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Mary Jane Drummond

Mary Jane Drummond

Areas of Interest

Education, Media

Honorary Award

Honorary Doctor of Education, 2011

Biography

Mary Jane Drummond is a breath of fresh air in children's education. A renowned author and researcher, Mary Jane writes both individually and in association with others on a range of subjects relevant to the education of young children; sometimes supporting, but more often contesting current educational policy.

An original and challenging thinker herself, Mary Jane is able to stimulate others to think creatively and constructively. She has acquired a considerable and positive reputation - locally, nationally and internationally - within the Early Years community (education for children aged 5 and under) for her creative approach to Early Years education, informing excellence within the field of Educational Studies. Her career has progressed from teacher to lecturer and then to writer and researcher; she currently chooses to work in areas where she can develop and encourage others to explore alternative approaches to Early Years education. She believes that respectful, attentive assessment - through observation rather than testing - is necessary to get to the heart of children's learning. Her book, Assessing Children's Learning, first published in 1993, with an extended second edition in 2003, will be reissued in October as a Routledge Classic Edition.

Mary Jane started teaching young children in London's East End in 1966 and then taught in a variety of inner-city schools. She was the headteacher of an infant school in Sheffield for four years and in the 1970s she worked at the University of Leeds on the Schools Council Project Communication Skills in Early Childhood, under Dr Joan Tough. In 1985 she joined the Institute of Education in Cambridge, an in-service institution working for teachers and other educators all over the East of England, which was incorporated into the University of Cambridge in 1992. In the year before her retirement in 2003, she carried out an enquiry for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Inside the Foundation Stage: Recreating the Reception Year, with Anglia Ruskin's Professor Emerita, Janet Moyles.

While at the Cambridge Institute her work became increasingly interdisciplinary and her Early Years courses were attended by educators from the education sector, social services, and voluntary sector. She had close links with the Early Childhood Unit at the National Children's Bureau and with them published two in-service development packs of materials for Early Years educators, Working with Children, and Making Assessment Work.

Other publications reflect Mary Jane's interest in wider and more controversial aspects of education as a whole. The book Positive Alternatives to School Exclusion, written with a group of colleagues at the Cambridge Institute, won the NASEN Academic Book Award in 2001, for its outstanding contribution to the development of more inclusive practice across both primary and secondary schools. More recently, Learning Without Limits, another book jointly authored with Cambridge colleagues, was given a prize by the prestigious Society for Educational Studies. This book reports an enquiry into successful approaches to teaching and learning that do not rely on determinist beliefs about ability; in a review for the TES, Professor Tim Brighouse described it as 'a book that could change the world.'

She is a core member of the What Matters to Children team, and with Diane Rich and Cathy Myer is co-author of their publications First Hand Experience and Learning: What Matters to Children. Diane Hofkins, former primary editor of the TES, reviewed the latter for the National Education Trust (NET) praising the authors' use of stories to reveal the 'striking individuality of each child'.



Citation

"Chancellor, it is my pleasure to read the citation for Mary Jane Drummond for the award of Honorary Doctor of Education.

Mary Jane Drummond is a breath of fresh air in children's education. A renowned author and researcher, Mary Jane writes both individually and in association with others on a range of subjects relevant to the education of young children; sometimes supporting, but more often contesting current educational policy.

An original and challenging thinker herself, Mary Jane is able to stimulate others to think creatively and constructively. She has acquired a considerable and positive reputation - locally, nationally and internationally - within the Early Years community (education for children aged 5 and under) for her creative approach to Early Years education, informing excellence within the field of Educational Studies. Her career has progressed from teacher to lecturer and then to writer and researcher; she currently chooses to work in areas where she can develop and encourage others to explore alternative approaches to Early Years education. She believes that respectful, attentive assessment - through observation rather than testing - is necessary to get to the heart of children's learning. Her book, Assessing Children's Learning, first published in 1993, with an extended second edition in 2003, will be reissued in October as a Routledge Classic Edition.

Mary Jane started teaching young children in London's East End in 1966 and then taught in a variety of inner-city schools. She was the headteacher of an infant school in Sheffield for four years and in the 1970s she worked at the University of Leeds on the Schools Council Project Communication Skills in Early Childhood, under Dr Joan Tough. In 1985 she joined the Institute of Education in Cambridge, an in-service institution working for teachers and other educators all over the East of England, which was incorporated into the University of Cambridge in 1992. In the year before her retirement in 2003, she carried out an enquiry for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Inside the Foundation Stage: Recreating the Reception Year, with Anglia Ruskin's Professor Emerita, Janet Moyles.

While at the Cambridge Institute her work became increasingly interdisciplinary and her Early Years courses were attended by educators from the education sector, social services, and voluntary sector. She had close links with the Early Childhood Unit at the National Children's Bureau and with them published two in-service development packs of materials for Early Years educators, Working with Children, and Making Assessment Work.

Other publications reflect Mary Jane's interest in wider and more controversial aspects of education as a whole. The book Positive Alternatives to School Exclusion, written with a group of colleagues at the Cambridge Institute, won the NASEN Academic Book Award in 2001, for its outstanding contribution to the development of more inclusive practice across both primary and secondary schools. More recently, Learning Without Limits, another book jointly authored with Cambridge colleagues, was given a prize by the prestigious Society for Educational Studies. This book reports an enquiry into successful approaches to teaching and learning that do not rely on determinist beliefs about ability; in a review for the TES, Professor Tim Brighouse described it as 'a book that could change the world.'

She is a core member of the What Matters to Children team, and with Diane Rich and Cathy Myer is co-author of their publications First Hand Experience and Learning: What Matters to Children. Diane Hofkins, former primary editor of the TES, reviewed the latter for the National Education Trust (NET) praising the authors' use of stories to reveal the 'striking individuality of each child'.

Mary Jane currently serves on the Editorial Panel of the Cambridge Journal of Education, and is an active member of the Editorial Board of Forum which, for over 50 years, has been the focal point for the critical analysis of UK government educational policy.

In addition, Mary Jane works closely with the Sightlines Initiative, an independent early years professional development initiative, which develops and supports long term creative thinking in projects with artists, educators and young children. Sightline is the UK reference point for Reggio Children, facilitating opportunities for educators in this country to learn from the Reggio Emilia experience. She is also involved in the artists' co-operative Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI), which celebrates creativity through working with communities, enterprises and businesses to support a wide variety of creative experiences.

An education champion, with experience as a teacher, lecturer, researcher and author, Mary Jane is hugely respected by her peers in Early Years education and in broader educational fields. She is a true inspiration to Anglia Ruskin students in Early Years and Teacher Education and it is for this reason that we are delighted to honour her today.

Chancellor, it is my pleasure to present Mary Jane Drummond for the award of Doctor of Education, honoris causa."