Stornoway Historical Society Lecture
The Nicolson Institute: Myth and Reality
"The third in the Society's 2016/17 winter series of lectures will be held on Wednesday 25 January 2017 at 7.00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, Sandwick Road. Our guest speaker will be Iain RM Smith who will presenting a talk on the subject of 'The Nicolson Institute: Myth and Reality'.
"Iain Smith was born on the Island of Lewis in 1947 and educated at Lionel School, at The Nicolson Institute, and at the University of Glasgow. He spent some 40 years as a school teacher and then higher education lecturer, initially in secondary schooling and then extensively in teaching teachers, latterly as Dean of Education (2001-2007) at the University of Strathclyde.
"Iain Smith has researched and written about school teaching and - more recently and more interestingly - about Hebridean educational history. He and his wife Joan Forrest are currently working on a book. It is about early 20th century secondary schooling and university access, notably in the Hebrides.
"Entry is by donation at the door. All welcome."
(Of course this would not preclude attendance at a traditional supper too!)
A snippet from 1959:-
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| First impressions of science lessons on 1A in the Nicolson, August 1959 (from a letter written by a contemporary of the speaker). |
Some more about the history of Scottish education can be found at this recent post on an Aberdeen-based blog: https://lenathehyena.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/good-subjects-good-men-and-good-christians-dr-andrew-bells-madras-system-of-education-and-the-blackguard-joseph-lancaster/
ReplyDelete"Bell’s innovatory teaching methods, founded in India, became important planks in the education of children during the 19th century until the Education Acts came early in the 1870s. In Scotland the Bell’s monitorial system was replaced by the Glasgow system but that’s another story."