Helen May

Helen May (born Helen May Bradwell on 25 February 1947; from 1968 to 1983 known as Helen Cook or sometimes Helen May Cook) is a New Zealand education pioneer.

She has been an eloquent activist and academic in education, with a strong feminist focus on early childhood education.

Her advocacy has been characterised by its focus on the rights and needs of children and teachers, expressed by an active and collaborative engagement with educational institutions, trade unions, the Ministry of Education and other government agencies.

During her career she has taken on the roles of a schoolteacher of children aged 5–7, childcare worker, teachers' college and university lecturer, and professor and dean of education.

She is the author of numerous books, mainly on historical and political aspects of early years teaching.

Helen Bradwell was born in Christchurch New Zealand in 1947.

Her father Cyril Bradwell was a returned serviceman, previously an accountant, who, after his wartime experiences, trained as a teacher, and did a master's degree in history.

Her mother Nola Bradwell (born Carrington) was a professional tailor.

Both parents were of working-class background, and were committed members of the Salvation Army.

The family moved to Kenya in 1951 when Mr Bradwell took up a position as a schoolteacher in an African boys' secondary school in Kisii.

Helen noted "This [was] a few extraordinary years that shaped my perceptions of people, places, cultures, and geography forever… I had long been cognisant that my childhood experiences and perceptions had been shaped by colonial politics that had taken my father to Kenya. We were living in Kenya during the worst of the European-termed ‘Mau Mau Emergency’ or ‘Troubles’; although there were uprisings, slaughter, repressions, and incarcerations, they were mainly distant from the Kisii district and its Gusii people. My childhood understandings of these times were limited and selective."

Her schooling in Kenya was initially provided by the New Zealand correspondence school, with her mother organising lessons and materials sent from New Zealand; however, it was impractical to send work back to New Zealand to be marked.

From the age of almost 7 she attended Kericho School, a Kenyan boarding school, which provided a progressive education.

In 1955 the family returned to New Zealand, initially to Oamaru and then in 1958 to Christchurch.

While her parents easily returned to their former lifestyle, centred on teaching and the Salvation Army, Helen found it "very strange ... and somewhat constraining after my experiences in Africa".

The schooling she found to be regimented and narrow minded, compared to that of her school in Kenya.

From 1960 to 1963 she attended Riccarton High School, opened in 1958 to accommodate the post-war baby boomers reaching their teens.

There were a few exceptions to the tedium of most classes, including being taught history by her father, the deputy principal of the school, taken to Shakespeare plays, the NZ Symphony orchestra and an introduction to modern art by art teacher and Christchurch artist Ted Bracey.

She recalled:"Having survived secondary school, all of my sixth form girlfriends and I went to Teachers' College. We went for interviews in our school uniforms, and we all got accepted. Years later I found out that the [1962] Currie Report actually recommended that 50% of sixth form girls go into teaching. They more than met their goal at our school - an indication of the lack of good long-term careers advice about what was possible for a young woman in the 1960s."

The NZACCC, set up in 1963 by a group led by Sonja Davies, had as its overall aim "to improve the quality of care and education for preschool children, by supporting centres and providing staff training." In practice it liaised with Government agencies on aspects of legislation and funding for Child Care Centres, and provided an in-service training programme for childcare workers.

Helen trained as a primary school teacher at Christchurch Teachers' College in 1964 - 1965.

She receiving her Trained Teacher's Certificate in 1966, and from then to 1974 taught classes mainly of 5 to 6-year-old children, in Auckland and Wellington, as well as spending 1971 - 1972 teaching in British infant schools, where she found:

Unlike New Zealand schools, where there were so few opportunities and role models for women, there was a complete career structure, and you could become a headmistress.

Helen's first child was born in 1974, 18 months after her return to New Zealand, and although she wanted to continue her teaching career, the reality was that in Wellington there was no childcare for babies.

This ended her career as a primary school teacher.

She said:

"I still feel angry about trying to talk with the headmaster of my school. I was on maternity leave. He urged me to resign and, silly me, I did - with tears I might add."

Helen then concentrated on finishing her B.A. in anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington, where there was a Creche.

She studied with Jan Pouwer, the foundation Professor of Anthropology at Victoria University who introduced his students to the structuralist analysis and dialectical thought of scholars such as Claude Levi Strauss and Michel Foucault.

In 1976 she became a part time childcare worker in the Creche, and then in 1978 became the full time Co-ordinating Supervisor of Victoria University Creche.

In 1976 she completed her B.A., and in 1977 gave birth to her second child.

During this period Helen also completed in 1979 a Diploma of Educational Studies, in 1982 a Bachelor of Educational Studies, and in 1983 an M.A. in education.

The M.A. thesis, entitled The politics of childcare: an analysis of growth and constraint analysed the political situation of childcare as it was developing in real time.

''"My own life and the national scene merged. All my years of reading came together and made sense and made me more angry."

''

In 1979 Victoria University financially supported Helen to attend both the First Early Childhood Convention in Christchurch (a feature of the International Year of the Child), and the annual conference of the NZ Association of Child Care Centres.

This began Helen's active involvement in politics of Early Childhood Education.

From 1980 to 1990 Helen was on the Association's executive, and in due course became vice president.

During this period she also became and the Convenor of Training, overseeing a considerable expansion in breadth, in depth and in Government funding for the programme.

Since 2017 she has been an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Otago and adjunct professor at Victoria University of Wellington.