Reginald
Edwards was born in Oldham, England in 1913. He taught in Primary
and Secondary Schools from 1933-1940, and received his B.Sc. degree from
the University of London in 1940 , honouring in Psychology. After
entering the Army, he was transferred to the Directorate of Selection of
Personnel where he worked on the problems of personnel selection and training
at the Research Centres of various War Office Selection Boards. On leaving
the Army in 1946 he held a Child Guidance Fellowship working with disturbed
children in various London hospitals and particularly at the renowned Tavistock
Clinic.
From 1946 to 1948 he was a specialist teacher of mathematics and physics in a High School prior to his appointment as Educational Psychologist and Inspector of Schools for a Local Education Authority. He received his Master of Education degree from University of Manchester in 1950 and joined the staff of the University of Sheffield as Lecturer in Educational Psychology in 1952.
He first taught in the Summer School at Macdonald College of McGill University in 1956. In 1958-59 he was a Fulbright Visiting Professor teaching educational psychology at the University of Michigan and in the summer of 1959 taught courses in comparative education at Eastern Michigan University.
He
was appointed Professor in the Institute of Education of McGill University
in September, 1960 and played a key role as Chairman of the Division of
Graduate Studies and Research where he paved the way for the rapid growth
in graduate studies and research which followed the Institute's transformation
to Faculty status. Over the course of his career, he supervised nearly
fifty theses – then a record for the Faculty of Education. He retired in
August 1981 and was named Emeritus Professor in June 1983.
A true polymath, he was interested in a wide variety of subjects from psychology and science to education, history, and politics and once ran for a seat in the Canadian Parliament. Though he considered himself a behavioural psychologist, his chief concerns were with theories of intellect and thought processes; and though he taught courses in statistics, intelligence, and learning, he maintained his deep and abiding interest in comparative education and in 1969-1970 served as president of the Comparative and International Education Society.
Professor Edwards was a brilliant and committed teacher who will long be remembered by his students as the one who taught them not only to critically analyze but also to think. It was not unusual for students to receive several pages of carefully typewritten comments on their term papers, analyzing their arguments and cross-referencing their writing. An avid learner himself, late in life he was pursuing courses in such diverse topics as computer science and Russian. In doing so, he taught us by example what it means to be a lifelong learner. He continued his scholarly activities, particularly in the area of the history of McGill and McGill's Faculty of Education, almost to the time of his death on October 4, 2000.
The Senate of McGill University recognizes with sadness the death of Emeritus Professor Reginald Edwards, acknowledges with gratitude the contributions he made to McGill University, and to Canadian and International Education, and extends its deepest sympathy to his family.
December 5th, 2000.
Read at Senate by Professor Glenn F. Cartwright, May 9, 2001.