Tinsley became the first woman to be appointed as Professor of Astronomy at Yale University in the United States
Education
Events In History
10 February 1967
New Zealand schoolchildren received free milk between 1937 and 1967. The first Labour government introduced the scheme – a world first – to improve the health of young New Zealanders (and make use of surplus milk).
18 July 1924
The governor-general, Viscount Jellicoe, officially opened Flock House station, near Bulls. This training farm was established using surplus profits from wool sales during the First World War.
29 February 1924
Following a US study tour by Frank Milner, the rector of Waitaki Boys’ High School in Ōamaru, the Education Department began applying the Terman Group Test of Mental Ability to all first-year post-primary school students
1 February 1922
Janet Mackenzie became the first teacher in what was to become the Correspondence School for Back-block Children
9 May 1907
New Zealand pupils were for the first time able to read a schoolbook published in their own country.
27 August 1904
Victoria College (now Victoria University of Wellington) was founded in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's 60th jubilee. Until the opening of the Kelburn building in 1906, classes were taught in rented rooms.
10 June 1889
The first New Zealand kindergarten to educate children, in Dunedin, was based on the ideas of the German educationalist Friedrich Froebel.
15 August 1881
Helen Connon was the first woman in the British Empire to gain her Master of Arts degree. Her academic career started with edcuation in Dunedin, New Zealand.
29 November 1877
The Education Act 1877 established free, compulsory and secular education for all Pākehā New Zealand children. Māori children could attend these schools if their parents wanted them to.
11 July 1877
Kate Edger became the first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree and the first woman in the British Empire to earn a Bachelor of Arts (BA).
6 February 1871
The first public girls’ secondary school in the southern hemisphere was Otago Girls’ High School, which opened eight years after the local public boys’ high school.
7 April 1856
The first state secondary school in New Zealand, Nelson College, opened in temporary premises in Trafalgar St with a roll of just eight boys. It eventually attracted boys from around the country as well as the local area. It now has a roll of over 1000 and continues to take both boarders and day pupils.
12 August 1816
The simple building measured about 10m x 6m and included an area for Māori students to sleep and a cordoned-off platform for teachers and Pākehā students
Articles
Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week
Every year since 1975 New Zealand has marked Māori Language Week – Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. This is a time to celebrate te reo Māori (the Māori language) and to use more Māori phrases in everyday life. In 2018 Māori Language Week runs from 10-16 September. Read the full article
Page 2 - History of the Māori language
The story of the decline and revival of the Māori language is one of the major issues in modern New Zealand
Children and adolescents, 1930-1960
The need for the New Zealand government to promote national interests during the Depression and the Second World War created a renewed appreciation of the role of the family within society. Read the full article
Page 3 - Education
By 1940 childhood was internationally recognised as a distinct stage in human development. A child's value to the family was no longer seen as primarily economic. Instead,
The Treaty in practice
Amalgamating Māori into colonial settler society was a key part of British policy in New Zealand after 1840. Economic and social change, along with land-purchase programmes, were central to this process. Read the full article
Page 4 - Shared issues and approaches
Prospects for Māori looked bleak at the beginning of the 20th century. A shared sense of grievance emerged, and new leaders paved the way for new approaches to the
Missionaries
The Christian missionaries of the pre-1840s have been described as the 'agents of virtue in a world of vice', although they were not immune to moral blemish themselves. Read the full article
Page 3 - Men of vice or virtue?
Thomas Kendall established the first mission school, but he was later suspended after admitting an adulterous affair with a Maori
Armistice Day
After four terrible years, fighting in the First World War finally ended with the signing of an armistice between Germany and the Allies on 11 November 1918. New Zealanders celebrated enthusiastically, despite having recently celebrated the surrenders of the three other Central Powers and the premature news of an armistice with Germany. Read the full article
Page 7 - New Zealand in 1918
Some facts and stats about New Zealand in the year the First World War
Schools and the First World War
Schools and children were quickly called into action at the outset of the First World War in 1914. Developing patriotic, fit and healthy citizens was seen as important to the survival of the country and the Empire. Hundreds of teachers joined the NZEF, including many from sole-teacher schools. Almost 200 never returned. Read the full article
Page 1 - Children, schools and the First World War
Schools and children were quickly called into action at the outset of the First World War in 1914. Developing patriotic, fit and healthy citizens was seen as important to the
Page 2 - Schools in 1914
The head of the Department of Education believed that ‘moral purpose should dominate the spirit of the whole school life.’ Schools and teachers were to shape children into
Page 3 - Displaying patriotism
In late 1917 district education boards ordered that children salute the New Zealand flag at the start of each school day. Some teachers opposed this as too
Page 4 - The School Journal
During the First World War the New Zealand School Journal played an important role in encouraging patriotism, self-sacrifice, obedience and support for the war effort among
Page 5 - Turning boys into soldiers
The Defence Amendment Act 1900 introduced military cadet training into schools. The Defence Act 1909 made military training for nearly all boys compulsory from the age of 12.
