Percival Richard Cole
Percival R. Cole was an educationist, academic and a poet. He was born in Muswellbrook, a rural town in New South Wales, on the 18th of May, 1879, where his Irish born father was a schoolteacher, practising during the beginnings of the modern Australian “free, compulsory and secular” public school system. Cole was educated in New South Wales public schools, firstly at Granville North Public School, NSW from 1885–1891 and at Sydney Boys High School from 1892-1895. In 1896, in a new era of teacher training and education in NSW, Cole became a pupil-teacher at Glebe Superior High School, which combined primary and secondary education and in 1900 went to Fort Street Training School, as a trainee student teacher. In 1900 he was awarded a three year scholarship to the University of Sydney, graduating in 1903 with a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in history and philosophy, winning the University Medal in philosophy. In 1905 he was awarded a Master of Arts with first class honours in modern history.
Cole continued his studies in England, attending the London Day College, and in 1906 was awarded the University of London Diploma of Education with first class honours. He was subsequently awarded a PhD in Education from Columbia University, New York, where, from 1908-09, he taught the history of education. He returned to Australia in 1910 to take up the position of vice principal and lecturer in the history of education at the newly established Sydney Teachers’ College, a position he held until his retirement in 1944.
Percival Cole was at the forefront of educational reform and teacher education in New South Wales, writing academic texts and classroom material for Australian teachers and school children at a time when the teaching profession had had to rely almost entirely on overseas publications. He published widely on the philosophy and history of education, civics education and on classroom practice.
Source:
Bio at adb.anu.edu.au (accessed: September 28, 2018).
Bio prepared by Margaret Bromley,University of New England, mbromle5@une.edu.au, brom_ken@bigpond.net.au
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