, C.N.í.; Barry, M. (2021) 'Addressing the complexity of contemporary slavery: Towards a critical framework for educators'. Policy and Practice, 2021 . [Link] | |
| 2020 | Murphy, C.; Smith, G.; Mallon, B.; Redman, E. (2020) 'Teaching about sustainability through inquiry-based science in Irish primary classrooms: the impact of a professional development programme on teacher self-efficacy, competence and pedagogy'. Environmental Education Research, 26 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2020 | Cliona Murphy, Nicola Broderick, Benjamin Mallon (2020) 'Primary science in Ireland – 17 years on'. Irish Teachers' Journal, 8 (1):141-156. [Link] | |
| 2019 | Tarozzi, M.; Mallon, B. (2019) 'Educating teachers towards global citizenship: A comparative study in four European countries'. London Review of Education, 17 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2018 | Mallon, Benjamin (2018) 'ILLUMINATING THE EXPLORATION OF CONFLICT THROUGH THE LENS OF GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION'. Policy and Practice, (27). |
Book
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | (2024) Pushing the Boundaries of Human Rights Education: Concepts, Challenges and Contexts. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. https://doi-org.dcu.idm.oclc.org/10.4324/9781003321644 | |
| 2021 | Kavanagh, A.M.; Waldron, F.; Mallon, B. (2021) Teaching for social justice and sustainable development across the primary curriculum. [Link] [DOI] |
Book Chapter
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Benjamin Mallon (2024) 'Rights, Peace and Justice in Global Citizenship Education in Ireland' In: Global Education in Ireland: Critical Histories and Future Directions. London : Bloomsbury. [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Orla Kelly; Benjamin Mallon; Thomas McLoughlin (2024) 'Technological Affordances in Understanding Biodiversity' In: Routledge Handbook of Mobile Technology, Social Media and the Outdoors. London : Routledge. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | (2024) 'The Translation and Transformation of Human Rights in Picturebooks' In: Pushing the Boundaries of Human Rights Education Concepts, Challenges and Contexts. London : Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003321644 | |
| 2023 | Catherine Maunsell; Ashling Bourke; Benjamin Mallon; Claire Cullen (2023) 'Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Ireland: A Children’s Rights Perspective' In: Sex and Sexualities in Ireland: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. - : Palgrave Macmillan Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36550-8_5 | |
| 2023 | Mallon, B.; Waldron, F.; Cassaithe, C.N. (2023) 'Human rights education: A beacon of hope in times of crisis?' In: Pushing the Boundaries of Human Rights Education Concepts Challenges and Contexts. [Link] | |
| 2023 | Waldron, F.; Mallon, B.; Cassaithe, C.N. (2023) 'Human rights education in a time of crisis: A pedagogy of possibility' In: Pushing the Boundaries of Human Rights Education Concepts Challenges and Contexts. [Link] | |
| 2021 | Waldron, F.; Mallon, B.; Kavanagh, A.M. (2021) 'Transforming pedagogy for a socially just and sustainable world: Concluding thoughts' In: Teaching For Social Justice And Sustainable Development Across The Primary Curriculum. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Mallon, B. (2021) 'Global citizenship education: Interconnection, social justice and sustainability' In: Teaching For Social Justice And Sustainable Development Across The Primary Curriculum. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Kavanagh, A.M.; Waldron, F.; Mallon, B. (2021) 'Teaching for social justice and sustainable development across the primary curriculum: An introduction' In: Teaching For Social Justice And Sustainable Development Across The Primary Curriculum. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Benjamin Mallon (2021) 'Educational Responses to the Emotions, Foundations and Everyday Realities of Climate Change' In: Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review Fifteenth Anniversary Special Edition. Belfast : Centre for Global Education. | |
| 2020 | F. Waldron, B. Mallon, M. Barry & G. Martinez-Sainz (2020) 'Climate Change Education in Ireland: Emerging Practice in a Context of Resistance' In: Ireland and the Climate Crisis. Cham : Palgrave Macmillan. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47587-1_13 | |
| 2020 | Mallon, B. (2020) 'The right to education' In: International Human Rights Social Policy and Global Development Critical Perspectives. [Link] | |
