Robert Blackburn (educationalist)

Robert Blackburn (26 September 1927 – 16 July 1990) was an Irish educator. He was an early pioneer of the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) and was instrumental in establishing the first United World College (UWC) in the early 1960s.

Born in Sligo, Ireland, Robert Blackburn attended St. Columba's College, Rathfarnham and, in 1946, Trinity College, Dublin, where took a first-class degree in History with gold medal and was captain of the rugby XV. As a student, Blackburn was an active member of the United Nations Association, where he met his future wife, Esther Archer.

Blackburn started his teaching career at Downside School in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, moving to Merchant Taylors' School near Northwood, Middlesex, in 1954. During this time, he supplemented involvement in the United Nations Association and the Council for Education in World Citizenship with work in refugee camps.

In 1962, he was appointed Deputy Headmaster and Director of Studies of United World College of the Atlantic, South Wales, which was the first United World College. The college took sixth formers from all over the world, mixing the children of South American millionaires with Maoist Chinese children secured with the help of the Foreign Office.