James Alexander Ross (10 June 1930 – 28 June 2020) was a New Zealand educationalist and public servant.

Biography

Born in 1930, Ross was educated at

New Plymouth Boys' High School New Plymouth Boys' High School is a single-sex boys' state secondary school in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. The school currently caters for approximately 1300 students, including 210 boarders, on its site. The school often collaborate ...

from 1944 to 1948, where he was head boy and vice-captain of the 1st XV

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team in his final year. He went on to study geography at the University of Otago and Canterbury University College, graduating

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

with second-class honours in 1955. Ross also earned a Diploma of Teaching, and became a secondary school teacher. He was senior master at

Upper Hutt College Upper Hutt College is a state school, state Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school located in Trentham, New Zealand, Trentham in the city of Upper Hutt, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962 as the city's second state secondary sc ...

for four years until he was appointed as an inspector of secondary schools in 1965. He also co-authored three secondary school textbooks on geography with

George Jobberns George Jobberns (2 June 1895 – 30 August 1974) was a New Zealand geographer and educator. Born in 1895 at Te Moana near Geraldine in the foothills of South Canterbury, New Zealand, Jobberns taught the first Geography I course at Canterbury Un ...

between 1960 and 1966. In the early 1970s, Ross moved to the Department of Education in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

as a public servant. He was the first superintendent of curriculum development, spent nine years as assistant Director General of Education from 1979, and served on the education committee of the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

. He retired as acting Director General of Education in 1990. In the

1990 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1990 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

, Ross was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services. He died on 28 June 2020.

Books

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References

1930 births 2020 deaths People educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School University of Canterbury alumni University of Otago alumni New Zealand schoolteachers New Zealand public servants New Zealand geographers Companions of the Queen's Service Order {{NewZealand-bio-stub