Dr Mags Crean

Applied Social Studies

Lecturer/ Assistant Professor

Auxilia, North Campus, Maynooth University
Level 2
2.2

Biography

Mags Crean is Assistant Professor in Social Policy in Maynooth University. 
 
Mags holds undergraduate degrees in Natural Sciences and Social Sciences, as well as a Masters degree in Equality Studies and PhD in Social Justice from University College Dublin. In addition to research and academic work on social policy issues, Mags has worked in both the community and NGO sectors across a range of policy areas including ageing, education, community, health and housing. This work informs her further academic focus on the role of civil society and community groups in making, analysing and researching social policy.
 
As a former elected Independent county councillor, Mags has a particular interest in policy change that facilitates a more participatory approach to the policy process and connects local, national and global policy issues. In 2008, she was awarded a UCD Egalitarian World Initiative/ Combat Poverty Agency, Civil Society Scholarship. Taking a social justice and critical policy analysis approach to her work, Mags draws on her personal, professional and political experiences to highlight the ways in which social policy can play a role in creating a more egalitarian society.

Research Interests

Educational inequalities
Poverty
Equality
Social class
Care
Health
Ageing

Critical education

Research Projects

Title Role Description Start date End date Amount
Children's School Lives Associate Research Fellow 02/09/2019
It Takes A Village Research Evaluation Principal Investigator 01/10/2023

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2018 Lynch, K and Crean, M (2018) 'Economic Inequality and Class Privilege in Education' In: Harford, J (ed) Education for All? The Legacy of Free Post-Primary Education. Oxford : Peter Lang.
2016 Lynch, K., Cantillon, S. & Crean M. (2016) 'Inequality' In: W.K. Roche, PJ O’Connell and A. Prothero (eds) Austerity’s Poster Child: Ireland’s Experience of Austerity and Recovery. Oxford : University Press.
2011 Crean, M. and Lynch., K. (2011) 'Resistance, Struggle and Survival: The University as a Site for Transformative Action' In: A. O’Shea and M. O’Brien (Eds) Pedagogy, Oppression and Transformation in a Post-Critical Climate. London : Continuum.
2010 Lynch, K. Crean, M. and Moran, M (2010) 'Equality and Social Justice: the university as a site of struggle’' In: Michael Apple, Stephen J Ball and Luis Armando Gandin (eds) International Handbook of the Sociology of Education: Critical Research for Social Justice. New York : Taylor and Francis.

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2024 Crean, M; Moore, B; Devine, Dympna; Symonds, J; Sloan, S; Martínez Sainz , G (2024) 'Qualitative research during the COVID19 pandemic: the impact of remote research on the collaborative production of methodological knowledge'. International Journal of Research and Method in Education, .
2024 Gleasure, Sean, Devine, D.,; Martinez Sainz, G; Sloan, S; Crean, M., Moore, B., Symonds, J (2024) '“This is Where the Care Can Step Up”: A Typology of Nurturing Pedagogies in Primary Schools Serving Low-Income Communities During COVID-19 Closures'. Early Childhood Education Journal, . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-024-01636-6
2024 Martinez-Sainz, G; Devine, D; Sloan, S; Moore, B; Crean, M; Barrow, N; Greaves, M; Gleasure, S (2024) 'A rights-based exploration of children’s pedagogical voice in the classroom'. Education 3-13, .
2024 Farrell, E; Symonds, J; Devine, D; Sloan, S; Crean, M; Cahoon, A; Hogan, J (2024) 'What does well-being mean to me?’. Conceptualisations of well-being in Irish Primary Schooling'. Health Education, .
2023 Crean, Mags, Dympna Devine, Barbara Moore, Gabriela Martínez Sainz, Jennifer Symonds, Seaneen Sloan & Emma Farrell (2023) 'Social class, COVID-19 and care: Schools on the front line in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic'. British Journal of Sociology of Education, . [DOI]
2021 Devine D.; Samonova E.; Bolotta G.; Sugrue C.; Sloan S.; Symonds J.; Capistrano D.; Crean M. (2021) 'Gendering childhood(s) and engagement with schooling in rural Sierra Leone'. Compare, . [DOI] [Full-Text]
2020 Crean, Mags (2020) '‘Personal’ troubles and public spaces: the community as a site of care and social action'. Community Development Journal, 55 (4):607-623.
2020 Lynch, Kathleen,Kalaitzake, Manolis,Crean, Margaret (2020) 'Care and affective relations: Social justice and sociology'. 69 (1):53-71. [Link]
2019 Lynch, Kathleen,Crean, Mags (2019) 'On the question of cheap care: Regarding A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things by Raj Patel and Jason W Moore'. 27 (2):200-207. [Link]
2018 Crean, M (2018) 'Minority Scholars and Insider-Outsider Researcher Status: Challenges along a Personal, Professional and Political Continuum'. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung, 19 (1).
2018 Crean, Margaret (2018) 'Affective formations of class consciousness: Care consciousness'. 66 (6):1177-1193. [Link]
2008 Crean, M (2008) 'Extended book review: DIY Community Action: Neighbourhood Problems and Community Self-help'. Community Development Journal, 44 (4):528-530. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsp046
2007 Morrell, R., Davies, L., Lynch, K., Crean, M., & Subrahmanian, R (2007) 'Review of Gender, Schooling and Global Social Justice, by E. Unterhalter]'. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28 (6):797-816. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30036256

