• Professor Philip Gammage

Philip Gammage started his career as an early childhood teacher in London in 1958, after education in Oxford, National Service in the RAF (Flying Training Command; Aircraft Accidents) and reading English Literature and Education at Goldsmiths’ College. Later he studied Comparative Educational Policy and then Psychology at London, Leicester and Bristol Universities, completing a PhD in social and clinical psychology in 1974. He was Senior Lecturer at Furzedown College, London, then Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at Bristol University, Visiting Fellow at Michigan, USA, at UNE (Armidale, NSW), and subsequently held several visiting professorships in North America (including Lansdown Scholar at Victoria, BC) before becoming Professor, Chairman of School and then Dean of Faculty at the University of Nottingham.

He retired from the University of Nottingham in 1996, where he is Emeritus Professor and took up the foundation de Lissa Chair in Early Childhood (research), a unique appointment, supported by the de Lissa Trust Fund and linking the University of South Australia with the (then) Department of Education, Training and Employment.

Until 1997 Philip Gammage was President of the British Association of Early Childhood Education and Chair of the Tutors for Advanced Courses in Early Childhood Education, UK (TACTYC, the professional association for early years). He was also deputy chair of UCET, the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers.

He is associate and review editor of the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal and of Early Years, and author or co-author of seven books and over 100 papers. His particular interests lie in early childhood socialisation, in comparative policy at all levels and in social psychology. He has been adviser on several national and government committees and was a member of the recent ‘Inquiry into Children’s Services’ in South Australia.

For more information about Philip and his work, visit his website.