Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Education expert goes back to the future in public lecture
In his talk, Gary McCulloch, the Brian Simon Professor of the History of Education at the UCL Institute of Education, London, will explore the history of teacher education and highlight its importance in solving our present dilemmas and shaping the future of the profession.
Professor McCulloch explained: “The great French sociologist Emile Durkheim looked to history to find the reasons for the problems of the present; as he put it, it is only by carefully studying the past that we can come to anticipate the future and understand the present. In my lecture I will follow Durkheim's lead by reviewing the history of teacher education for clues to understand our current dilemmas.”
The talk takes place from 6pm to 7.30pm, with refreshments available from 5.30pm, in the James Graham building at Leeds Beckett’s Headingley Campus. It forms this year’s annual Winifred Mercier public lecture, commemorating the life and work of the first female Vice-Principal of the City of Leeds Training College, one of Leeds Beckett’s predecessor institutions, from 1913-1915.
Speaking about his upcoming talk, Professor McCulloch said: “I will look first at the James report on teacher education and training, published in 1972, which claimed to 'reflect and help to enhance the status and independence of the teaching profession and of the institutions in which many teachers are educated and trained'. It aimed to encourage 'a new degree of independence and self-determination'. I will investigate why a report with such fine ideals for building on the previous two decades of expansion and adaptation actually marked the beginning of a generation of conflict leading to the divisions and difficulties of teacher education today.
“I will also seek to discover how Durkheim's aim, to study the past in order to anticipate the future, was progressively disregarded so that the past came to be ignored while the future was increasingly idealised in expectations of change in the twenty-first century.”
Lori Beckett, The Winifred Mercier Professor of Teacher Education at Leeds Beckett University, added: “The annual Winifred Mercier public lectures are an established institution at Leeds Beckett during the week of International Women’s Day. These lectures, delivered by prominent critical-feminist scholars of teaching and teacher education, provoke critical discussion and debate about current policies and practices.
“We are delighted that this year we are able to be joined by Professor Gary McCulloch, who will not only bring an historical perspective to bear on teacher education but also world-class research intelligence to policies, practices and educational politics in teacher education. Professor McCulloch provides a distinctive voice on policy matters and public engagement and provides inspirational direction on research-informed policies and practices, including institutional practices.”
Professor Gary McCulloch is Director of the International Centre for Historical Research in Education (ICHRE) at the UCL Institute of Education, London.
He is currently Vice-President and President-elect of the British Educational Research Association and Editor of the British Journal of Educational Studies.
The annual Winifred Mercier public lecture began in 2007 in recognition of Winifred, who was greatly respected for her intellect and passion. She was not afraid to engage in public policy debates and ask questions of the government of the day. A first-wave feminist, she encouraged her contemporaries to consider society as it was and as it could be, and deliberate on the role and function of education in building the social world.