Naomi Sargant

Who was Naomi Sargant?

Naomi Ellen Sargant, Lady McIntosh was a British academic specialising in adult education and television executive. The daughter of Thomas Sargant, first secretary of JUSTICE, and Czech-born philologist Marie Hlouskova, Sargant was educated at Friends School Saffron Walden graduating from Bedford College, University of London with a degree in sociology.

After an early career in market research and consumer interests Sargant became a college lecturer in 1967 and joined the new Open University in 1970, for whom she presented the Open Forum programme on radio and television. Sargant became professor of applied social research in 1978, a post where she remained until leaving the OU in 1981 to join Channel 4 as a senior commissioning editor for educational programming on a channel mandated to dedicate 15% of its output to education.

She left Channel 4 in 1989 and became an executive member of the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education. NIACE published Lifelong Learning: A Brave and Proper Vision Selected writings of Naomi Sargant in 2009 and organises an annual memorial lecture in her honour.