Mia Pringle

Mia Lilly Kellmer Pringle (20 June 1920 – 21 February 1983) was an Austrian-British child psychologist. She was the founding director of the British National Children's Bureau, where she oversaw the influential National Child Development Study. Over the course of her career, Pringle advocated for the needs and rights of children both through her research-informed policy work and in her many books and articles about early childhood development.

Early life and education Mia Kellmer Pringle was born in Vienna to Samuel Kellmer and Sophie Sobel. Her younger brother Chanan Kella was her only sibling. Samuel Kellmer was a successful timber wholesaler, and the family was comfortably-middle class. Their circumstances changed swiftly after the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938, and Pringle and her mother were forced to flee to London as refugees. This was a traumatic experience of poverty and displacement: Pringle was suddenly responsible for supporting herself and her mother. She made ends meet by working variously at Woolworths, in primary schools, and as a secretary, all while learning English.

Pringle attended Birkbeck College, studying part-time so she could continue to hold a job. She earned a BA in psychology with first-class honours in 1944, then received her qualification as an educational and clinical psychologist from the London Child Guidance Training Centre in 1945. She continued her studies, working toward a PhD at Birckbeck College while serving as a psychologist for the Hertfordshire Child Guidance Service.

Career Pringle taught at the Department of Child Study (then known as the Remedial Education Centre) at the University of Birmingham from 1950-1963. She advanced from lecturer to senior lecturer, and eventually became deputy head of the department, helping to build its reputation as a center for research and training. Her academic work there focused on education for disabled children and the proper care of children in institutional settings. It draws on the work of other specialists in child development, including John Bowlby and Donald Winnicott, as well as on her own practice and experience in the field. The book emphasizes the importance of the early years of development and the setting in which that development takes place, as well as the need to consider children's emotional, social, and physical needs equally. It identifies four needs as crucial for healthy development in early childhood: love and security, new experiences, praise and recognition, and responsibility.

National Children's Bureau In 1963 Pringle became the first director of the National Children's Bureau, then known as the National Bureau for Co-operation in Childcare. The bureau began as a small-scale operation with four employees, including Pringle herself. Its mission was to foster communication and collaboration among all professionals and service providers specializing in childhood development, to promote research pertaining to children, to advocate for improved children's services, and to pair policy recommendations with hard research in related fields. Over the course of 18 years she built it into a lasting institution with 65 staff members and a dedicated building. The study's findings were published in the book "Born To Fail?" (1973) and emphasized the long-term consequences of adverse conditions in early childhood.

Other roles In addition to her work with the National Children's Bureau, Pringle served on the Birmingham Local Education Authority and on many other working groups, committees, and school boards. These included an influential 1950s UNESCO working group focused on psychological services for schools, as well as the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Handicapped Children and the Advisory Council on Child Care.

She served as chair of the Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and was named an honorary life member of the organization.

Legacy and honors Mia Kellmer Pringle received honorary doctorates from the University of Bradford, Aston University, and the University of Hull, and was named an honorary fellow of Manchester Polytechnic, the College of Preceptors, and Birkbeck College.

In 1970 she was awarded the Henrietta Szold Prize for her services to children. She became a CBE in 1975.

List of works

The Emotional and Social Adjustment of Blind Children (Slough, NFER, 1964) The Emotional and Social Adjustment of Physically Handicapped Children (Slough, NFER, 1964) Deprivation and Education (Longman, 1965) Investment in Children (Longman, 1965) Adoption: Facts and Fallacies (Longman, 1966) 11,000 Seven-Year-Olds (Longman, 1966, with Butler, N.R. and Davie, R.) Four Years On (Longman, 1966, with Gooch, S.) Social Learning and its Measurement (Longman, 1966) Foster Home Care – Facts and Fallacies (Longman, 1967, with Dinnage, R.) Residential Child Care – Facts and Fallacies (Longman, 1967, with Dinnage, R.) Caring for Children (Longman, 1969) Able Misfits (Longman, 1970) The Challenge of Thalidomide (Longman, 1970, with Fiddes, D. O.) Living with Handicap (Longman, 1970, with Younghusband, E., Birchall, D., and Davie, R.) Born Illegitimate (Slough, NFER, 1971, with Crellin, E. and Wedge, P.) Growing Up Adopted (Slough, NFER, 1972, with Seglow, J. and Wedge, P.) The Effects of Disadvantage on Educational Attainment (Council for Education Advance, 1973) Advances in Educational Psychology 2 (University of London Press, 1974, with Varma, V.P., Eds.) The Needs of Children (Hutchinson, 1974) Early Child Care in Britain (Gordon and Breach, 1975, with Naidoo, S.) Controversial Issues in Child Development (Elek, 1978, with Pilling, D.) A Brief Account of the Bureau's History and Main Achievements (1979) A Fairer Future for Children: Better Parental and Professional Care (Macmillan, 1980) Investment in Children (University of Exeter, 1982)