Margaret E. Lyttle

Margaret Lyttle AM (November 20, 1912, Australia – January 4, 2014, Kew, Victoria)[1] was an Australian educator most known for being a pioneer of the Australian progressive education movement and being the principal of Preshil.

Margaret Lyttle

AM
Lyttle in 'The Sitting Room' at Preshil
Born
Margaret Alice Elizabeth Lyttle

20 November 1912 (1912-11-20)
Australia
DiedJanuary 4, 2014(2014-01-04) (aged 101)
Hawthorn, Victoria
EducationSt Michaels Church of England Grammar School
OccupationEducator
Years active1944–1994
Known forPioneer of the Australian progressive education movement
Parents
  • Edgar James Lyttle (father)
  • Alice Annie Frances née Mawson (mother)
RelativesMargaret Jane Ruth (Greta) Lyttle (aunt)

Early life

Margaret was the first of four children to 'Edgar James Lyttle', who was a state school teacher working in rural Victoria, and Alice Annie Frances née Mawson. When Lyttle was 11 years old, she and her three younger siblings were placed under the care of their Aunt Greta, an educationist, who had experimented at the forefront of progressive education for over a decade. Lyttle completed her secondary schooling at St Michaels Church of England Grammar School, where she then trained under Dorothy Ross gaining her sub-primary certificate from the Victorian Education Department in December 1933. Lyttle taught at Carey Grammar for three years, prior to joining her aunt at Preshil on the cusp of the Second World War. In 1944 following Greta's death, Lyttle took up the position of Preshil headmistress at 32 years of age.[1][2]

Preshil

Lyttle deepened and strengthened Preshil's unique model of progressive education which respects play as 'children's work', cooperative endeavour, spontaneous interest and individual paths of learning as central to the acquisition of meaningful knowledge (intellectual, social, physical and emotional).[1][3]

Lyttle was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours for her service to education.[4]

Personal Life

Lyttle passed away at the age of 101 at her aged care home in Hawthorn, Victoria

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References
  1. "Margaret E Lyttle".
  2. Gibbs, Desmond. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  3. "Margaret Lyttle, b. 1912". National Portrait Gallery people.
  4. "Margaret Elizabeth Lyttle". Australian Honours Search Facility, Dept of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
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