QPEC is very sad to note the passing of Professor Martin Thrupp of the University of Waikato. Martin has been an enlightened voice in progressive education for all of his notable career. He has contributed intensely and forcefully in New Zealand, Great Britain and Finland to education policy reform and to careful critique of market-based developments in schooling.
Martin worked for over 25 years at Waikato and for some periods at Kings College, London, and the University of London.
This year he co-published a collection of writings on Finnish education (Finland’s Famous Education System – Unvarnished insights into Finnish schooling). From 1999 onwards, he edited three successive books on NZ education policy. He contributed numerous research articles, co-edited the NZ Journal of Educational Studies, wrote a book on NZ’s National Standards project (The Search for Better Educational Standards: A Cautionary Tale), and co-edited a teacher education text on The Professional Practice of Teaching in New Zealand.
Martin received the prestigious McKenzie Award from the NZ Association for Research in Education and a very rare honorary doctorate from Finland’s University of Turku.
For many years Martin supported QPEC and its aims, bringing his careful research to analyses of National Standards, education policy and reforms.
Martin continued to work on research, writing and publishing in the interests of social justice, despite illness. He will be remembered and drawn on for years to come.
