Desmond SwanTouria Jouilla McKee, originally from the city of Azou, Morocco, is a Moroccan-Irish national. She is a former teacher, teacher trainer, professional development specialist and academic manager. She was a lecturer in the Further Education (FE) sectorin the UK between 2005 and 2009. She has extensive experience in Community and Further Education, language education pedagogy, language analysis and curriculum and materials design. She has published a number of articles on English language teaching and materials design in Ireland, where she now lives with her Irish husband.
Touria works in ETBI (Education Training Boards Ireland) as a quality and policy officer and is a PhD candidate with the University of Aberdeen. She is currently researching "Access to Education in Irish Further Education and Training through the lens of Bourdieu's habitus-field theory".
As a native Moroccan, Touria witnessed, first-hand, many of the major reforms the kingdom of Morocco has undergone since 1999 and offered personal insights in researching content for this book.
Emeritus Professor Dr Desmond Swan was Professor of Education at University College Dublin from 1975 to 1998. He has published, edited, or contributed to ten books (on education, psychology, reading, literary criticism, poetry and German language) in Ireland, the UK, Germany and Georgia. He has written numerous articles in Irish, British, Dutch, and EU Journals, and contributed to a dictionary of psychology and a dictionary of reading. He holds an award (from the International Reading Association, Delaware, USA) for pioneering research in psychology. While at UCD he "transformed" the Education Department (as Head), establishing five new postgraduate programmes in Education. He has carried out commissioned research for SADCC (the Southern African Development Cooperation Council), ISERP (The International School Effectiveness Research Project), the International Montessori Association, the Government of Ireland, the Educational Company of Ireland, The European Union, The Open University, etc. He has been Extern Examiner/Visiting Professor at fourteen universities in Ireland, Britain, Germany, the USA, and Zambia. Read More Read Less