| 2019 | Benjamin Mallon (2019) 'National Case Study: Ireland' In: Teachers’ education in GCE: emerging issues in a comparative perspective. Bologna : Università di Bologna. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2019 | Benjamin Mallon (2019) 'Contrasting Cultures in GCE Teacher Education' In: Teachers’ education in GCE: emerging issues in a comparative perspective. Bologna : Università di Bologna. [Link] [DOI] |
Published Report
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Maria Barry; Therese Farrell; Benjamin Mallon; Anna Daly (2023) Global Citizenship Education in Early Childhood Education: A Research Report on a Scoping Study of Current Practices and Future Possibilities. Global Village, . [Link] | |
| 2023 | Maria Barry; Benjamin Mallon; Ashling Bourke; Joe Usher; Anna Daly (2023) Teachers and Global Citizenship Education: Values, Attitudes and Practices. Global Village, . [Link] | |
| 2023 | Susan Pike; Caitriona Ni Cassithe; Niamh McGuirk; Joe Usher; Benjamin Mallon; Peter Whelan (2023) Social and Environmental Education: A Review of Research and Scholarship in Geography, History and Education about Religions and Beliefs in the Context of the Redeveloped Irish Primary School Curriculum. NCCA, . [Link] | |
| 2018 | Benjamin J Mallon (2018) The Impact and Evaluation of Development Education in Irish Primary Schools. DICE, . |
Commissioned Report
Other Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Benjamin Mallon (2015) 'A Development Education Perspective on the Challenges and Possibilities of Climate Change in Initial Teacher Education' :135-146. | |
| 2013 | Benjamin Mallon (2013) 'Lessons in Conflict and Peace in Nagorno-Karabakh' . [Link] |
Guidelines for Practice
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Benjamin J Mallon, Fionnuala Waldron, Rowan Oberman, Seline Keating (2017) Making Rights Real: Learning Activities and Actions on Children’s Rights for Children. GFP [Link] | |
| 2013 | Benjamin Mallon & Connall O'Caoimh (2013) Proudly made in Africa: a Transition Unit for Business Studies and Development Education. Dublin: GFP [Link] |
Book Review
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Benjamin Mallon (2020) Important work in a time of volatility: transnational perspectives on democracy, citizenship, human rights and peace education. BREV [Link] | |
| 2016 | Benjamin Mallon (2016) Children’s Rights, Educational Research and the UNCRC: Past, Present and Future. BREV | |
| 2015 | Benjamin Mallon (2015) Sowing seeds: the militarisation of youth and how to counter it. BREV [DOI] | |
| 2013 | Benjamin Mallon (2013) Education that Matters: Teachers, Critical Pedagogy and Development Education at Local and Global Level. BREV [Link] |
Conference Publication
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Benjamin Mallon (2013) Irish Association of Social Science and Environmental Education Peace building education on the island of Ireland: A conceptual framework [Link] |
Conference Contribution
Thesis
Other Publication
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Mallon, B. (2020) Important work in a time of volatility: Transnational perspectives on democracy, citizenship, human rights and peace education. [Link] |
Book Review
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | (2025) Teaching peace as a matter of justice: toward a pedagogy of moral reasoning: by Dale T. Snauwaert. [DOI] |
Professional Associations
Reviews
Enterprise Engagement
Outreach Activities
Research Interests
Ben researches in the areas of Geography Education, Education for Sustainability and Global Citizenship Education, with a particular focus on pedagogical approaches which address conflict, challenge violence and support the development of peaceful and sustainable societies. Current research projects and responsiblities include:
- PI (with John Lalor and Justin Rami) on the DEMOCRAT Project (European Union’s HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions under Grant Agreement No. 101095106) which aims, through a participatory approach, to elaborate curricula or EfD based on a framework of responsible democratic competences (RDCs), to test them in open, local, innovative learning projects and to develop a toolbox to support the development of transformative EfD practices in the EU and beyond.
- Member of the research team on the COLNIM Project undertaking a comparative analysis of climate change education in the primary curricula of Ireland and Mauritius.
- Member of the research team addressing the research components of the Global Village programme (funded by Irish Aid). This includes a quantiative analysis of Irish primary teacher experiences, percpectives and practices in relation to Global Citizenship Education, and a scoping study exploring the GCE within early childhood education.