Dr Carmen Lawrence champions the humanities

April 05, 2007

Dr Carmen Lawrence, speaking at the University of New England, has emphasised the importance of the humanities in a world with an increasingly "utilitarian" approach to tertiary education.

Dr Lawrence, the Federal Member for Fremantle, was visiting the University's Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies last Friday to launch a book about an innovative twentieth-century educationist, and to be informed about current UNE initiatives in education policy and practice and regional business development.

She said the "utilitarian" view – that the primary function of education was to prepare people for specific jobs – was "ultimately flawed". "The humanities need vigorous champions," she said, "but too many of our politicians pay only lip service to the value of a broadly-based education in the humanities."

Dr Lawrence launched a book – co-edited by UNE's Associate Professor Cathryn McConaghy – about the controversial New Zealand educator Sylvia Ashton-Warner (1908 – 1984). The book, titled Provocations: Sylvia Ashton-Warner and Excitability in Education, has just been published in New York by the Peter Lang Publishing Group. Its other co-editor is Professor Judith Robertson from the University of Ottawa in Canada.

"Her work evokes a sense of intellectual adventure," Dr Lawrence said of Sylvia Ashton-Warner. Both Dr Lawrence and Dr McConaghy (both pictured here) spoke about the central role of "creativity" in her teaching practice and theory.

"The current conditions are such that we need reminding about creativity in teaching and learning," Dr McConaghy said. She contrasted the "smoothing-over" classroom management procedures required of today's teachers to "the chaotic, exciting environment" of Sylvia Ashton-Warner's classroom, adding that "teacher stress" was often a result of an "over-regulation" that did not allow teachers to "act socially within the teaching context".

Dr McConaghy explained that the vitality of Sylvia Ashton-Warner's teaching practice derived from her ability to connect her "intimate life" with her "pedagogy". She expressed the hope that books such as Provocations could help to "reconnect teaching and living".

Provocations includes contributions from authors in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Associate Professor Cathryn McConaghy and Dr Carmen Lawrence displayed here expands to include (at left) Professor Victor Minichiello (Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean, Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies, UNE) and the Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at April 5, 2007 05:12 PM