Robertson, Judith P. & McConaghy, Cathryn. (Eds) (2006). Provocations: Sylvia Ashton-Warner and Excitability in Education Reviewed by Joy Jarvis and Kit Thomas, University of Hertfordshire,

Robertson, Judith P. & McConaghy, Cathryn. (Eds) (2006). Provocations: Sylvia Ashton-Warner and Excitability in Education New York: Peter Lang Publishing. 214 pp.         ISBN 10-0820478776 Reviewed by Joy Jarvis and Kit Thomas University of Hertfordshire, UK December 13, 2007 This edited book explores the influence of Sylvia Ashton-Warner on the chapter authors and within the wider personal, professional, educational and social contexts about which they write. Reading the book evokes an image of a staff room in a women’s college at an established university: panelled walls, tea and a heated discussion about the legacy of the person who is the subject of this book. The women, for the chapter authors are all women, draw on a range of personal knowledge of Sylvia as a friend or teacher, on her writing and on a range of secondary sources to support their views. Some see her as a heroine, whilst others believe that her influence has been overrated. The argument is passionate, energetic; no one is neutral. Within this debate we sense the "excitability" identified in the book’s title and begin, already, to sense the ‘provocations’ of Sylvia Ashton-Warner. Who then, is the text about? The cover picture presents Sylvia as a statuesque, somewhat androgynous yet elegant figure with hairstyle and clothes locating her within the middle of the twentieth century. Why does she appear to speak so strongly to the authors of this text and what provocations have been brought about by her life and work? Sylvia Ashton-Warner was a New Zealand teacher and writer on education. She started teaching between the first and second world wars in a Maori school in a remote area. Working with very young children she developed an approach to teaching that built on understanding the needs of individuals in a particular cultural context. Using children’s emotions and understanding of their world as a basis for their literacy development, she developed reading materials and approaches to writing within her classroom that proved effective where prescribed western texts had failed. She presented her ideas in texts including Teacher (1963) and an earlier novel Spinster (1958) in which she appears in fictional form. In these books she positioned herself as resisting the orthodoxy of teaching imposed by male policy makers and inspectors. She wrote about ‘organic teaching’ based on the ‘volcanic’ nature of children that could be both destructive and creative. In her writing she presents the classroom as vibrant, emotional and full of learning opportunities to be developed by the teacher, who also has her own emotional needs within the context. What do the authors of the edited text see as her provocations? For some she is a feminist voice, at a time when female thinkers and writers in the field of education were few. For others the focus is on work in challenging schools, with children who are not from the dominant culture, while for others it is her demonstration of the development of educational theory from experience. The vision of a teacher as an actor on the educational stage, as a creator of new ideas rather than a passive receiver of prescribed orthodoxy is what leads to new visions. What will a reader gain from this book? If he or she has never heard of Sylvia Ashton-Warner then perhaps a desire to find out more about her and to read her original work. For those of us who are familiar with some of her writing there will be insights into both her work and her personality. This may not be a comfortable experience. As the editors write, ‘When our idealized subjects fail to materialize – that is, when Sylvia turns out not to be as she seemed – disillusionment and antipathy may foreclose what began as a love affair.’ (p. 3). What is clear is that Sylvia was a complex person, passionate, creative, sometimes depressed, often extreme, and never passive. What is perhaps most important is what her work leads us to do. For this book is not just about the life and legacy of Sylvia Ashton-Warner it is also a challenge to be provoked. At the beginning of one of the chapters Anne-Louise Brookes writes, ‘Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s work changed the way I see the world and the way I understand teaching’ (p. 141). This is a big claim and yet others in this book would agree that her impact remains strong today. What are her provocations for the book reviewers? What does she say to us as teacher educations in the UK in the twenty-first century? One of us has used Sylvia’s work with teachers of children with special educational needs, who see in her an ally in their attempt to resist the notion of a prescribed teaching approach that suits all children. She helps to give them the courage to resist, to develop their own approach to teaching that meets the needs of their children. The other reviewer is unable to teach at any level without using this seminal quotation from ‘Spinster’ which sums up all of the provocation and excitability of teaching: "What a dangerous activity reading is; teaching is. All this plastering on of foreign stuff. Why plaster on at all when there’s so much inside already? So much locked in. If only I could get it out and use it as a working material. And not draw it out either. If I had a light enough touch it would come out under its own volcanic power.” So readers of this book may be encouraged to explore in more depth their own response to Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s work and through these provocations reflect upon, and develop, their own educational practice. References Sylvia Ashton-Warner (1958) Spinster. London: Secker and Warburg. Sylvia Ashton-Warner (1963) Teacher. New York: Simon and Schuster. About the Reviewers Joy Jarvis Principal Lecturer in Education School of Education, University of Hertfordshire, UK Joy Jarvis is a teacher of the deaf and is currently responsible for training teachers of the deaf at UH. She is also interested in other areas of Special Educational Needs, particularly speech and language difficulties. She has taught in a range of educational contexts and has previously worked as an advisory teacher. Kit Thomas Associate Head of School (Academic) Principal Lecturer in Education School of Education University of Hertfordshire, UK Kit Thomas taught English in multilingual schools for thirteen years before moving to the University of Hertfordshire where he was the PGCE secondary English course leader and Programme Tutor. He currently teaches on all programmes across the School of Education which informs his Academic Quality role. His research interests are in the overlapping areas of initial teacher training, masculinities and the subject of English.