Clarence Beeby, the ‘Brains behind the Blackboard’1 ‘C E Beeby in an Indonesian classroom examining a student’s work’, 1973 Alexander Turnbull Library, Reference Number: PA1-0-877-13 1 Brown, Karen (1992) The brains behind the blackboard, in Evening Post, 13 Jun 1992, p.13 2 Beeby – The Brains behind the Blackboard: A Philosophical Biography ___________________________________________ A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in PHILOSOPHY at the UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY ___________________________________________ by Michael Peter Couch ________________________________________ University of Canterbury August 2017 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Appendices ............................................................................................................ 6 List of Graphs ................................................................................................................... 7 List of Tables ................................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... 8 Abstract ............................................................................................................................ 9 Common Abbreviations ................................................................................................. 10 SECTION I STARTING UP: ‘A HAPPY KNACK OF BEING IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME’ CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Thesis Overview ................................................................................................... 11 1.2 Chapter Review ..................................................................................................... 13 1.3 Thesis Methodology: Philosophical Biography ..................................................... 17 CHAPTER 2 THE MAKING OF A DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION 2.1 Overview ............................................................................................................... 22 2.2 Early Life: Competing for the Tin Train ............................................................... 22 2.3 From the rock of religion to the rock of education ............................................... 29 2.4 Becoming a Psychologist ...................................................................................... 30 2.5 Lecturing at Canterbury University College ......................................................... 35 2.6 The NZCER: Beeby’s Route to the Ministry ........................................................ 42 2.7 Beeby’s Apprenticeship: Assistant-Director ......................................................... 45 CHAPTER 3 THE MAKING OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 3.1 Overview ............................................................................................................... 49 3.2 Williams Habens, proto Director of Education, 1877-1899 .................................. 50 3.3 The Department under George Hogben, 1899-1915 ............................................. 54 3.4 The Department under W.J. Anderson, 1915-1921 .............................................. 63 3.5 The Department under John Caughley, 1922-26 .................................................. 65 3.6 The Department under Theophilus B. Strong, 1927-1932 .................................... 68 3.7 The Department under N.T. Lambourne, 1933-1940 ........................................... 72 SECTION II CHAPTER 4 THE FIRST BEEBY YEARS: 1938-1944 4.1 Overview ............................................................................................................... 78 4.2 Administrator vs. Architect .................................................................................... 79 4.3 Beeby and Fraser .................................................................................................. 80 4.4 The Intermediate Schools of New Zealand ........................................................... 88 4.5 The famous 1939 Education Report ...................................................................... 96 4.6 The 1944 Thomas Report: Taking control of the Curriculum ............................ 106 4 CHAPTER 5 AUTHORITARIAN PATERNALISM: 1945-1950 5.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 115 5.2 Historical Precedents for Beeby’s Authoritarianism............................................ 119 5.3 The Authoritarian Beebian Department of Education ........................................ 122 5.4 The Expansion of Centralisation ......................................................................... 126 5.5 State Paternalism as the ‘needs of the state’ ....................................................... 131 5.6 Beeby’s Educational Zeal .................................................................................... 134 5.7 Beebian Inequality and Meritocracy .................................................................... 138 5.8 Beeby, Dewey, and Training Students for Democracy ........................................ 141 5.9 Consequences of Beeby’s Authoritarian Paternalism .......................................... 146 CHAPTER 6 EGALITARIAN UTILITARIANISM: 1951-1960 6.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 148 6.2 Beeby’s Unsophisticated Equality ....................................................................... 149 6.3 Beeby’s Ideological Flexibility ............................................................................ 151 6.4 Beeby’s emphasis on an Efficient Education system ........................................... 154 6.5 Psychology and Efficiency ................................................................................... 157 6.6 Beeby and Teachers ............................................................................................. 163 6.7 Retaining certification and perpetuating qualificationism ................................... 166 6.8 Beeby’s expansion of Technical and Vocational Education ................................ 172 6.9 Educational Philosophy as Psychology: Distributions and Scaling ..................... 176 6.10 Overall Impact of Beeby’s Egalitarian Utilitarianism ......................................... 181 SECTION III: BEEBY’S LEGACY CHAPTER 7 THE MYTHOLOGICAL LEGACY 7.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 183 7.2 Beeby’s Scholastic Background ........................................................................... 183 7.3 Origin of the Theory............................................................................................. 185 7.4 Genealogy of the Criteria of an effective Educational Myth ............................... 187 7.5 Limitations of Beeby’s Mythology ...................................................................... 191 7.6 Applied Mythology .............................................................................................. 195 7.7 Consequences of Beeby’s Mythology .................................................................. 196 CHAPTER 8 THE PHILOSOPHICAL LEGACY 8.1 Overview ............................................................................................................ 198 8.2 Beeby post-Directorship: Reforming the World ................................................. 198 8.3 The 1962 Currie Report ....................................................................................... 201 8.4 Criticism and Reform in the early 1970s ............................................................. 205 8.5 1975-1984: The Ascendency of Educational Conservatism ................................ 211 8.6 The 1980s: A Beebian Vacuum and the Role of the Treasury Department ......... 213 8.7 Beebyism in the 1990s ......................................................................................... 218 5 CHAPTER 9 THE STRUCTURAL LEGACY 9.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 223 9.2 The Degradation of Equality ............................................................................... 224 9.3 Recorded Changes in Student Achievement ....................................................... 226 9.4 School-leavers without formal qualifications 1961 to 2006 ................................ 229 9.5 School-leavers with School Certificate 1961 to 2002 ......................................... 238 9.6 School-leavers with Higher School Certificate 1961 to 2002 .............................. 243 9.7 School-leavers with Bursary and/or Scholarship 1961 to 1989 ........................... 244 9.8 Inequality amongst Teachers ............................................................................... 245 9.9 Ongoing problems with Student Achievement .................................................... 250 CHAPTER 10 CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 261 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 267 6 APPENDICES Appendix 1: The founding of the Department of Education in 1877; and an overview of education in New Zealand from 1840 to 1877 ................................................. p. 276 Appendix 2: Average Salaries of Primary School Teachers