Páid McGee was an Irish

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

and educator.

Career

McGee was born in

Aughnacliffe, County Longford Aughnacliffe, officially Aghnacliff (), is a village in County Longford, Ireland. It is located close to Lough Gowna and the border with County Cavan. The village, and the townland in which it is located, take their name from the Aughnacliffe ...

. He initially trained as a teacher at

St Patrick's College, Dublin St Patrick's College (), often known as St Pat's, was a third level institution in Ireland, the leading function of which was as the country's largest primary teacher training college, which had at one time up to 2,000 students. Founded in Drum ...

. He then completed a BA, HDip in Ed., and M Psych degree at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

. He returned to

, where he was director of the special education department from 1967 to 2003 and where he established the Diploma in Special Education. In 1961, he helped to establish the Teachers’ Study Group which conducted the first survey of reading comprehension in Dublin primary schools. He was a founding member of the

Psychological Society of Ireland The Psychological Society of Ireland or in Irish, Cumann Síceolaithe Éireann (PSI) is the learned and professional body for psychology and psychologists in the Republic of Ireland. History The Society was established in 1970 by a group of se ...

(PSI) of which he became president in 1975. He was joint author with Paul Andrews of the PSI policy document ''A Psychological Service for Schools'' (1975) and campaigned for many years for the establishment of a school psychological service. Eventually the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) was established as an agency of the Department of Education and Skills. He was also joint editor of the ''Irish Journal of Psychology''. He died on 29 November 2018 in

Rathgar, Dublin Rathgar () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Originally a village, which from 1862 was part of the township of Rathmines and Rathgar, it was absorbed by the growing city and became a suburb in 1930. It lies about three kilometres south of the city ...

Publications

*McGee, P. (1990). Special Education in Ireland. ''European Journal of Special Needs Education, 5(1),'' 48–64.

Awards

* 2012: Honorary Doctorate,

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

* Honorary Life Member, Irish Association of Teachers in Special Education * 2003: Allianz/Scoil Treasa Naofa Annual Award for Services to Education on the Island of Ireland

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGee, Páid 2018 deaths Irish psychologists 20th-century psychologists Psychology educators Health professionals from County Longford Alumni of University College Dublin Scholars and academics from County Longford Alumni of St Patrick's College, Dublin