Biography
Jane McGrath is a lecturer within the Department of Social Care and Early Childhood Education. 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. Jane works as Programme Support Lecturer to the BA (Hons) in Social Care Practice and the BA in Applied Social Care. Jane also is in the role of programme leader to the BA in Individual, Family and Community Support, a new programme in the department, which commenced in 2024. She teaches academic skills, personal and professional development, Youth work, works as placement lecturer for students on practice placement, across a variety of programmes, and a number of research modules.
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 also worked as a placement lecturer, supporting and supervising students who are undertaking their practice placements in both Social Care and Early Childhood agencies.
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.