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by Tim Fletcher and Yiola Cleovoulou
We are sad to share the news with the S-STEP community that our colleague and friend Clive Beck, Professor Emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)/University of Toronto passed away in June, 2023 at age 84. Clive was a member of the S-STEP community for a number of years, sharing his work and attending many Castle Conference and AERA S-STEP SIG events.
Growing up on a sheep farm near Katanning, Western Australia, Clive moved to Toronto to become a faculty member at OISE in its very early days. His graduate work and early research interests were in philosophy of education, where he was particularly interested in values education, and, inspired by the work of John Dewey, the relationship between theory and practice. Never one to rest on his laurels, Clive changed direction later in his career, focusing closely on teacher education programs and practices. Clive’s collaboration with Clare Kosnik resulted in one of the largest longitudinal programs of educational research by following a sample of graduates of the teacher education program at OISE for 14 years, some of which can be seen in the publications Priorities in Teacher Education (2009) and Growing as a Teacher (2014). It was this work that he often shared with the S-STEP community.
We were both fortunate to have been mentored by Clive (and Clare Kosnik) during our doctoral studies. We are certainly not alone in claiming to be influenced by Clive, as he supervised approximately 70 PhD students, was on the committees of (literally) hundreds of graduate students, and taught thousands of pre-service teachers. Clive was kind, gentle, and had a brilliant sense of humour. He was the epitome of wisdom and a strong advocate for everyone trying to live their own interpretation of ‘the good life’. Yiola recalls finding a poem that Clive had tucked into her notes, signed ‘Your Friend, Clive’, that hinted at life’s challenges and the misjudgement of ‘having it all’ – a message that guided her understanding of entering academia as a young woman and new mother. Clive was the truest teacher, an observer of the human spirit, and a scholar with a generosity not easily found.
Even as an emeritus professor, Clive was a fixture in the OISE building maintaining a solid teaching and research schedule until 2023. Tim once asked Clive if he felt like slowing down, to which he responded, “There are too many interesting things to do!” Clearly, Clive walked his talk and the work that he did was a major part of living his own good life. He modelled the importance of developing a sense of community for all learners, regularly having entire classes of students to his house and organizing after-class trips to the pub. We are lucky to say that this approach and prioritization of the importance of relationships led to us (and our families) developing close relationships with Clive and Clare, and we know there are many who can say the same. Tim’s children remembered Clive’s calmness and dress sense, and he was known as ‘stylish Clive’ in our house. This is probably more than an apt way to remember Clive, but not for his dress sense as much as the style with which he lived his life, treated others, shared his wisdom, and made an impact on the world.
He will be deeply missed as part of the S-STEP community and our condolences go out to his wife, Clare Kosnik, and Clive’s family.
Clive with Clare Kosnik
During our second year as professors, Karen Guilfoyle (as part of work with the Arizona Group) sent this letter to Peggy Placier, Mary Lynn Hamilton and me on October 11th. I share this quote because of what it reveals about Karen as a friend, a scholar and an academic. This was produced in 1990, but her commitment to scholarship and student and the themes in the passage remained true throughout her life.
I find it difficult trying to juggle the various roles I have to play. Anyway, I feel stressed to the max with all I have to do.
I smile as I think about what the acting Head of Teacher Ed said to me during a recent conference. “You need to put time in your schedule to write.” (He who had a part in assigning me two sections a new class I had never taught two weeks before school started and the supervision of the beginning field experience with a class load of 200 students and 93 advisees.) Anyway, he shared his schedule. He takes off Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon to write. I thought about that, wondering why I couldn’t get organized. Then I thought about asking if his wife could come to my home and take care of the washing and cleaning for me like she does for him.
This year they hired a new man in school admin—This is a graduate program. He is in the office next to me. He has time. Students are rarely in his office. He has time to work on writing a grant and yesterday, I even saw him reading a book. I sneak that in during the late hours, whenever. If it even looks like I am there students are around. I have even tried turning off the main lights, but still they come—it seems important to me to meet that need, but I am torn by the time it takes to work with them and still meet all my other “responsibilities”.
This excerpt from her letter to us, provides clear evidence of the person Karen Guilfoyle was as a Teacher Educator from the beginning of her career and across all her experience in the academy. Central to her work was finding space and time to support the growth and well-being of her students. Evidence of her commitment includes a University of Idaho Outstanding Faculty Award and Athena Award which is given to people at U of I who have made a difference through mentoring women and making positive change in the community.
In this passage quoted above, note her taking on the challenge of designing new courses, working with preservice teachers in initial experiences, and advising students. Amidst this overwhelming challenge, Karen constantly found time for students and scholarship by sacrificing things she would rather have done. Her scholarship always had to be constructed in the late hours. This quote is important to us because our lives were similar as we sought balanced and worked together to support each other in the creation of a new scholarly methodology while achieving tenure. This note was written during the time before when we were uncertain there was a place for us in the academy. Karen’s focus was always on what would be beat for her students and the teachers she worked with. She was willing to take up the challenge to make things she believed in come into being.
Her PhD documented and articulated the contribution of a teacher enacting whole language teaching in high impact school in Arizona. After graduating, she took the position of teacher educator at the University of Idaho in Moscow where she created and shepherded a Master’s program for practicing teachers supporting them in presenting and publishing. With the rest of the Arizona Group, she sought to empower teachers and young scholars both through the invention and development of Self-Study of Practice Methodology and through mentoring her students as teachers and scholars. Family and friends were of fundamental importance. She recognized the value of the support of family and friends. She leaves behind a extensive and loving family. She once said, “I couldn’t have done any of it without my family. The values I learned sitting in the little white house in Clark Fork, listening to Grandma Lillie, Aunt Margaret, and Grandma Annie, helped me as I pursued my goals, and formed relationships with people. Their gift of laughter has aided me in all that I do. The love they shared with all, set an example to follow.” I miss Karen. Her life was a living educational theory in practice and she was willing to face criticism to act and do what she felt was right. I’m not sure I was ever as brave, But Karen was always a beacon of goodness.