The University of Aberdeen Faculty of Education will today (Wednesday December 4 at 5.30pm) officially celebrate its first anniversary at a public event at King's College Conference Centre.
The Faculty of Education became established as the University's fifth faculty following the merger of Northern College in December 2001. Cathy Macaslan, Dean of the Faculty said: "I am delighted that we have achieved so much in our first year, particularly with our Primary Education and Music programmes. With over 650 full time students studying a range of internationally respected undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses as well as around 200 part-time distance learning students, the Faculty is in excellent health.
"The Faculty continues to develop a significant role in extending the range and nature of the debate in key areas of education. Children's literacy is of course of crucial importance and is the focus of tonight's celebratory anniversary lecture."
In celebration of the first anniversary, a public lecture has been organised for this evening. Cathy Macaslan will introduce Dr Geoff Lewis of the Department of Curriculum Studies who will speak on the topic of children and their literary. The lecture will be followed by a reception to toast the success of the past year.
Dr Lewis' talk is entitled Children and their Literacy and will examine the current state of literacy education in Scotland. Dr Lewis will explore the issue from the viewpoint of young people and will attempt to link literacy with self-identity and creativity as well as its functional purpose.
This evening's public lecture is the third in a series of six talks on various images of childhood. The lecture series has been organised by the Faculty of Education in memory of John Darling, a distinguished educational philosopher who was on the staff of the University until he died of cancer in 2001. Further information on the lecture series is available at website: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/johndarling.