Page 6 - Supporting the war effort
During the war children were encouraged to be ‘cheerful’ and ‘helpful’, to ease the worry and sorrow of the mothers and wives of soldiers. There were also many practical ways in
Page 7 - Teachers who served
Whether as school cadet officers or supporters of saluting the flag, teachers did much to set the moral tone of New Zealand schools before and during the war. Many hundreds were
Page 8 - Further information
Links and books relating to schooling during the First World
Rolls of honour and obituaries
Government rolls of honour and obituaries published at the end of the First World War. Read the full article
Page 8 - Education service Roll of Honour
Roll of honour for education service employees killed in the First World
Women Together
Association of Home Science Alumnae of New Zealand
The Association of Home Science Alumnae of New Zealand provided home science graduates and diploma holders, home economics teachers and interested others with a professional, educational and social forum for nearly 70 years. Read the full Women Together Essay
Auckland Feminist Teachers
Auckland Feminist Teachers (AFT) was an active group of women primary and secondary teachers which wanted to increase the influence of women and to promote feminist concerns in the education system. Read the full Women Together Essay
Combined Early Childhood Union of Aotearoa Te Rau o te Aroha o te Kōhanga ki Aotearoa
In March 1982, the Early Childhood Workers' Union was registered as an industrial union for 2000 waged early childhood workers. In 1990 it amalgamated with the New Zealand Free Kindergarten Teachers' Association to form the Combined Early Childhood Union of Aotearoa Read the full Women Together Essay
Dominion Federation of Townswomen's Guilds
The Dominion Federation of Townswomen's Guilds aimed to educate women and to encourage 'their development as citizens' Read the full Women Together Essay
Graduate Women New Zealand
By 1993 the New Zealand Federation of University Women (NZFUW) had been offering intellectual stimulation and friendship to graduate women for over 70 years. Read the full Women Together Essay
New Zealand Free Kindergarten Teachers' Association
The membership and focus of the New Zealand Free Kindergarten Teachers' Association (NZFKTA) has changed considerably in its lifetime. Read the full Women Together Essay
New Zealand Kindergartens – Te Pūtahi Kura Pūhou o Aotearoa
The New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union was established in 1926 to co-ordinate the work of the five Free Kindergarten Associations (FKA), who were responsible for kindergartens throughout the country. Read the full Women Together Essay
Playcentre Aotearoa
–Playcentre enabled parents to be actively involved in the preschool education of their children Read the full Women Together Essay
Society for Research on Women in New Zealand
The principal aim of the Society for Research on Women in New Zealand was to research topics concerning women. Read the full Women Together Essay
Te Kōhanga Reo
Te Kōhanga Reo focuses on total immersion in Māori language and values for preschool children Read the full Women Together Essay
Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa New Zealand Childcare Association
The New Zealand Association of Childcare Centres was founded on 14 October 1963 at a meeting of centre managers and staff organised by Sonja Davies, then president of the Nelson Day Nursery Committee. Read the full Women Together Essay
Women in Science Education
Women in Science Education was set up in 1985 in response to a growing concern among women science educators at the low participation rates of girls and women in science education. Read the full Women Together Essay
Biographies
On 11 July 1877 Kate Edger (Evans) graduated with a BA in Latin and Mathematics from the University of New Zealand. She became the first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree and the first woman in the British Empire to earn a BA
In his time as head of the Department of Education from 1899 until 1915 George Hogben helped bring New Zealand's education system into line with the most advanced educational theory and practice of the time.
Main image: Teaching pre-schoolers Māori Language
Māori women have been the backbone of kōhanga reo (language 'nurseries' where pre-schoolers were immersed in the language) since the first opened in 1982. By July 2000 there were a total of 11,519 children attending 611 kōhanga reo.
