John Norrish (1936-2022)
One memory I have of John is his arriving at the Institute of Education at the same time each morning, always carrying his fold- up bike. Rod Ellis also recalls the fact that he always came to work on his bicycle. It was unusual then, though more common these days. He was ahead of his time.
John Norrish lectured at the Institute of Education from 1977 to 2001, and I worked at the IOE with John for eleven of those years. He was a delightful colleague: charming, urbane, with a dry and understated sense of humour. As Anita Pincas, who worked with John for even longer than I did, said, he was ‘one of those people who everyone liked, but who managed to be not at all dull’. Supremely tactful, unflappable, skilled at pouring oil on troubled waters, he was perfect in the role of Head of the Languages in Education Group, which he held from 1998 to 2000, when the structure of the department changed.
Never one to talk about his achievements, John revealed little about his time working for the British Council in Ghana, his fluent Mandarin, or his love of music. A colleague, Peter Skehan, recalls attending a concert with John: ‘either he was a Paul Simon fan or he disguised it well – we went to a Paul Simon concert together in Barcelona. The concert also had Ladysmith Black Mombasa, and I vividly remember John (who had serious African experience) being transported when they sang’.
John was a major player in key professional organisations linked to English language teaching. He was the Chief Examiner for the RSA (Royal Society of Arts) Diploma, and Chair of IELTDHE, Institute of English Language Teacher Development in Higher Education. I recall long discussions about how to simplify the cumbersome acronym until John came up with the crisper ‘QuiTE’, or Quality in Teacher Education, an organisation which John went on to lead for some years.
While contributing to our profession in myriad, often unheralded ways, John played a major role in the academic life of the English Language Teaching Group at IOE. He wrote a superb, accessible book for language teachers, ‘Language Learners and their Errors’, which, over the years, helped many English language teachers improve their professional understanding and practice. He also led an impressive number of students through to PhD, including major figures in the world of English Language Teaching, such as Professor Jennifer Jenkins and Professor Rod Ellis. Rod, who was supervised by John from 1978 to 1982, remembers ‘his calm conviviality and always helpful advice’. Jennifer Jenkins recalls how John came to the rescue with a PhD she had been working on for a few years prior to choosing John as her supervisor.
‘John supervised my PhD for only two years, but what a difference those two years made. Up till then, I’d struggled elsewhere for four years to find a supervisor willing to step outside their own research area and take on my project which, admittedly, must have seemed rather bizarre at the time. John was different. He happily started working with me, showed a keen interest in an area that was new to him, and didn’t mind in the least admitting when he wasn’t familiar with any of the concepts involved. Because of his open and receptive mind, by the end of the second year, it was all over.
Jenny also remembers John’s interpersonal skills: ‘As well as the academic side, John was a lovely person to meet up with for supervisions. He always offered coffee at the start – and a really good quality coffee at that. And because of our shared love of choral music, we often found ourselves discussing what we were currently singing in our respective choirs. I will always have very fond memories of my time with John’.
Finally, it will be as a wonderful colleague and teacher that John will be remembered. Guy Cook, who worked with John for some years at the Institute, recalls,
‘He was one of the best colleagues of my whole forty years in academia: kind, decent, thoughtful, companionable, a superb raconteur, and an excellent teacher. Never vindictive or self-aggrandising (like some academics!) and with a wonderful sense of humour and the warmest of personalities. It is a great loss to everyone who knew him’.
Katy Salisbury’s testimony is typical of many of John’s Masters and PGCE students. Katy writes,
‘I was first taught by John in 1983 on the PGCE in ESOL at the Institute, and it was largely because of John that I then applied to do my MA there in 1988. He helped create a very positive, egalitarian atmosphere in the department and made us young teachers feel more like colleagues than students. He was part of the team who came out to Madrid to supervise our practicum and then our training as teacher educators. His feedback was always constructive, with a fine practical eye for what was workable in an under-resourced classroom of 40 teenagers. He was a great communicator and I often recall the excellent advice he gave and the way he helped me advance in the profession I love”.
John will be greatly missed by all of us whose lives he touched.
Professor Catherine Wallace