Malcolm Preston Skilbeck (22 September 1932 – 17 June 2022) was an Australian educator who worked in educational policy analysis, curriculum,

tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

and secondary education, the teaching profession and educational innovation. Some of this work was done with the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

(OECD) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (

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). Born on 22 September 1932 in Northam, Western Australia, Skilbeck was educated at

North Sydney Boys High School North Sydney Boys High School (abbreviated as NSBHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded, Single-sex school, single-sex, Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary day school for boys, loc ...

. he received his B.A. from

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, his M.A. from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, and Ph.D. from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He published many papers, articles, books and reports on academic issues such as curriculum theory and development, educational policy and youth training, in the secondary and tertiary sectors. He authored the books ''Loving and Studying Nature: Celebrating the Earth Through History, Culture and Education'' (2021), ''School Based Curriculum Development'' and ''The Vocational Quest''; co-authored the ''Curriculum Reform'' and the influential survey ''Industry-university partnerships in the curriculum: trends and developments in OECD countries''. In the

2014 Australia Day Honours The 2014 Australia Day Honours were announced on 26 January 2014 by the Governor General of Australia, Quentin Bryce. The Australia Day Honours are the first of the two major annual honours lists, announced on Australia Day (26 January), with the ...

, Skilbeck was made an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AO). With his first wife, Elizabeth (nee Robbins), he had four children, Ruth, Clare, Paul and Lucy; and with his second wife, Helen Connell, he had one child, Brigit. Skilbeck died at the age of 89 on 17 June 2022.

Positions held

*Professor and Dean of Education,

University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

, from 1971 to 1975 *Consultant Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) in Paris and as a participant in its European programs *Director of the Australian Curriculum Development Centre from 1976 to 1981 *Director of Studies of the Schools Council for Curriculum and Examinations for England and Wales from 1981 to 1983 *Professor of Curriculum Studies at the Institute of Education,

, from 1981 to 1985 *Vice-chancellor and president,

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

, Australia, from 1986 to 1991 *Deputy Director for Education of the Directorate for Education, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris *Consultant to UNESCO and the British Council *Fellow of the

Academy of Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skilbeck, Malcolm 1932 births 2022 deaths Alumni of the University of London Academics of the UCL Institute of Education Academics of Ulster University Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia People educated at North Sydney Boys High School People from Northam, Western Australia Officers of the Order of Australia