An internationally renowned expert of the teaching of science, Hugh Lawlor was a man of immense energy and enthusiasm whose commitment was an inspiration for those who had the privilege of working with him throughout his long career.
Prof. Hugh Lawlor 1943-2010
An internationally renowned expert of the teaching of science, Hugh Lawlor was a man of immense energy and enthusiasm whose commitment was an inspiration for those who had the privilege of working with him throughout his long career.
Born in 1943 Hugh formed his impressions of the world of education at St. Bede’s Grammar School, Bradford, before opting to study for a Certificate in Education at St Mary’s College. It was a decision that initiated a lifetime of involvement in the teaching of science.
He took up his first science teaching post at St John’s Comprehensive School in Newham and immediately demonstrated his potential by being promoted to the position of Head of Chemistry within 12 months. But like many of his contemporaries setting out on a career in the heady days of the swinging sixties, Hugh was keen to spread his wings and broaden his experience in a rapidly changing world that offered new opportunities. A period as Head of Science at Tripoli College, Libya, funded by the British Council was followed by a second British Council posting, this time at St Paul’s School, an 11-16 comprehensive school in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Professor Lawlor returned to the UK in 1973 to take up a post as Head of Science and Deputy Head of Sir Henry Cooper High School in Hull and used his South American adventure to provide source material as he completed first an M.A. and then a Ph.D at the University of Hull on Structural Changes and Science Education Reform in Brazil.
A move from East Yorkshire to Kent was to follow for Hugh to take on the post of senior lecturer at Sittingbourne College of Education.. But his wanderlust and curiosity still unsatisfied it seems, he also found time to spend three years as an Education Advisor to the Government of Gibraltar at the end of the Seventies. On returning to Kent he resumed his work as senior lecturer at Nonington College of Education.
Throughout the years 1981 to 2002 Hugh published widely on leadership and management, continuing professional development and development planning.
A period working with the Schools Inspectorate in Kent was to follow before he took an appointment as Director of Continuing Professional Development and Research at the Teacher Training Agency where he recognised the critical importance of pedagogic support for teachers of science in a rapidly changing technological world.
Appointed as an Advisor to the DfES in the early days of the Blair government and to a Chair as Professor of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University he then set out to influence the direction of science education in the UK.
In 1997 Zeneca Pharmaceuticals had been approached to provide funding for the ill-fated Millennium Dome. It refused but had the good sense to approach Professor Lawlor on how best it might assist in supporting UK science education. Hugh suggested that the company might endow a charity specifically to support the continuing professional development of science teachers. He thus became a Trustee of the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust and shortly thereafter accepted a post as its first Director. He remained in that role until his retirement in March 2010.
His energy and enthusiasm undimmed, Professor Lawlor led from the front, establishing the Trust as a provider of financial support in an underfunded area of education. Many teachers and schools around the country have since benefited from the work of the Trust and the children whose experience of science and the natural world has been enhanced in this way form an important part of Professor Lawlor’s legacy.
But the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust was just one of the strings to Professor Lawlor’s bow. He also advised the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and in his Whitehall Advisor role he has been very influential in the development of UK science education policy, most recently working as Chair of the Diploma in Science Partnership and as a member of the Steering Group overseeing the 17 diplomas.
Hugh Lawlor died in November 2010 after losing a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Margot and his daughter Stephanie.