Ted Wragg

Ted Wragg, Professor of Education at Exeter University, has died today, Thursday 11th October 2005, following a heart attack. He was 67.

He taught in primary and secondary schools as well as universities. He obtained his BA, a First in German, at Durham University in 1959; his MEd at Leicester in 1967 and his PhD at Exeter University in 1972. He has been awarded four honorary doctorates, from the universities of London, Strathclyde, Northumbria and the Open University, and is an Academician of the Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.

Ted has taught courses at all levels from undergraduate to postgraduate and has directed numerous research projects on such topics as classroom processes, teaching strategies, curriculum evaluation, appraising competence and incompetence, and performance-related pay. He has also studied education in numerous countries around the world.

He was president of the British Educational Research Association in 1981-82, Specialist Adviser to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the attainments of school leavers in 1976-77, chairman of the Educational Broadcasting Council of the UK from 1981 to 1986 as well as a member of the board of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority from 1997 to 2003.

He is the author of more than 50 books on a wide range of topics in education. He has also written a 120-book reading scheme and produced two CD-ROMs, a DVD on teachers' questions, and many videos and audiotapes.

He was a frequent broadcaster on radio and television and wrote regularly in newspapers like the Times Educational Supplement and the Guardian. Ted Wragg was an advocate of warmth and humanity in the classroom and defended these virtues with passion. He employed his sharp wit, humour and a savage indignation when assessing the nature of recent educational reforms; with his writings demonstrating a profound knowledge and respect for the craft of teaching, along with an ironic distance from those who have denigrated the profession in recent years.

He leaves a wife, two daughters and a son.

References

TeachersTV [1]

BBC Obituary [2]