Lecture to confront social inequality in schools

Professor Bob Lingard from the University of Queensland will speak at the annual event, held in recognition of the City of Leeds Training College's first female Vice-Principal, and feminist, Winifred Mercier.

The lecture takes place on Wednesday 7 March at 6pm at Leeds Met's Headingley Campus, where Professor Lingard will outline the ways to address the pressing issue of social inequalities in schooling, which must be overcome to ensure learning outcomes and pupil progression are improved.

Professor Bob Lingard is currently a Research Fellow in the School of Education at the University of Queensland and has an international research reputation in the areas of sociology of education and education policy as well as publishing widely in these fields.

Professor Lori Beckett, The Winifred Mercier Professor of Teacher Education at Leeds Metropolitan University, added: "The annual Winifred Mercier public lecture is a significant event on Leeds Metropolitan's calendar as it not only celebrates the intellectual life of the university but it pays homage to the first Vice-Principal of the City of Leeds Training College. Winifred Mercier left a legacy of professional activity in teacher education at local and national levels, at a time when it was first introduced as a campus-based study. Leeds Met academics follow suit with their own engagement in teacher education in all different forums, especially now given national debates on the fate of campus-based work. The public lecture provides an opportunity to invite a prominent academic to share her or his perspectives on teacher education, and to engage in a public debate about the best ways to prepare our teachers."

Instituted in 2007, the annual lecture commemorates the life and work of Winifred Mercier who from 1913 to 1915 was Vice-Principal at the former City of Leeds Training College. Greatly respected for her intellect and passion, Winifred 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.