‘Sight,
Sound and Text in the History of Education’ HES 2016
By Maria Williams
Maria is a doctoral student at UCL Institute of Education under the supervision of Professor Gary McCulloch. Prior to commencing my research she worked in London comprehensive schools for thirty years.
Maria is a doctoral student at UCL Institute of Education under the supervision of Professor Gary McCulloch. Prior to commencing my research she worked in London comprehensive schools for thirty years.
‘Sight, Sound and Text in the History of Education’
was the theme of the conference organised jointly by the UK and Australian
& New Zealand History of Education Societies, held over the weekend of November
18-20, 2016 at the Abbey Hotel, Malvern, Worcestershire. Stephen, Siân and
Jodie organised a fantastic conference in a location with magnificent views.
The panel papers and keynote lectures which addressed
the conference theme in relation to community or national identity and the arts
were really relevant to my doctoral research which focuses on the educational
practice of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini and her sisters 1880-1918 with Italian
migrants. Tom Woodin’s exploration of
education and culture to engender a sense of belonging in the Co-operative
movement and Susannah Wright’s paper showing the League of Nations Union’s
particular mode of collective commemoration for Armistice Day prompted questions
for me regarding the impact of Italian and Italian- American celebrations in Cabrini’s
time. At the panel on music education I also
saw parallels with the Italian situation as I listened to Teresa O’Doherty’s on
the impact of cultural and political nationalism on the teaching of music in
Ireland during the first decades of Independence. Ross Purves addressed similar
issues with regard to music provision relating to the ethnic background of
pupils. This theme was a central strand of Ian Grosvenor’s keynote on Saturday
evening which revisited his landmark 2007 publication, Assimilating Identities. His visual sources powerfully demonstrated
the rich contribution of the ‘History of the Ordinary’ and education outside of
schools to the field of History of Education. The need for further work in this
field provides a challenge for me; one which I have been considering as an
English historian researching Italian history. In the summer at ISCHE I also discussed
the question in relation to writing Black History with three African- American
historians in Chicago. I wonder how the overwhelmingly white membership of our own
organisation impacts on our confidence to research and write Black History.
I contributed to the ‘Education and the Arts’ panel
which was both transtemporal and transnational. Raymond McCluskey explored
medieval insights about the arts which challenged some of my assumptions.
Stephen Tomlinson’s paper demonstrated Comenius’ innovative use of
illustrations in the seventeenth century and Luana Salvarani continued the
theme of innovative pedagogy exploring Jesuit theatre in the seventeenth and
eighteenth century. In my paper I explored what Cabrini referred to as
‘ornamental competences’ demonstrating the opportunities these provided for
women’s agency. My findings support those of Margaret Nash and Ann Marie Valdes
challenging more assumptions.
I learnt a great deal more over meals and coffee. Like
many colleagues I visited the adjacent Priory Church where I realised that our
conference was continuing an educational tradition established on the site almost
a thousand years before by migrants from continental Europe. This was my third
annual conference. As a post-graduate researcher I have really benefited and
recommend them to others.