James O'Higgins Norman PC, MStJ, FRSA holds the UNESCO Chair on Tackling Bullying in Schools and Cyberspace at Dublin City University.

He is the director of the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre,[1] and a member of the Government of Ireland Advisory Council on Online Safety.

O'Higgins Norman was born in Dublin, Ireland,[citation needed] and grew up in Glasnevin where he attended St Kevins College secondary school.

[citation needed] In 2000, he took up a position as a lecturer in the Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin, Ireland, where he led research on pastoral care in second level schools.

While there he authored the book entitled Ethos and Education in Ireland (2003) (New York: Peter Lang)[3] in which he argued that the Catholic Church had a majority share in the control and management of schools in Ireland and that the church and state would need to reconsider this position in the light of the emerging diversity in Irish society.

These views were upheld in 2006 when Archbishop Martin of Dublin called on the state to consider alternative patrons for schools[4] and in 2011 when Ruairí Quinn, Minister for Education and Skills, established a special commission to examine how some schools could be transferred from the patronage of the Catholic Church to other bodies.

[5] In 2003, he was awarded a research grant to examine homophobic bullying in Irish second-level schools.

[7] His work on bullying also informed debate in Dáil Éireann[8] and was quoted in a session of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education.

[9] In May 2012 he was invited to participate in the National Anti-Bullying Forum sponsored by the Government of Ireland at the Department of Education and Skills.

In 2010 he co-edited the International Handbook on Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing (Netherlands: Springer).

[13] He is a former Catholic priest who supported victims and gave evidence to the commission into clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

[15][16][17][18][19][20] O'Higgins Norman has served with a number of school boards and voluntary organisations in the Dublin area.

In 1997, he was nominated by Archbishop Desmond Connell to the board of management of Jobstown Community College where he served as chairperson until 2004.

He was later nominated by the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST) to the board of management of St. Vincent's CBS, Glasnevin, (2009-2012).

He was also chairperson of Schools Across Borders (2010-2012), an Irish Aid funded NGO promoting better relations between young people in areas of conflict.

Equality in the Provision of Social Personal and Health Education in the Republic of Ireland: The Case of Homophobic Bullying?

Selected Books/Reports • O'Higgins Norman, J., Education Matters, Readings in Pastoral Care for School Chaplains, Guidance Counsellors and Teachers.

• O'Higgins Norman, J., Goldrick, M., Harrison, K. (2010) Identifying Good Practice in Addressing Homophobic Bullying in Second-Level Schools.

• O'Higgins Norman, J. Homophobic Bullying in Irish Secondary Education, Palo Alto, California, Academica Press, 2008.

Straight Talk: Researching Gay & Lesbian Issues in the School Curriculum, The Centre for Educational Evaluation, DCU, 2006.

A Survey of Teachers on Homophobic Bullying in Irish Second-Level Schools, Dublin City University, 2005.

International Handbook of the Religious, Spiritual and Moral Dimensions in Education (Dordrect: Springer).