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Tributes to Professor Raffe

Appreciation by Cathy Howieson and Linda Croxford

This appreciation has been prepared jointly with Linda Croxford, my colleague at CES. We’re honoured to have the opportunity to say something about David who we were proud and fortunate to work with for three decades.

Anyone who ever encountered David was struck by his intellect – the brilliance of his incisive, analytical mind - but what we think was most unusual about him was the breadth of his abilities. He could think at a high conceptual level and certainly advanced knowledge in the field of educational sociology, for example, the British Educational Research Association recently selected David’s paper on the Discouraged Worker as one of the landmark papers of the past 40 years. But he was also pragmatic and could see how research could contribute to policy and thus to making a real difference to the education and life chances of individuals. He cared about the inequalities in our society and wanted to make a difference, especially in the Scottish context.

Equally notable was his ability to pay rigorous attention to detail while not losing track of the wider picture. This attention to detail was part of his rigorous approach to research, he was a very principled and honest researcher and would never over-claim or tweak results to suit an argument or to please anyone. As a young researcher, working with David provided me with the best possible example of how research should be conducted.

Honesty, integrity and modesty are words that come to our mind when thinking about David - both in his approach to his work and in how he dealt with colleagues. He simply did not get involved in the kind of personal politicking that is so often a feature of academic life.

Talking to other researchers at conferences, I didn’t recognise the picture they painted of the more senior academics they worked with who did not recognise their contribution and, indeed, would frequently claim undue credit. The opposite was true of David, he not only recognised the contribution of every member of the research team but was scrupulous in giving credit to colleagues.

In fact, as Linda would also testify, it was often a case of trying to persuade him NOT to list authorship in alphabetical order since with Raffe as a surname he would frequently appear as last author.

We found David a generous colleague who would always respond to our requests for comment on proposals and papers but equally as someone who sought comment on his own work and would readily accept criticism.

As a colleague and Director of CES, he could not have been more conscientious and supportive. As a largely externally funded research centre, we experienced various funding crises over the years. As a tenured member of staff and as someone who would have easily found a prestigious position elsewhere, David could have simply walked away from the time and stress involved as Director. But he cared about other members of staff and was committed to the work of the Centre so he continued, writing innumerable funding proposals in his efforts to secure the position of other staff. This was at some cost to his own career and to his well-being.

This sounds rather serious but David was proud of the Centre and its work and ready to celebrate its achievements. I have a vivid memory of him at the party to celebrate the Centre’s 25th anniversary wearing a long silver tinsel wig, enthusiastically joining in the party games as a member of the pig team and chanting in support of his fellow pigs.

Right up till the end he was working with us (and Danny Murphy) on a book to mark 50 years of comprehensive education in Scotland. It was the sort of project he relished. He drafted the final chapter and in it he managed to distil the experience of 50 years of educational developments to draw out key lessons for the future of Scottish education and to identify issues for other education systems. The chapter illustrates much of what I’ve been saying about David’s abilities. The book is dedicated to him and we hope, is a fitting tribute to his contribution to Scottish society - but it also underlines the gap that his death leaves.

Cathy Howieson and Linda Croxford,
Centre for Educational Sociology,
University of Edinburgh

Appreciation by Jim Gallacher

I’m honoured that Alasdair has asked me to make this contribution to David’s funeral service, and to speak on behalf of the many friends and colleagues through the world who have had such admiration, respect and affection for David. This is a daunting task - however I began to feel more supported in it when I read the tributes to David which have flowed into my email from across the UK and well beyond. I would like to share some of them with you today.

He was a special person- and a special scholar, very modest but with a rare integrity.

I had known David for 24 years and always felt he was one of the best in the business. Most importantly he was a lovely man:  thoughtful, understated, and - at risk of cliché - a real gentleman.  He will be missed badly.

His work was superb but entirely without ego (a rare combination in academia!)

Very sad news - another good scholar and decent human taken far too early.

He was a wonderful academic who made a significant contribution to the field, but also a warm and kind human being.

I think that these short quotations sum up David very well: an outstanding and respected scholar, but also a kind and thoughtful human being.

(I think if David were here to hear these tributes he’d be a happy man – although with his characteristic modesty he would probably be looking a bit abashed).

