James McCall (Sadly Deceased 2022)

After graduation I trained as a secondary teacher at Jordanhill College of Education concurrently studying for the DipEd at Glasgow University and continued to study on a part time basis for the Master of Education (MEd) while teaching at Hillhead High school and later as principal teacher of physics at Queens Park Secondary school.

In 1966 I married Mary, whose background was in nursing, and we have 3 sons and one granddaughter.

In 1967 my career changed direction when I was appointed as lecturer in psychology at Aberdeen College of Education on completion of my MEd studies. I joined a lively department and I registered for a part-time PhD at the University of Aberdeen. Seven years later and with all the field work and data gathering for my PhD complete, we returned to Glasgow now as Head of the Department of Psychology back at Jordanhill College.

Jordanhill in the mid 70s and 80s was an exciting place to be with new courses being developed and radical changes made to existing ones. My own research was mainly in the area of practical assessment in science and curriculum development.

 In 1983 I was appointed as Vice-Principal and continued in that post until Jordanhill agreed to a merger with the University of Strathclyde. The merger took place in April 1993 and I was appointed Professor and first Dean of the Faculty of Education. The next four years were devoted largely to faculty management issues but I continued with the research group on school improvement and school effectiveness and with supervision of doctoral students. On completion of my term of office as Dean I accepted the offer of a part-time contract and was appointed Emeritus Professor.

I have been a visiting scholar/professor in several institutions and have held office in a number of educational groups including the Association for Teacher Education in Europe. From 2002-2006 I was editor of the European Journal of Teacher Education and continue to serve on its editorial board.

Approximately 3 years ago Mary and I made our ‘holiday’ house on Islay our main home. We enjoy island life to the full playing golf, bridge and walking and the local culture with various festivals throughout the year. We also enjoy travel and in particular cruising and hope to continue doing so for some time to come...