Ms Jane McGrath
B Soc Sc, MA
Course Leader of the BA in Applied Social Studies in Social Care and Lecturer
- Room name or number C210
- Phone +353 51 845539
Biography
Jane McGrath is a lecturer within the Department of Applied Arts. She graduated from University College Cork in 2001 with a first-class honours BSC in Youth and Community Work. She graduated with a Masters in Arts through research from WIT in 2007. Jane's MA was a qualitative research entitled 'Fathering from Prison: an exploration of the experiences and perceptions of a group of men in Mountjoy prison'. Jane worked in a variety of settings in the community and voluntary sector between 1998 and 2005, before embarking on her MA in WIT. Since November 2015 Jane has been working in the role of Course Leader on the BA in Applied Social Care, the programme which prior to July 2019 was known as the BA in Applied Social Studies in Social Care.
I've been teaching at WIT since 2006 on a variety of courses primarily within the Department of Applied Arts, including the BA (Hons) Applied Social Studies in Social Care, the BA in Applied Social Studies in Social Care, the BA (Hons) in Social Care Practice, the BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Studies and the BA (Hons) in Criminal Justice Studies.
I lecture in a variety of subject areas including those which support student's performance in and preparation for academic studies (such as Critical Thinking and Research Skills modules), Sociology modules and modules which examine ways of working with and supporting young people (Principles and Issues in Youth Work/ Youth at Risk).
Since 2010 I have worked as a placement lecturer, supporting and supervising students who are undertaking their practice placements in both Social Care and Early Childhood agencies. I have also supported the development of placements further by sharing the role of Acting Placement Coordinator since March 2019, supporting the development of the programme in preparation for our application for approval by an external body.
McGrath, J. (2009) ‘Irish Prisoners and Fatherhood: an opportunity for personal change?’, 9th Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 2009.
McGrath, J. (2009) ‘Father or addict; an analysis of identity conflict’, 36th Sociological Association of Ireland Annual Conference, WIT, May 2009
McGrath, J. (2009) ‘Prisoners and fatherhood; an opportunity for personal change?, 4th Annual Irish Criminology Conference, Dublin, June 2009
McGrath J. (2007) ‘The prisoner as ‘father’ – the dual challenges of contact and separation; Poster Presentation, 34th Sociological Association of Ireland Conference, May 2007
McGrath J (2006), ‘Researching fathers in an Irish prison: some methodological challenges’, Sociological Association of Ireland, Postgraduate Conference, Dublin, November 2006.
I have worked within the community and voluntary sector in Ireland since 1998, volunteering for a year with the St Louis Day Care Centre, Ramsgrange, Co Wexford. From 1999 - 2003, I worked as a Community Youth worker with the Ferns Dioscean Youth Service in Coolcotts Youth Project, as a part-time and then full-time employee. In 2003, I worked as Project Coordinator in the newly formed 'New Ross Community Development Project', a small, non-profit, community development organisation in New Ross town. In 2005 I moved to WIT to undertake a MA through research, as a result of securing a scholarship awarded through the Irish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, which I completed in 2007. I have been teaching a variety of subject areas since 2006. My role as Course Leader on the BA in Applied Social Care has involved day to day management of the programme in addition to leading preparations for the 2019 school review and WIT’s 2019 application for approval by an external body.