The Dunedin College of Education (''Te Kura Akau Taitoka'', also known as ''Dunedin Teachers' College'') was a former teacher training college in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Founded in 1876, the college was the oldest teacher training college in New Zealand. In 2004, it merged with the University of Otago's Faculty of Education to form the

University of Otago College of Education The University of Otago College of Education is a teacher-training facility that is part of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. It was formed on 1 January 2007 through a merger of the University of Otago's Faculty of Education with t ...

. The Dunedin College of Education's motto was ''maxima debetur pueris reverentia'' (the child deserves the greatest respect).

History

The Dunedin College of Education's roots can be traced back to the Dunedin Training College, which was established in 1876 to provide training for primary school teachers. The

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

scholar, educator, historian, and social worker Dr John Hislop is regarded as the "godfather" of the Dunedin Training College. The first rector of the Training College was W.S. Fitzgerald. Over the next decades, the Dunedin Training College continued supplying teachers to primary schools. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, it functioned as a secondary school to meet the shortfall in the new students' knowledge base. During the Great Depression, the Dunedin Training College was closed down in January 1933 due to austerity measures. The college remained closed until 1936 when it was reopened by the newly elected

First Labour Government The first MacDonald ministry of the United Kingdom lasted from January to November 1924. The Labour Party, under Ramsay MacDonald, had failed to win the general election of December 1923, with 191 seats, although the combined Opposition tall ...

, which adopted Keynesian social security policies. During the

post-World War II baby boom The middle of the 20th century was marked by a significant and persistent increase in fertility rates in many countries of the world, especially in the Western world. The term ''baby boom'' is often used to refer to this particular boom, generally ...

, the Dunedin Training College supplied both primary and secondary teachers to meet the growing population demand. In 1953, the Dunedin Training College was renamed the Dunedin Teachers' College to reflect a nationwide naming trend for similar teacher training facilities throughout New Zealand. During the post-war period, the college expanded its teacher education programmes to include undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and graduate diplomas in early childhood, primary and primary bilingual and secondary teacher education. In 1980, the college established a satellite campus in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

. In addition, teacher support services were established at its Dunedin and its Invercargill campus. In 1976, the college cooperated with the University of Otago's Faculty of Education to provide a four-year joint Bachelor of Education degree. In 1989, the college was renamed the Dunedin College of Education. In 2002, the Dunedin College of Education and University of Otago entered into merger talks to address the duplication of courses and programs. In August 2006, the Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen formally approved the merger of the two educational institutions, which came into effect in January 2007. Following the merger, the newly created

acquired the Dunedin College's former campuses and the

Robertson Library The Robertson Library (formerly the Bill Robertson Library) is a shared library run by the University of Otago's College of Education and Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is named after Bill Robertson, who taught at Otago Polytech and ...

, which is shared with Otago Polytechnic. The former Dunedin College's archives are stored at the

Hocken Collections Hocken Collections (, formerly the Hocken Library) is a research library, historical archive, and art gallery based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Its library collection, which is of national significance, is administered by the University of Otago. Th ...

History

Notes and references

Further reading