Conference Contribution

Year Publication
2022 Crean, M (2022) Social Class, Covid and Care: Schools on the front line in the Covid-19 pandemic Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) Ireland, .

Report

Year Publication
2017 Crean, M and Lynch, K (2017) Evaluation of the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme in County Wicklow. [Report]
2016 Crean, M (2016) Quantitative survey of dementia specific services in the Republic of Ireland. [Report]
2016 Crean, M (2016) Education and Recovery: Achieving Positive Outcomes in Education for Adults with Mental Health Difficulties. [Report]
2015 Trepel, D., Crean, M. and Begley, E. (2015) Executive Summary: An Economic Analysis of Home Care Services for People with Dementia. Dublin: [Report]
2015 Crean, M and Carroll, C. (2015) Transport: A practical and psycho-social support for people with cancer. Wicklow: [Report]
2013 Crean, M (2013) Information in Transition: The information, advice and advocacy needs of older people. [Report]
2008 Crean, M (2008) The Needs of Young People Living in Blakestown. [Report]

Published Report

Year Publication
2023 Martinez Sainz, G; Devine, D; Sloan, S; Symonds, J; Ioannidou, O; Moore, B; Crean, M; Barrow, N; Grieves, M; Gleasure, S; Donegan, A; Samonova, E; Davies, A; Stynes, H; Farrell; E; O’Giobuìin, R; Smith, A; Farrell, J; Gilligan, E. (2023) Curriculum and Assessment in Children’s School Lives: Experiences from Primary Schools in Ireland 2019–2023. NCCA, .
2023 Devine, D; Martinez-Sainz, G; Symonds, J; Sloan, S; Moore, B; Crean, M; Barrow, N; Grieves, M; Donegan, A; Samonova, E; Davies, A; Farrell; O’Giobúin, R; Farrell, J (2023) PRIMARY PEDAGOGIES: CHILDREN AND TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES OF PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN IRELAND 2019–2022. UCD, . https://cslstudy.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CSL_Report5_ForPublication.pdf
2022 Sloan, S., Devine, D., Martinez Sainz, G., Symonds, J. E., Crean, M., Moore, B., Davies, A., Farrell, E., Farrell, J., Blue, T., Tobin, E. & Hogan, J. (2022) Children’s School Lives: The Preschool to Primary School Transition in Ireland, Report No. 4. NCCA, .
2021 Sloan, S and Martinez Sainz, G and Devine, D and Symonds, J and Crean, M and Moore, B and Davies, A and Farrell, E (2021) Children's School Lives in Junior Infants. Report 3. National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, .
2020 Devine, D.; Symonds, J., Sloan, S., Cahoon, A., Crean, M., Farrell, E., Davies, A., Blue, T. & Hogan, J. (2020) Children’s School Lives: An Introduction, Report No.1. NCCA, .
2020 Symonds, J. E., Devine, D., Sloan, S., Crean, M., Moore, B., Martinez Sainz, G., Farrell, E., Davies, A., Farrell, J., & Blue, T. (2020) Experiences of Remote Teaching and Learning in Ireland During the Covid-19 Pandemic (March – May 2020). NCCA, .
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2024) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Honors and Awards

Date Title Awarding Body
01/01/2008 UCD Egalitarian World Initiative: Combat Poverty Agency, Civil Society Scholarship University College Dublin

Committees

Committee Function From / To
Purple House Cancer Support Trustee/ Board member 01/01/2014 - 01/01/2020
Wicklow Inclusion and Disability Committee Committee member 24/05/2019 - 01/05/2022
East Coast Regional Drugs & Alcohol Task Force Board member 24/05/2019 - 01/05/2022
Wicklow Mermaid Arts Theatre Board member 24/05/2019 - 01/05/2022
Greystones Family Resource Centre Board member 01/08/2017 -

Teaching Interests

Advanced Social Policy - BSocSc - semester 1

Ageing and Social Policy - BSocSc - semester 2

Education Inequalities - MSocSc - semester 2

Policy analysis & dissertation - BSocSc - semester 1 & 2

Critical Skills for Social Science I - BSocSc - semester 1

Critical Skills for Social Science II- BSocSc - semester 2