A Kildare woman advocating for student voice.

I am a reflective and creative art and design teacher. I have accrued expertise in interior architecture, as well as art and design lecturing to university level. Having spent twenty-three years working in the commercial design industry and fifteen years lecturing, I have acquired a set of unique skills that offers not only an exciting art education, but a real insight into design and the processes and skills required to be a responsible and competitive designer in today's world. To that end the subjects I teach include Art, Design, Communication Graphics and Design Computer Graphics.

The teaching philosophy that underpins my teaching practice has its roots in social constructivism and its ambitions in civic education. Influences include Paulo Freire, Kathleen Lynch and Ira Shor, to name but a few.

My passion for teaching comes from a desire to advocate for the silenced and less privileged in society. To empower people to advocate not only for themselves but for others and for the greater good. Art and design are great vehicles for self development and advocacy for others.

Education needs to be accessible to all to make real societal change. 'Knowledge is trans-formative action' (Lynch, 2019), not a deposit as Freire (1983) notes. It is our responsibility as teachers to utilise knowledge to democratise education.