It Was Worth Doing

During 1962 my final year teaching at Morrinsville College, the report of the Commission on Education was presented - the high tide of the classic progressive approach to education. Commonly called the Currie report after its chair, Sir George Currie, it made 346 recommendations. Though the basic direction - a fair education system - was unquestioned, the report signalled four areas requiring urgent attention - teacher training, Maori education, the structure of secondary education and the administration. Many recommendations were implemented but significantly the administrative ones received less attention than the others did. The seedbed for the Picot reform was in preparation.

In the years after Currie the feeling grew that policy development remained limited to too small a group of officials, (Of whom I was one). Increasingly, the very advantage of uniformity was seen as the disadvantage of conformity. Opinion began to move towards a concept of education as a means of achieving social equity. The lack of achievement by Maori students in particular illustrated the failure of an even-handed equality of opportunity approach.

Equally, the system disadvantaged women. A Conference on Education and the Equality of the Sexes was held to mark 1975, International Women's Year. It proved a mind-exploding experience for many of the men who attended. The ripples from it bounced through the system and rebounded as steps were taken to remove the structural blockages for women and girls. The problem was that men in places of responsibility attempted to alleviate the situation top-down. Ownership of the issue was not handed over to the people concerned.

I experienced the conflict and resentment that arose when as a Head Office wallah with minor rank I found myself asked to chair a research committee investigating teacher career issues with a view to looking at reasons why women were not getting promotion. I was the only male on the committee. We investigated different mindsets and expectations, the "old boys club" nature of the system, why women did not apply and if they did why were they then not being appointed.

My position in the hierarchy was vexatious to some committee members and led to several clashes at the beginning. I could understand their frustration, but my superiors were adamant they wanted me to be the controlling officer. Part of my learning curve was to accept the group taking responsibility for the study. This got me into trouble with my superiors as some of the directions being headed to by the study were not those they wanted pursued. They wanted me to dampen down the fires, the other side wanted them lit. Even-handed honesty is not a recipe for staying out of trouble.

When the report finally appeared the research did reveal discrimination, not only in schools but also in administration, and suggested ways in which it could be addressed. Recently Geraldine McDonald a leading feminist educator described it as 'ground-shaking' study. I was pleased to have been associated with that particular piece of earth-movement and consider my association with it an important achievement.