About
Professor Leo Casey
leocasey@mac.com
Research Record ORCHID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4316-5425
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leocasey/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leo.casey
Photography: My Photography Portfolio
Lifelong educator, scholar, researcher and education consultant.
Academic Advisor to SeeBeyondBorders Cambodia.
In February 2024, I retired from by role as founding Director of the Centre for Education and Lifelong Learning at National College of Ireland where I also served briefly as Dean of the School of Business.
As a committed educator and advocate for lifelong learning, I believe that education is a core human value as it enables full participation and gives meaning to our lives. My professional work combines education delivery with development, innovation and research. My research is educational in that it combines inquiry with practice and is primarily concerned with improving outcomes for learners. I have investigated many aspects of learning across the lifespan; from digital literacy in primary schools to how older adults come to terms with modern technology.
The interplay between the ‘digital world’ and inquiry learning is a common theme of my work. My underpinning theoretical influences are the works of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky and Jack Mezirow. I am also fascinated by teaching. Much of my focus is on the development of teacher and educator professional identity. I am blessed to have collaborated with capable colleagues as we nurtured new teachers and early childhood educators and facilitated on-going professional development of educators across the sectors.
Notable Projects
2022 – 2025 Principal Investigator – Irish Research Council Coalesce Research for Policy and Society project known as Professional Identity for Khmer Teachers (PIKT). In Cambodia, the historical devastation of intellectual resources during the Khmer Rouge era, combined with a predominantly agrarian economy, presented unique challenges to improving educational outcomes. The PIKT project, implemented in Battambang Province, uses a design-based research (DBR) approach to develop customized professional identity workshops, focusing on transforming teachers’ perceptions of their roles. Key findings reveal that Cambodian teachers often approached teaching with a limited sense of agency, viewing their role through narrow, technical perspectives. The project observed positive shifts in teachers’ self-perceptions, with participants showing increased openness to reflective practice, collegial discussion, and classroom strategies focused on fostering a supportive, inclusive learning environment (budget circa €188K).
2018- 2025 P-Tech Ireland – Academic Director. P-TECH is a sectoral innovation for vocational skills in Irish post-primary schools. It is a collaboration between the Irish Government Department of Education, participating schools, a consortium of business organisations (including IBM, Cisco, Irish Water and Irish Water) and NCI. In 2021 new a new school qualification called certificate was approved by QQI the Irish national awarding body.
In 2024 a follow-on 4-year employment oriented, degree in Digital and Business Skills (DABS) was developed for the target students. The project uses innovative pedagogical approaches and breaks new ground in terms of vocational pathways and progression between the Irish school, further education and higher education sectors (annual budget circa €200K).
2018-2020 Academic Director TEL4FET – SOLAS funded collaboration between NUIG and NCI to design blended learning professional development courses for the Irish vocational learning sector. The project is now fully implemented across the sector (circa €200K + €50K pa recurring).
2010–2012 E-View, EU Erasmus. Developing virtual campus pedagogy for workplace learning of management skills; with partners in UK, Portugal, Poland, and Belgium. (NCI budget circa €70K)
2009-2010 Principal Investigator – Casey, L et al. (2009). Digital literacy: New approaches to participation and inquiry learning to foster literacy skills among primary school children. Research report funded by the Department of Education and Science (circa €45K).
2008 Enterprise Ireland – Established the National E-learning Laboratory (NELL) to study usability and learning design at NCI. (grant value €200K)
2007–2010 FAS/EU Structural Funds, The Knowledge Economy Skills Passport (KESP) & Know IT – a digital literacy course (circa €1.2M NCI)
Assessor, Evaluator, Committees
2025 Programme Chair of Enhancing Pedagogy in Cambodia (EPIC) Summit in Siem Reap Cambodia July
2024/2025 Expert Assessor EU European Education and Culture Executive Agency
2023 Occasional External Assessor Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
2016 Scientific Committee ESREA Triennial Conference, Imagining diverse futures for adult education: questions of power and resources of creativity Maynooth University.
2013 Scientific Committee: Education and New Developments (END) Lisbon.
2011 Organising Chair: International Conference on Engaging Pedagogy 2011. National College of Ireland, Dublin 16th of December.
Board Memberships
2023 – ongoing Member of Higher Education Authority (Ireland) Sub-committee on Student Engagement, Teaching and Learning (SETL)
2023 – ongoing Member of Board of Management Crumlin College of Further Education
2019 -2023 Member of National Board of the National Forum for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Ireland)
2017-2018 Co-founding Academic Director of Essential Questions for Educators Everywhere – a summer course collaboration between National College of Ireland and Mercy College New York – Education Faculty. These workshops attracted teachers and academic educators from Ireland and the US – the courses were held consecutively in Dublin (2017) and New York (2018)
2016 -2024 Board of Management Colaiste Dhulaigh College of Further Education
Past Career
AV Edge (1996-2007)
In 1996 I founded AV Edge, a television production and multimedia company specialising in education. With the support of business investors, AV Edge diversified into e-learning and international markets. In 2004 I sold the company and subsequently worked for ThirdForce as Head of Skills for Life. I successfully established a new business division in the UK market specialising in e-learning for adult basic skills. In 2007, I joined National College of Ireland to take up my current position.
UCD (1981 – 1996)
I studied science in UCD and following the H Dip Ed, I stayed with UCD to work on audiovisual media production for education. Subsequently, the college established the Audio Visual Centre where I was Head of Media Production. I was involved in pioneering work on the use of technology in education including the use of satellites for live international lectures, multimedia innovations and the early application of Internet technologies to education.
In 1991 I established a unique partnership between UCD and RTE to produce educational television programmes for broadcast. In effect the Audio Visual Centre was an outsourced educational programmes unit for RTE. I was trained by RTE as a television director and devised, produced and directed over one hundred broadcast programmes (see details elsewhere).
