Helen May

Helen May (sometimes Helen May Cook) ONZM (born 25 February 1947) is a New Zealand education pioneer. She is currently an Emeritus professor at the University of Otago.[1]

Helen May
Born(1947-02-25)25 February 1947
Alma materVictoria University of Wellington
Scientific career
InstitutionsVictoria University of Wellington, University of Waikato, University of Otago
Thesis

Academic career

May trained as a primary school teacher in the mid-1960s and in her early career taught 5-6-year olds. Later, when she had her own children, she worked in childcare and for five years was the Coordinator of the Victoria University crèche.

While running the Victoria University of Wellington crèche, she completed a MA in education, 'The politics of childcare : analysis of growth and constraint' [2] and the a PhD 'Postwar Women 1945-1960 and Their Daughters 1970-1985: an Analysis of Continuity, Contradiction, and Change in Two Generations of Pakeha Women as Mothers, Wives, and Workers.'

In 1987 she began work in teacher education at Hamilton Teachers' College, and later at the University of Waikato. During the early 1990s she worked with Margaret Carr on the development of Te Whāriki,[3] the first national curriculum guidelines for early childhood education in New Zealand. She was appointed to the first New Zealand professorial Chair in Early Childhood Education at Victoria University of Wellington in 1995, and in 2005 she was appointed as Professor of Education and Head of Faculty of Education at the University of Otago. From 2007-2011 May was the Dean of the University of Otago College of Education. On retirement in 2016 she became an Emeritus professor. She is currently based in Wellington.

She is still actively involved in PBRF (Performance Based Research Fund).

Accolades
  • 1990: Life Member NZ Childcare Association (Te Rito Maioha - Early Childhood Education)
  • 2014-2016: President of the International Froebel Society
  • 2016: New Year Honours: ONZM for services to Education[4][5]

Selected works
  • May, H., & Carr, M. (2016). Te Whāriki: A uniquely woven curriculum shaping policy, pedagogy and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. In T. David, K. Goouch & S. Powell (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of philosophies and theories of early childhood education and care. (pp. 316–326). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
  • May, Helen. "'Minding','Working','Teaching': Childcare in Aotearoa/New Zealand, 1940s—2000s." Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 8, no. 2 (2007): 133–143.
  • Moss, Peter, Gunilla Dahlberg, Susan Grieshaber, Susanna Mantovani, Helen May, Alan Pence, Sylvie Rayna, Beth Blue Swadener, and Michel Vandenbroeck. "The organisation for economic co-operation and development’s international early learning study: Opening for debate and contestation." Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 17, no. 3 (2016): 343–351.

References
  1. "Professor Helen May, Home, Otago University Press, University of Otago, New Zealand". Otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  2. Te Waharoa. "The politics of childcare : an analysis of growth and constraint : submitted for the degree of M.A. in Education at the Victoria University of Wellington / Helen May Cook. - 64VUW". Tewaharoa.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  3. "Honorary fellowship for education pioneer | Otago Daily Times Online News". Odt.co.nz. 30 September 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  4. "New Years Honour awarded to Professor Helen May". Nzkindergarten.org.nz. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  5. "New Year Honours 2016 | Otago Daily Times Online News". Odt.co.nz. 31 December 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2018.


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