Turner, Ivan Stewart

Ivan Stewart Turner was born on 14 April 1903. he was educated at Sydney Boy's High School, where he took the Intermediate Certificate in 1918, and the Leaving Certificate in 1920,achieving three A passes, and four B passes. He attended the University of Sydney, where he graduated B.Sc. , with Honours Class 1 in Mathematics, and Honours Class 2 in Physics, and with the Diploma in Education, having also attended the Sydney Teachers College. He then went on to graduate M.Sc. in 1925, with Honours Class 1 and the University Medal in Mathematics. This record gained him the Barker Scholarship for Mathematics, and he proceeeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, gaining B.A. in 1927, with Honours Class 2. He later graduated M.A. from Cambridge in 1933. He won a Carnegie Fellowship for 1937-1939, tenable at the London Institute of Education, where he gained an Associateship of the Institute, and New College, Columbia University , U.S.A., where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1939. Finally, in 1977, Turner was awarded the first B.A.(Honori Causa) to be granted by the Council of the Sydney Teachers College.

His teaching career really began whilst still a student, when he taught mathematics part time at Trinity Grammar School in Sydney in 1922. He then became a Demonstrator in Physics at the University of Sydney from 1923 to 1925. He was appointed Lecturer in Mathematics at the Sydney Teachers College from 1928 until 1950, becoming Head of the Department of Mathematics from 1946 to 1950. He became Principal of Sydney Teachers College in 1950, and retired in 1967. Other teaching posts held were those of part time Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of Sydney from 1928 to 1937, and again from 1940 to 1950, also part time Lecturer in Education at the University of Sydney from 1940 to 1967. In 1968, he became a Visiting fellow at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University in Canberra.

Turner was fortunate in having had, for his time, some productive and interesting trips overseas, and these were over a period from his time at Cambridge in 1925, to a study tour of the U.S.S.R., Berlin, England, Scotland, United States, Mexico, and New Zealand in 1965. He also visited South East Asia and Canada. The early trips were not without personal expense, however, and Turner was forced to use his own slender financial resources at times. His research interests ranged over the teaching of mathematics, secondary education, educational administration, with special interest in decentralisation and regionalisation, comparative education, and teacher training. This last interest was one for which Turner had some passion, and he wrote much on the topic.

It was always Turners conviction that teaching needed to be a truly professional undertaking, and that, above all, teachers had to be graduates. He maintained a cordial relationship with the Department of Education at the University of Sydney, and in fact taught there, but he was determined that the Sydney Teachers College should not in any way be subservient to the University of Sydney. After retirement from the Teachers College, Turner became a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, a post which enabled him to persue his interest in the decentralisation of educational administration, and he visited many rural ares of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, furnishing both State and Federal governments with reports.

It regrettable that there is little in the material that could truly be called personal, or of family interest. For example, there are no photographs, nor any truly family correspondence.

Turner died on 25 March 1984, after a short illness. He was survived by his wife, and a son.