Interview with Professor Chris Kyriacou

Why did I join the Department?

I joined the Department of Education in 1979, primarily to work in the area of psychology and education. Prior to that I had done a PhD in Cambridge. I was looking to join a department of education that had student teacher training but at the same time might have other work going on in the area of education. What really attracted me to York was the fact that it had a combined degree course at undergraduate level involving education. When I joined it was a fairly small department but it had a really interesting mixture of people with backgrounds in different disciplines like philosophy, sociology, history of education and psychology, and also practitioners who were focused on what teaching and learning was like in the school context with a view to training new teachers. I am currently the programme leader for the PhD programme which I thoroughly enjoy.

What makes the Department special?

I enjoy the interesting mix of people that you have as colleagues and the teaching and learning of the subject. The Department is an amazingly friendly, informal context in which to work. I have always felt privileged that even as the Department has grown in size it has maintained that friendliness and that degree of informality. In terms of the teaching of Education at York I think that there is great strength, depth and diversity which has been consolidated in recent years by the development of the research centres.

If I could go back to the early days, one of the most interesting facets was that the Department was interested in curriculum development work and issues to do with education reform; this made it a very exciting department to be based in. That interest in curriculum development and educational reform is still here today and is a major part of what Education at York is about.

At York we have always looked at Education in the widest possible sense. It’s not just about what goes on in schools but also about the other places where education takes place. I think that in some small way by being involved in an education department we are contributing to the future health of individuals who are going through the education process.

On a personal level I really value the extent to which it has been a very supportive department by allowing people to develop as academics, in both terms of the teaching and learning activities that they want to follow for themselves and also the research that they are able to undertake. The Department has got the balance right between enabling staff to use their enthusiasms to develop their own teaching, learning and research and also to meet the wider needs of the Department, the University and the wider community. Because of the rich range of programmes that we offer the learning community that exits in the Department is so diverse that is a real privilege to be working here.

What does the future hold?

Over the last 20 years I have been amazed by how many changes have taken place in the education context more broadly. This has meant that we have had to make a lot of strategic decisions about which courses to develop and which students to attract to York. It is a fast changing scenario. The Department at the moment is in very good health. It has large numbers of students and offers a really interesting range of programmes. I hope that over the next 25 years or so the Department keeps making the right decisions to consolidate those areas of teaching and research where it has established itself and where that is still the right place to be located but is also able to respond to the challenges. If over the next 25 years it can maintain that health then it will be absolutely fantastic.

What has really struck me is how the status of Education at York is now riding so high. If it can maintain that status where high quality teaching learning and research is going on while also reaching out to the wider national and international community that would be absolutely fantastic.