AN inspiring figure who never stopped learning, even while she invented new ways of teaching others, Judith Hamilton was a prominent educator instrumental in redefining Scotland's approach to modern languages in school.
When Moray House College of
Education in Edinburgh stepped up to the demand for more modern language teachers in 1989, it turned to Judith to develop a new framework for the programme.
From there, she went on to write an influential book on the subject, contribute to the Nuffield Commission on languages and serve as secretary general for the International Federation of Teachers of Modern Languages.
Despite all these achievements, she found time to go back to school, completing an MBA in a record eight months so that she could compare business with education.
The move was typical of a woman who was never satisfied with sitting still. From her early years as a modern language teacher, she searched for new methods and better ways of teaching.
After serving as principal teacher at Holy Rood High School in the late 1970s, she became research and development officer for the Lothian region's graded levels of achievement in foreign language learning project.
Refusing to settle for desk-bound theories without a connection to reality, she dug in and worked with teachers in the schools, forming the foundations of the principles that would later lead her to fight for more teacher involvement in programme development.
Her gift for inspiration came to the fore when she became principal teacher at Balerno Community High School, where she worked from 1983 to 1990 to expand the school's modern languages department.
Demanding and inspirational, she more than doubled the number of teachers working in the department.
Her secondment to Moray House came while she was still at Balerno. Teacher involvement was still a priority for her and while at Moray House she developed the new teaching course as principal lecturer.
She left Moray House in 1992 when she married David Glynn Cochrane and set off for a life overseas, joining him in the Solomon Islands.
Her book, Inspiring Innovations in Language Teaching, combined her passion for teacher involvement with her overseas experiences, focusing on ways to encourage innovation – a fitting culmination of her life's work.
She died of leukaemia on March 4 in Edinburgh, leaving behind her husband, David.
The full article contains 414 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
