first five years of his time as director-general of the IBO, Peterson continued to live and work in Oxford, despite the fact that the IBO offices were located in Geneva, Switzerland. He remained in his job at Oxford University, retaining the directorial job with the IBO as a part-time work. In 1973, he retired from his Oxford post and took up a part-time teaching job at the Hammersmith and West London College of Further Education, teaching Theory of Knowledge and managing his IBO directorate from London. Peterson retired in 1977, and he was made an honorary member of the IBO's Council of Foundation in 1983. In 1987, he published the book Schools Across Frontiers: The Story of the International Baccalaureate and the United World Colleges, a historical account on the development of the IB programmes and the United World Colleges closely linked to them. Peterson died in 1988. The IBO Cardiff Headquarters building, Peterson House, is named after him. Views and contributions Peterson campaigned strongly against what he called 'over-specialisation' in British pre-university education. In his 1960 report Arts and Science Sides in the Sixth Form, he vocally described the need for a new kind of educational system, essentially very similar to what the IB Diploma Programme eventually was to become. The new system would provide broader education for students, while maintaining a certain degree of chances for specialisation. He also emphasised the advantages of oral examinations and of assessing analytical skills in examinations rather than the ability to remember specific facts. Peterson is said to have shaped the entire educational philosophy of the IBO, basing it on his own humanist and liberal beliefs on the concept of education. He felt the very purpose of education to be, to stimulate the mind and encourage critical thought, rather than focussing on simple memorisation of detail. His views are reflected in the structure of the IB Diploma Programme, in the way that it incorporates elements such as the Extended Essay, the CAS programme, and Theory of Knowledge: the student is required to do independent research, to participate in meaningful tasks outside the immediate school community to benefit society, and to develop a concrete image on the nature of knowledge that he comes across in his studies. Despite his assumption of the task of IBO director-general as only a part-time job, Peterson was very productive in advancing the cause of the International Baccalaureate.