Prof Ron Barnett
Emeritus professor and writer
PGCE Social Studies, 1971
Emeritus Professor, philosopher, theorist, and writer Ron Barnett has spent over 50 years working in higher education. Having completed his PGCE in 1971, Ron’s subsequent work has been leading the development of a new sub-field, the philosophy of higher education. Ron has maintained a longstanding relationship with St Mary’s over the years, sitting on numerous committees and advisory boards.
“I've got a lot to thank St Mary’s for in my educational and intellectual formation. My time here really opened up my eyes to educational scholarship.”
The importance of higher education
Ron completed his PGCE in Social Studies at St Mary’s in 1971, having done his undergraduate degree at Durham University. Social Studies was just starting to be a PGCE subject at that time, with St Mary’s being one of the first places to offer it. Ron chose St Mary’s for its offering of the subject, as well as its location close to his family home.
As one of the first in the country to study Social Studies at PGCE level, Ron shares that the teaching was almost experimental, and that they were shaping the curriculum as they went along.
One of his favourite things about the course was the opportunity students had to attend lectures and talks up in Central London from some of the world’s greatest scholars and thinkers in higher education, orchestrated by The Institute of Education.
“It was an amazing experience and an extraordinary benefit of coming to St Mary’s having access to these types of opportunities.”
Having completed a placement at a comprehensive school in Battersea as part of the PGCE, Ron felt that school teaching was not the path he wanted to follow but that he had a passion for education.
After leaving St Mary’s, Ron got a job as a research assistant in sociology in a large national project looking at the emerging polytechnic sector of higher education. He says that working on that project opened the way to his future path, which he has spent entirely in higher education.
Ron’s subsequent posts have included Professor of Higher Education and Pro-Director of the London Institute of Education.
For Ron, the highlight of his career though is when he gave his inaugural lecture as a professor to over 600 people. He used that inaugural lecture as a basis for one of his books, which then went on to win a major prize. It also launched a new development in his thinking, which has been taken up around the world, called Supercomplexity.
“I'm very privileged to have won various prizes and a number of accolades. St Mary’s, too, has honoured me with an Honorary Fellowship.”
Looking back on his time at St Mary’s, Ron shares that St Mary’s helped him to discover his love for educational scholarship.
As the philosophy and sociology of education was just taking off in a big way when he was at St Mary’s, Ron had a very skilled and ambitious teacher that introduced him to the works of Richard Peters, Basil Bernstein, and others that he really got hooked on. It was from there that Ron started to build up his own library of books (which is now approaching 2,000 books and growing).
"My time here formed an enormous and solid foundation for me in my intellectual development and career in higher education.”
For over a decade Ron has also worked successively with different Principals and Vice Chancellors of St Mary’s, serving on a number of committees in the University around research, curriculum development, and quality issues. These have all been abiding issues for Ron in his intellectual work for the last 50 years, alongside the question of what is a university in the 21st Century.
Ron adds that it has been a great pleasure and delight for him to have played a part in the story and development of St Mary’s over the years.
“To be part of the transformation of St Mary’s from a teaching college into a flourishing university is amazing.”
