Robert Wood (psychologist): Difference between revisions
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Robert Wood is a psychologist and writer. He was born 10 March 1941 in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, of an English father and a Welsh mother. With both parents hailing from Sunderland he moved there more or less as soon as his father was back from the war. |
Robert Wood is a psychologist and writer. He was born 10 March 1941 in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, of an English father and a Welsh mother. With both parents hailing from Sunderland he moved there more or less as soon as his father was back from the war. Having attended Fulwell Infants School and Fulwell Junior School, where he sat and passed the 11+, Monkwearmouth Grammar School followed and later, in September 1959, the University of Nottingham where he studied Mathematics and Statistics. In September 1962 he moved to London and commenced training to be an actuary but,unsure about committing to a future in the insurance industry, abandoned that plan early in 1964. Following short spells as a supply teacher with the ILEA, and as a statistician with Tate & Lyle, the Labour election victory of 1964 inspired in him a belief that education might be a vocation and, in particular, educational research given his skills. Accordingly, he sought and secured a post at the National Foundation for Educational Research where he began work in October 1964. In the four years that followed he advanced earlier American work on item characteristic curve theory and did pioneering work in a new subject called item banking. Early in 1968, seeking postgraduate work in psychometrics and finding none in this country, he applied to enter the University of Chicago and was successful in winning a scholarship. Three years later he was awarded a PhD from that institution. |
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Returning to the UK in July 1971 he took up the position of Director of Research in the University of London School Examinations Department, a post he had successfully interviewed for earlier that year. In 1980 he was seconded to direct the Evaluation of Testing in Schools Project at the Institute of Education, also in the University of London. In 1981, feeling his career was going nowhere, he moved his family to Jamaica where he served as Professor of Educational Measurement in the University of the West Indies. In early 1984, tired of conditions in Jamaica, he took up a Fellowship at the Flinders University of South Australia. Later that year he was appointed to be Director of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Returning to the UK to prepare for the move he became frustrated by the emergence of internal opposition to his appointment and in March 1985 declared his intention not to take up post. |
Returning to the UK in July 1971 he took up the position of Director of Research in the University of London School Examinations Department, a post he had successfully interviewed for earlier that year. In 1980 he was seconded to direct the Evaluation of Testing in Schools Project at the Institute of Education, also in the University of London. In 1981, feeling his career was going nowhere, he moved his family to Jamaica where he served as Professor of Educational Measurement in the University of the West Indies. In early 1984, tired of conditions in Jamaica, he took up a Fellowship at the Flinders University of South Australia. Later that year he was appointed to be Director of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Returning to the UK to prepare for the move he became frustrated by the emergence of internal opposition to his appointment and in March 1985 declared his intention not to take up post. |
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Revision as of 11:53, 27 April 2008
Robert Wood is a psychologist and writer. He was born 10 March 1941 in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, of an English father and a Welsh mother. With both parents hailing from Sunderland he moved there more or less as soon as his father was back from the war. Having attended Fulwell Infants School and Fulwell Junior School, where he sat and passed the 11+, Monkwearmouth Grammar School followed and later, in September 1959, the University of Nottingham where he studied Mathematics and Statistics. In September 1962 he moved to London and commenced training to be an actuary but,unsure about committing to a future in the insurance industry, abandoned that plan early in 1964. Following short spells as a supply teacher with the ILEA, and as a statistician with Tate & Lyle, the Labour election victory of 1964 inspired in him a belief that education might be a vocation and, in particular, educational research given his skills. Accordingly, he sought and secured a post at the National Foundation for Educational Research where he began work in October 1964. In the four years that followed he advanced earlier American work on item characteristic curve theory and did pioneering work in a new subject called item banking. Early in 1968, seeking postgraduate work in psychometrics and finding none in this country, he applied to enter the University of Chicago and was successful in winning a scholarship. Three years later he was awarded a PhD from that institution.
Returning to the UK in July 1971 he took up the position of Director of Research in the University of London School Examinations Department, a post he had successfully interviewed for earlier that year. In 1980 he was seconded to direct the Evaluation of Testing in Schools Project at the Institute of Education, also in the University of London. In 1981, feeling his career was going nowhere, he moved his family to Jamaica where he served as Professor of Educational Measurement in the University of the West Indies. In early 1984, tired of conditions in Jamaica, he took up a Fellowship at the Flinders University of South Australia. Later that year he was appointed to be Director of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Returning to the UK to prepare for the move he became frustrated by the emergence of internal opposition to his appointment and in March 1985 declared his intention not to take up post.