Nicky joined The Institute of Education last year and is thoroughly enjoying her role as a teacher of French & German, as well as Form Tutor for 5th Years.
After she graduated from UCD with an honours degree in both French & German, she completed her teacher training, PGCE in 1998. She was awarded the highest grade on the course in that year group at The University of Manchester.
From her first day in the classroom, Nicky was very aware of the positive role she could have in the lives of young people. She saw, with her own eyes, how her ability to instil a thirst for knowledge, as well as a sense of ambition & self-belief, could transform the lives of her students.
During her early career, she founded a school tour company to promote the learning of modern languages in Ireland. This went on to become one of Ireland’s leading educational tour providers. Although heavily involved in all areas of the business, from marketing to syllabus development, her greatest joy was to be found in the classroom where she strived to build both competence and confidence in language learning amongst her students.
In 2015, Nicky returned to full-time teaching in Dublin. As well as teaching both French & German to senior cycle students, she also had the role of Year Head for both 5th & 6th Years.
Nicky is also involved in PME (Professional Masters in Education) programmes at university level. From 2015 to 2019, she acted as Lead Tutor in Modern Foreign Language Teaching Methodologies in Hibernia College. She developed material relating to teaching methodology in the MFL classroom and delivered seminars to student teachers. She was a lecturer on subject mastery in French & German. She is currently a school placement tutor with Trinity College & she is on the interview panel for prospective students entering the teaching profession.