Introduction to the lectures


Throughout her life Phyllis has given lectures on education. She was always a wonderful and inspirational lecturer. Her daughter, Judith, once took a Montessori course given by Angela Martin (formerly Mother Angela of the Sacred Heart Convent in London ) in Vancouver and complimented her on her lecture on 'The Absorbent Mind'; Angela replied, "Ah, but you should have heard your mother lecture on the same topic; her lecture was just wonderful and in a different league from mine."

The lectures and articles published on this website are a few of those written by Phyllis within the past ten years. We do not have verbatim records of her previous lectures; should anyone have access to records of other lectures given by her, we would be most grateful for a copy to include on the web-site.

Several of the lectures published on this web-site were delivered at the Lonergan Institute at Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., since 2001.

Phyllis has lectured at a wide variety of universities during the course of her lifetime. These include:
  • Oxford
  • Cambridge
  • King's College, London
  • Harvard - guest lecturer on Montessori
  • Yale - guest lecturer on Montessori
  • Seattle University
  • Washington State
  • Perdue University, Indiana, USA - a three-week teaching training course for M.A. students
  • Chicago
  • Boston College (Lonergan Workshop several times)
  • Columbia University, New York
  • Shanghai University (during her 'world tour')
  • University of British Columbia, Canada
  • University of Victoria, Canada
  • Jesuit University, USA

Apart from the courses and lectures she has given in France, Austria, Italy, Holland, Ireland, Canada, Russia, South Africa, the United States, India and the countries she visited on her recent world tour which took her to Malaysia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, the U.S. and China, these are a few of the numerous other places where she has lectured or conducted teacher training courses:

  • United Nations Church Center, New York
  • US Air Base, Mildenhall, England
  • Fenham, Newcastle, England
  • Bishop Otter, Chichester
  • Avery Hill, London
  • Strawberry Hill, England
  • College of Preceptors, London
  • North London Polytechnic
  • Staffordshire County Teachers' Conference
  • Enfield Teachers' Association
  • The Royal Overseas League
  • Association of Pediatric Chartered Physiotherapists' conference, London
  • National Association for Gifted Children
  • British Epilepsy Association, London
  • Child Guidance Clinic, London
  • College of Preceptors
  • North London Polytechnic
  • Staffordshire Head Teachers Conference
  • Strawberry Hill
  • International Cerebral Palsy Society
  • Digby Stuart Training College, England
  • Guest Speaker, Purdue Annual Education Lunch

Some of the wide-ranging titles of Phyllis's lectures and courses have been as follows:
  • Preparing for the 21st Century in Education
  • History for the Young Child
  • Learning Disabled
  • Computers in the Nursery
  • Apparatus Montessori Might Have Made
  • Parents and Professionals as Partners in Education
  • Problems of Perception in Childhood
  • The Learning Disabled
  • The Learning of Reading and Writing with Enjoyment
  • Perceptual Difficulties and Special Needs Called for in Language and Mathematical Development
  • Reasons for Difficulties in Language Development and How to Help Overcome Them
  • Integrating the Handicapped into the Main Stream of Education
  • Individualizing the Syllabus for All Activities
  • The Computer as an Aid to the Teacher
  • Making Use of the Community and the Environment, Now and in the Future, in Education
  • The Integrated School and the Uses of Additional Expertise
  • Language Teaching for Some Minority Groups
  • Mainstreaming in the Schools
  • The Autistic Child
  • Language Development and Integration within the Mainstream
  • The Epileptic Student within the Mainstream
  • The Needs of the Down's Syndrome Child in Education
  • The Highly Gifted Child and the Educational Program
  • The Exceptional Student in the Preschool, Normal Elementary and Secondary Classroom
  • Language Development and the Blind: the Varying Needs of the Blind from Birth and the Blind with Remembered Sight
  • How to Help the Maladjusted Child within the Mainstream of Education
  • The Child with Cerebral Palsy and his Needs within the Mainstream
  • Science and the Very Young
  • A School Journey to India
  • Modern Montessori Teaching: Maths
  • Modern Montessori: Language Development
  • The Philosophy of Montessori and Today's Needs
  • Parents, Teachers, the Community and Students Working Together in Education
  • A Completely New View of Education: a Possible Plan for the New Era
  • Reflections on the Future of Education in the Light of Montessori and Lonergan
  • Stages of Character Development

The following lectures have been published in various editions of 'The Sower: A Quarterly Magazine on Christian Formation:
  • The Vocation of Teaching
  • Moral Teaching through Shakespeare's Tragedies
  • The Way we Learn

The Lonergan lectures have been published
Divyadaan has published several articles

You can see Phyllis lecturing on youtube.