6 December 2010

Cancellation of Bell Lecture

The ongoing severe weather conditions have caused the regrettable cancellation of the 4th Bell Lecture, which had been due to take place at the University of Dundee this week.

The lecture had been scheduled for the Dalhousie Building at 6pm on Wednesday, 8th December. Dr Maria Evangelou, from the University of Oxford, was due to deliver the talk, ‘Supporting parents to engage in their children’s learning: are we asking too much?’

The lecture was due to be the fourth in a series commemorating the reintroduction of the Bell Chair in Education, first founded by the Reverend Dr Andrew Bell around 200 years ago.

Reverend Bell was chaplain to the army of the East India Company in Madras, India. In charge of educating the soldiers' children and finding a shortage of teachers, he used the older boys to instruct the younger pupils.

On return from India, Reverend Bell travelled the country encouraging schools to adopt 'the Madras system'. This method of peer learning became widely used in schools at home and abroad. He also founded Madras College in St Andrews in 1833 and what is now called Bell Baxter High School in Cupar.

To further promote the study of education he founded two Chairs in Education, one at Edinburgh (currently held) and the other at St Andrews, which transferred to Dundee while it was part of St Andrews University. The lectures are organised by the School of Education, Social Work and Community Education at Dundee.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277