Meet the Team

“I aim to support students, exposing them to different ideas and helping them to
identify things that would be aligned to their beliefs and values. Highlighting that
there are lots of different areas, different approaches and different ways of going
about it and helping them to come up with their own teaching philosophy and their
own beliefs about what is quality PE.” – Liam Clohessy, Programme Lead BA (Hons)
Physical Education, Portobello Institute.

About

As a child, Liam Clohessy wanted to grow up to be a sports commentator. With an
innate interest in sports, getting into coaching and summer camps as a teenager
gave him the buzz for helping others to progress, leading him to a career that
perfectly combines teaching, PE and leadership.

Liam holds a Bachelor of Education in Primary Teaching specialising in PE, a PhD in
the area of Leadership in Physical Education as well as experience as the former
Chairperson of the Irish Primary PE Association (IPPEA) and PE Advisor for the
Department of Education Professional Development Service for Teachers Health and
Well-being team (PDST).

Liam brings this wealth of experience and passion for educating others who want to
pass the baton in developing the role of PE throughout education in Ireland to
Portobello Institute’s sports department as the Programme Lead for the LJMU BA (Hons) Physical Education.

“Having worked as a teacher and worked in a variety of different settings I have the
experience to share with people. I also really enjoy teaching and working with people
and supporting them to develop themselves, to facilitate and point them in the
direction they want to go.

“It’s great to see people going on and flourishing and getting into something that
they really enjoy working at,” he said.

As a passionate educator, Liam values the one-to-one student support
provided at Portobello Institute.

“The biggest highlights include working with teachers, and maybe you are working
with somebody who is not that confident with a particular topic or maybe struggling
with a particular class or issue and working together and helping them to come up
with solutions is probably the most satisfying thing and seeing the positive outcome
for the students involved.

“The biggest thing is actually seeing the impact for that learner,” he said.

With his PhD covering leadership in PE, Liam works to support and share the positive
impacts of PE in education in Ireland.

“When you think about leadership, I think about influencing others leading to
positive changes so basically it’s about looking at how you can work with people to
have a positive influence on other people.

“That can be with your students but perhaps if you are working in a school maybe
there are other teachers you could share new ideas with or share the things that
have worked well for you?

“It’s about sharing the ways we work whereby all the students in the school are
going to benefit from that expertise rather than maybe just the group that you are
working with.

“Are there simple ways we can share and maximise the positive impacts and
expertise of the particular person within the school context, within the club or within
the sporting organisation and look at strategies to help spread that positive impact?”
he said.

He aims to guide his students on their education journeys through Portobello
Institute.

“I aim to help support the students as they are exploring the world of PE for the first
time and to help facilitate their own learning and their own exploration of it.

“Highlighting that there are lots of different areas, different approaches and
different ways of going about it and helping them to come up with their own
teaching philosophy and their own beliefs about what is quality PE.

“Supporting them around how they could help the people that they are going to be
working with in a school context or maybe in a physical activity context either and to
have really positive experiences that lead to meaningful experiences for their
students.

“I aim to support students, exposing them to different ideas and helping them to
identify things that would be aligned to their beliefs and values in terms of working
with young people or working with people in this area,” he said.

With his academic research and publications and his roles with the IPPEA and
Department of Education, as well as teaching experience, Liam is practice-based and
research-led in his position leading the BA in PE programme.

Qualifications

• Mary Immaculate College, Limerick PhD PhD in the area of Leadership in
  Physical Education
• Higher Diploma Probated by Department of Education.
• Mary Immaculate College, Limerick – Bachelor of Education – Education
  Specialism: Physical Education

Publications and Selected Conference Presentations

• Clohessy, L, Bowles, R & Ní Chróinín, D (2021): Follow the leader? Generalist
  primary school teachers’ experiences of informal physical education
  leadership, Education 3-13, 49 (6): 661-673
• Clohessy, L, Bowles, R & NíChróinín, D (2020). “Playing to our Strengths:
  Generalist Teachers’ Experiences of Class Swapping for Primary Physical
  Education.” European Physical Education Review 26 (2): 571–586. Doi:
  10.1177/ 1356336X19877195
• Clohessy, L, (2020), Teaching circus skills for PE using self-paced progressions,
  Irish Primary Physical Education Association Conference, Mary Immaculate
  College (practical workshop)
• Clohessy, L, (2019), Teaching social skills in physical education, Irish Primary
  Physical Education Association Conference, Watershed Kilkenny (practical
  workshop)
• Clohessy, L. & Cosgrave, C, (2017) Cooperative games, Irish Primary Physical
  Education Association Conference, Croke Park Dublin (practical workshop)
• Clohessy, L. (2016). Quality Primary Physical Education. InTouch. Jan/Feb,158,
  49
• Clohessy, L, Bowles, R & NíChróinín, D., (2016), Class swapping for Physical
  Education in Irish Primary Schools: Effectively Utilising Generalist Teachers’
  Talents, PEPAYS Ireland Annual Forum, Institute of Technology Tralee (Oral
  presentation)
• Clohessy, L, Bowles, R & NíChróinín, D., (2016), Playing to our strengths:
  Leading physical education in Irish primary schools, European Conference on
  Educational Research, University College Dublin from 22-26August, 2016 (Oral
  presentation)
• Clohessy, L, Bowles, R & NíChróinín, D (2015) Physical Education in Irish
  Primary Schools: Generalist Classroom Teachers Experiences of Subject
  Leadership. Oral presentation at AIESEP International Conference, Universidad
  Europe Madrid
• Clohessy, L. (2014). Outdoor and Adventure Centres as Part of a PE
  Programme. InTouch. Jan/Feb, 141, 63-65