My pal Colin Lacey, who has died aged 87, was professor of schooling on the College of Sussex from 1978 till his retirement in 1998.
His educational output mirrored his wide-ranging pursuits, together with schooling, analysis methodology, the press and the atmosphere. The frequent thread was his perception within the energy of schooling to problem inequality and ignorance, and tackle social issues.
He printed six influential books: Hightown Grammar (1970), The Socialization of Lecturers (1977), Points in Analysis and Accountability (1981), Schooling, Ecology and Growth (1987), Deception, Demonstration and Debate (1990) and The Press as a Public Educator (1997). Moreover, he produced greater than 200 papers in educational journals.
In the direction of the top of his profession, he labored with the Abroad Growth Company, main a serious initiative in Andhra Pradesh, southern India, and Seychelles to determine and consider faculty programs.
Colin was born in Dagenham, Essex. His father, Richard Lacey, organised transport logistics at London Docks, and his mom, Phoebe (nee Moore), labored variously as a seamstress, dinner woman, care assistant and housewife. He was educated at Chingford grammar faculty, Birmingham College, the place he studied geophysics, and Manchester College, the place he gained a PhD in schooling.
His first educational put up was a fellowship within the US at Johns Hopkins College in Baltimore. He returned in 1969 to the then newly constructed College of Sussex in Brighton, the place he grew to become professor of schooling in 1978, a put up he held for the subsequent 20 years. He was additionally a director on the Colleges Council, the general public physique that co-ordinated secondary faculty exams, till its abolition by the then Conservative administration in 1984.
Colin was an everyday peer reviewer – for tutorial journals, but in addition in public commentaries. His honest however uncompromising analyses typically provoked his opponents. A critique he wrote for the Instances Increased Schooling Complement (THES) of the so-called Black Papers on the British schooling system (printed within the Sixties and 70s by the Essential Quarterly journal) attracted a menace of authorized motion – swiftly withdrawn when the THES stood by his work.
A lifelong socialist and a Labour social gathering member, although he was usually extremely crucial of its leaders, Colin by no means misplaced the assumption within the worth of collectivism and social justice. In retirement he wrote tales for his grandchildren, restored outdated bikes and loved gardening.
He’s survived by his spouse, Jeanne (nee Marfleet), whom he met at secondary faculty and married in 1960, their youngsters, Katherine, Sarah, Richard and Stephen, and his sister, Louise.
