About Us / Bios
Luke Monahan MA, Dip. Past., Dip. Ed. / Head, Centre for Education Services / Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, Ireland.
Luke leads a team of twelve full time professional consultants in the areas of professional development and research. He is a national figure in Irish education having published widely and led professional development programmes in every area of the country. He has also contributed widely to international developments and addressed many conferences and courses in Europe, the United States of America, Africa, New Zealand, Peru and Australia. His particular interests are leadership, culture, conflict, pastoral care and planning.
Luke has more than twenty years experience as a professional. He taught a range of subjects at primary and post-primary levels in the Irish system for twelve years. In that time he was a subject head of department and contributed to curricular development. His interest in professional development grew in response to the needs of fellow teachers interested in innovation and needs based change.
While completing his MA in leadership, he was requested to teach on the programme (Marino Institute of Education and National University of Ireland, Maynooth). This afforded Luke the opportunity to carry out research and to publish.
His first publication entitled Making School a Better Place (1996) marked a welcome hands on approach to how the teacher could optimise the professional relationship with the student for the benefit of teaching and learning. Luke concretised his approach to education under the term 'pastoral care', a term he defined as 'a systemic approach to education which seeks to value and develop the young person at every level' Making School a Better Place 1996:5. He underpined this definition with practical and concrete strategies to realise the vision entailed in the statement. It is this linking of educational insight with provision of practical responses that has been the hallmark of Luke's contribution down through the years.
A number of his following publications have come from his work as the founding National Co-ordinator of the Irish Association of Pastoral Care in Education. This association provides tagetted supports to schools in the area of pastoral care. Luke has authored a number of books in this regard: The Class Tutor (1997) - a guide to how a teacher can care for a particular class throughout their time in school; The Year Head(1998) - supporting the teacer who has responsibility for an entire year group; The Chaplain(1998) - exploring campus ministry in the school context; Moving Forward with Students (1999) - training young people to be leaders in the context of the school.
As Head of the Centre for Education Services at Marino Institute of Education, Luke has had the opportunity to identify needs in the Irish system that were not being addressed. He has made a unique contribution in the area of culture and ethos - how these often 'foggy' concepts can be clarified and put centre stage in school development. He has contributed to and edited two hugely significant publications in this regard, School Culture and Ethos: Cracking the Code and School Culutre and Ethos: Releasing the Potential (both 2000). Out of this work Luke and his team are now engaged with over three hundred schools exploring their identity and applying this to every area of school life.
Luke has also tackled very specific issues such as behaviour management, conflict, and suicide to demonstrate how his approach impacts in very concrete ways and does truly enhance the experience of everyone in the school community. He provides a framework of world class research, benchmarked best practice and on site support to enable teachers, administrators, students and parents to unlock their own potential in their own particular context.
His skills in facilitation and presentation are nationally and internationally recognised. He has contributed to many contexts outside education, most recently working with the governing party, the Prime Minister(Taoiseach) and members of the cabinet as they framed their polices going forward.