News

• Early Childhood Education Conference at Froebel College Dublin (FCD), May 21st.
• Press release re. Froebel College, Dublin move to National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM)
• NOTE THE MAY 2009 ISSUE OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION QUARTERLY

Professor Tina Bruce appointed CBE

Professor Tina Bruce, Visiting Professor of Early Childhood Studies at Roehampton University has been appointed CBE in the New Year's Honours List 'for services to Early Years Education'.

Tina Bruce, a member of the Research Committee of the Froebel Educational Institute and a trustee of the National Froebel Foundation, originally studied at the Froebel Institute (now, as Froebel College, part of Roehampton University).

She has written or edited 29 books, and is perhaps best known for the 'ten principles of early childhood education' first published in 1987 in her book Early Childhood Education (Hodder & Stoughton currently in its 3rd edition). She also co-presented the popular Radio 4 series Tuning in to Children with Kirsty Wark.

She has, for ten years, worked with successive Ministers for Children as Co ordinator of the Early Years Advisory Group, and is or has been Early Years adviser to more than 100 local education authorities, schools and centres across the UK.

She co-founded the Early Childhood Research Centre at Roehampton University, and as an educator she is guided by Froebelian principles, being known for her ability to interweave theory and practice in creative and challenging ways.

This is an honour well-deserved!

http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/news/CBE.html

Publication

Publication of memoir by Joachim Liebschner, Iron Cross Roads

Formal Opening of Froebel Archives

On January 28th 2008 two major Froebel archives were for the first time brought together and opened in a new location – the remodelled Archives and Special Collections floor of the Roehampton University Library in SW London. These together now provide a unique and accessible resource for students and researchers into the history of the Froebel movement in the UK.

The archives can be found at:

http://studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk/library/specialcollectionsandarchives/froebelarchiveforchildhoodstudies/index.html

The opening ceremony was addressed by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul O'Prey, and a plaque was unveiled by Dr Gillian Collins, a longserving Trustee of the National Froebel Foundation, to Joachim Liebschner in recognition of the instrumental role he played in establishing the Froebel Archive for Childhood Studies.

Joachim Liebschner then gave a personal account of the origins of the Froebel Archive, demonstrating the difference in educational approach between the Montessori apparatus and the Froebel 'gifts' (as he used to do for many years with students), and thanked numerous people for their support over the years.

Please direct all enquiries to the Archivist, Kornelia Cepok, tel. +44 (0) 20 8392 3323

Joachim Liebschner being escorted to the unveiling ceremony by Kornelia Cepok (left) and Kevin Brehony, Professor of Early Childhood Studies (right)

Joachim Liebschner in front of a cabinet containing many of the artefacts which he collected from various places around the world in the 1960s and early 1970s

Joachim Liebschner with Montessori apparatus and Froebel gift no.3 on the table