George Paton, the pioneering principal of Hamilton College of Education, who fought a vigorous though unsuccessful campaign to prevent its closure, has died at the age of 70.
Born and brought up in Rutherglen, George Paton's professional career was devoted to education. After a distinguished university education (first class honours in English at Glasgow University followed by a first class MEd degree) he did his National Service with the Royal Army education corps in Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.
On returning to civilian life, he taught in Rutherglen
Academy, Tain Royal Academy, and Jordanhill College of Education before being appointed principal lecturer in English and subsequently assistant principal at Dundee College of Education. He had become one of the leading figures in teacher education in Scotland. He was also a rising figure in education more generally, being appointed principal examiner in English with the Scottish Examination Board.
It was at this point in his career, in early 1970, that George Paton took up his post as principal of Hamilton College of Education, the post which he was to hold until the shock closure of the college by the Conservative government in 1981. The college had opened in 1966 as one of a group of new teacher education institutions created to provide more teachers at a time of teacher shortage, particularly in primary schools.
One of George's main professional achievements was to create at Hamilton a shared commitment to educational progress from a diverse staff comprising academic subject specialists, experienced classroom practitioners, and educational psychologists. He encouraged and led debate about change in the ways in which teachers might best be educated and be given experience in schools. This led to an overhaul of the former diploma course for primary teachers and the creation of a pioneering degree programme for a BEd taught by Hamilton and Craigie colleges with Strathclyde University. This degree allowed students to progress to become either primary or
secondary teachers.
At this time George was in the heart of discussion about more general educational change. He was a member of the General Teaching Council for Scotland, of the Scottish Examination Board and of the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum (CCC). In 1980, he was appointed chair of the primary committee of the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum and led a major review of what was taught in primary schools. He believed strongly in a collaborative approach to teacher education and argued at the committee of principals that colleges should be working together as in the Hamilton/Craigie model. The tide of affairs in education, however, was moving away in the late 'seventies from collaboration and strongly towards competition.
In 1980 came the news that the government had decreed that Hamilton was to be one of several colleges of education to be closed. Despite a vigorous campaign to save the college with massive local support, Hamilton closed as a teacher education institution in 1981. Its legacy from the inspirational leadership of George Paton has lived on, however, in the hundreds of teachers who were educated at Hamilton in the 1970s and in the spirit of liberal, pupil-centred education which the college engendered.
George then threw his energies and educational experience into his next major post, that of deputy director of the Scottish Council for Educational Technology.
This opened other doors for him and he became president of the International Council for Educational Media and a member of the Library Information Service Committee (Scotland). His contribution to Scottish education at that time was recognised by the Educational Institute of Scotland who awarded him a fellowship of the institute, FEIS, in 1981.
Back in the 1970s, George, his wife Barbara and their two young sons, Geoff and Alastair, set up home in Bothwell. They welcomed and entertained friends and relatives over the years and from where they became very active and lively members of the local communities. Sadly, in 1987, Barbara died after 33 years of happy marriage. George was, however, to find happiness again a few years later when he married Honor, with whom he enjoyed loving companionship for the rest of his life.
After he retired, George remained as energetically committed as ever to the local community, particularly to Hamilton North Church where he was an elder and session clerk as well as a member of the choir. He shone as a choir member, as well as being a regular member of the bass section, he planned and directed many choir concerts. George also had a gift for writing hymns, a continuation of his literary talent.
One of his life-long pleasures was music, especially singing and playing the piano. His family members and friends remember many entertaining nights when George would lead the singing with his usual gusto and infectious chuckle.
His work for the David Livingstone Memorial Trust in Blantyre brought George into contact with another wide circle of colleagues and friends. He became chairman of the trust and, by association, an executive committee member of the Commonwealth Institute in Scotland.
Another of the charities which benefited from George's commitment and leadership was Tenovus-Scotland supporting medical research in Scotland. He was chairman of its Strathclyde committee from 1991.
George Paton, teacher, college principal, kirk elder; born December 5, 1931, died September 9, 2002.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article