Breda McNally is an education and training specialist with a career spent working at the interface between policy and practice in a range of national and EU continuous improvement initiatives.

Breda is currently on a jointly funded SOLAS-DCU secondment to the DCU Institute of Education, working on the development of strategic links between the further education and training (FET) and higher education (HE) sectors in DCU and at national, regional and local levels. Breda is also a member of the Further Education and Training Research Centre (FETRC) at DCU.

Prior to the secondment to DCU Breda was manager in the Statutory Authority for Apprenticeship in Ireland (SOLAS), supporting a range of industry, education, training, and other stakeholders in the development of new national apprenticeships leading to awards from levels 5 to national apprenticeships leading to awards from levels 5 to national apprenticeships leading to awards from levels 5 to 10 on the National Framework of Qualifications in both HE and FET sectors. Breda is also a member of the Cedefop European Community of National Apprenticeship Experts.

Breda recently completed a doctoral thesis titled What’s the story with apprenticeship in Ireland? Experiences of apprenticeship reform in higher education 2016-2023: an exploratory case study. This examines higher education stakeholders’ understanding and experiences of recent reforms in statutory apprenticeship since 2016, primarily with respect to the new consortium-led model of apprenticeship in higher education. 

Papers on aspects of the research have been presented at the 2024 British Educational Research Association conference, the 2025 Educational Studies of Ireland conference, the 2025 International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship conference, and the 2025 Journal of Vocational Education & Training conference.

A paper titled 'What's the story with apprenticeship in Ireland? Higher education institutions' experiences in implementing a new model 2016-2023' is published in Vocation, Education & Technology Journal, ahead of publication, available at: https://doi.org/10.54844/vte.2025.0932 and in the Proceedings of the 9th International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship international research conference - Apprenticeships: future global trends. University of Hertfordshire (UK), 8-9 May. Scholar Media Publishing, pp. 94-100.