I think I have known David for about 20 years. Over that period I have come to regard him as both a respected colleague and a good friend. As many of you will know David was in some ways quite a quiet and reserved person, and it took a while to get beyond this. But when you did so you were rewarded with a warm and thoughtful friend and colleague. I have happy memories of our last meeting. We had lunch about three weeks ago in a little restaurant called Café St Honore in Thistle St North West Lane – this had to be Edinburgh you couldn’t find a restaurant with a name and address like that in Glasgow – and this session summed him up so well. Despite still suffering some of the side effects of the chemo, he enjoyed lunch and our conversation was able to range from the seminar which we were planning to talk about our families, and future plans. It was in every way a lovely occasion, and I’m delighted to have it as a memory.

As an academic David had many outstanding qualities, but one which was very important and helped define his distinctive contribution, was his interest in using academic research to contribute to policy formation, and he displayed this interest across the impressive breadth of his work. Many of you will know this included school education, transitions to work, vocational education and training, credit and qualifications frameworks, and higher education. In all of these areas he established a reputation which was truly international, and as a result he sometimes spent too much time for his own liking being flown to various parts of the world to share his expertise.

I was personally fortunate to profit from this distinctive approach in many ways and I would like to mention a few. Firstly when, with Mike Osborne, I established the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning we were keen to set up an advisory committee. David was one of the first names on our list of invitees, and we were delighted when he agreed to join this committee. David proved to be a critical friend in the very best sense of that term. He always found time to attend the meetings despite his numerous commitments, and his contributions were always thoughtful and helpful. A number of years later when I was appointed to Chair the Access and Inclusion Committee in the Scottish Funding Committee we wanted to appoint an academic expert. David was my first choice because I knew he would bring that important combination of expert knowledge, and an interest in how this could be applied to addressing the policy issues which confronted the Funding Council. He did not disappoint us in this respect.

The project on which I have been working with David most recently is an international seminar on the future of higher education which we have been planning for some time with Sir Peter Scott and Professor Gareth Parry. This will take place at the end of March, and David has continued to contribute to all the planning work throughout his illness. It will be a great sadness for us that he will now not be with us for the event, but we will honour him, both at the seminar and in the book which will be published from it.

So, we can say that in so many ways David has been a highly valued and respected colleague and friend, not just to myself, but to others throughout the world. I count myself fortunate that I have had the opportunity to speak on behalf of so many today. I can only hope that I have done some justice to the legacy David has left us.

Jim Gallacher
Emeritus Professor of Lifelong Learning
Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning
Glasgow Caledonian University
February 2015

David Raffe in Memoriam

Recently we received the sad news that David Raffe, Professor of Sociology of Education, University of Edinburgh, died unexpectedly. David was one of the founding members of the VETNET network and a long-time board member.

For us, involved in European cooperation in educational research – and in particular in vocational education and training (VET) – David was one of the forerunners and key actors from the early hours on. We remember him as one of the keynote speakers of the pilot-ECER 1992 – “is modularisation becoming a common European currency in education and training”. Already at that time he was a key actor in the early educational EU-projects (with focus on modularisation and parity of esteem). Later on he was involved in the VETNET network as a board member, as the VETNET program chair in the ECER 2000 in Edinburgh and as a speaker in the VETNET keynote sessions in Lissabon (2002) and Vienna (2009).

In particular we experienced that David was promoting dialogue between policy makers and researchers – as well as between different educational cultures. David was not looking for easy solutions but drew attention to questions that needed to be answered. This was also characteristic of his participation in European projects on school-to-work transition, structural reforms in VET and European/ national qualification frameworks. David was not only asking, what the reform proposals are promising and how that could be evaluated. He also asked, to what extent the reforms are being implemented and what kind of side-effects they have had. In this respect he was bringing forward the role of research as support for (self-)critical policy assessment.

David has made  a sustained, high quality contribution to the field and will be remembered as a most thoughtful, kind and insightful colleague. In David we have lost an excellent researcher, a productive writer and a respected contributor to European cooperation. As his former colleagues in the VETNET network we celebrate his life's work and what he has given to future generations of researchers.

On behalf of VETNET Board members and colleagues in European projects
Michael Gessler, Marg Malloch, Karen Evans, Martin Mulder, Johanna Lasonen, Sabine Manning, Graham Attwell, Ludger Deitmer, Pekka Kämäräinen