Clarence Edward Beeby (16 June 1902 – 10 March 1998), sometimes referred to as Beeb, was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

educationalist and psychologist. He was influential in the development of the

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

system in New Zealand, first as a director of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research ( NZCER) from 1936, and then as Director of Education (head of the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

) from 1940, initially under the First Labour Government. He also served as

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

executive. Beeby's wife Beatrice was one of the founders of the New Zealand Playcentre movement, and his son was the distinguished New Zealand diplomat and international lawyer, Chris Beeby, portrayed in Ben Affleck's film, ''

Argo In Greek mythology, the ''Argo'' ( ; ) was the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. The ship was built with divine aid, and some ancient sources describe her as the first ship to sail the seas. The ''Argo'' carried the Argonauts on their quest fo ...

''.

Early life and education

Beeby was born in Meanwood,

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, and immigrated with his family to New Zealand in 1906. He was educated at New Brighton School and Christchurch Boys' High School, and initially studied law at Canterbury College, before switching to Christchurch Training College to study primary teaching. Beeby met Beatrice Newnham while they were both undergraduate students and they were married in 1926. Beeby gained an MA in 1924, with a thesis titled ''The psychology of laughter and the comic''. and had been working as a part-time lecturer during the latter part of his studies. He worked for a PhD at

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. A ...

, under the tutelage of

Charles Spearman Charles Edward Spearman, FRS (10 September 1863 – 17 September 1945) was an English psychologist known for work in statistics, as a pioneer of factor analysis, and for Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. He also did seminal work on mod ...

. Spearman's belief in a strong hereditary component to intelligence was to influence Beeby's later educational beliefs. Beeby was not fond of his given names, and elected from an early age to be known by his surname.

Career

On returning from England, Beeby worked as a lecturer and then acting professor at Canterbury College, before taking up the position of director of NZCER. During this time, he developed a belief that all students had a right to continuing education, not just the most academically gifted. During this period, Beeby was noticed by

Peter Fraser Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand Lab ...

, the minister of education, and in 1939 was appointed assistant director of education. Beeby became director of education just prior to Fraser's ascension to

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. After leaving the Ministry of Education, he served as ambassador to France from 1960 to 1963, and also was assistant director-general for

. Following the end of this term, he held positions at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and the

Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior t ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. In 1968 he returned to New Zealand, and continued to play an active role as researcher and consultant in both New Zealand and overseas. Beeby had a close working relationship with Bill Renwick, Director-General of Education from 1975 to 1987, and the two reviewed and discussed each other's work. Renwick wrote ''Portrait of a Reforming Director'' for ''The Beeby Fascicles'', presented to Beeby on his 90th birthday, and described Beeby as "his most thoughtful and constructive critic".

Honours and awards

Beeby was awarded the

Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal () is a commemorative medal instituted to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. Award This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir from the Queen to members of the Royal Family ...

in 1953. In the 1956 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

, and in 1964 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great. On 6 February 1987, Beeby was the second appointee to the

Order of New Zealand The Order of New Zealand is the highest honour in the New Zealand royal honours system, created "to recognise outstanding service to the Crown and people of New Zealand in a civil or military capacity". It was instituted by royal warrant on 6 F ...

, New Zealand's highest civilian honour."The Order of New Zealand" (12 February 1987) 20 ''

New Zealand Gazette The ''New Zealand Gazette'' (), commonly referred to as ''Gazette'', is the official newspaper of record the New Zealand Government (government gazette), serving as the medium by which decisions of Government are promulgated. Published since ...

'' 705 at 709. In 1990, he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. He received honorary doctorates from the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, and

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

References

External links

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
entry. *The New Zealand Oxford English Dictionary. *Beeby, C.E. (1992) ''The Biography of an Idea''. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research. emoir*Renwick, William L.
Clarence Edward Beeby
. On the UNESCO website ''Thinkers on Education''. Originally published in ''Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education'', XXVIII, no. 2, June 1998, p. 335-348. {{DEFAULTSORT:Beeby, C. E. 1902 births 1998 deaths Harvard University staff Ambassadors of New Zealand to France People from Meanwood UNESCO officials English emigrants to New Zealand University of Canterbury alumni New Zealand Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of the Order of New Zealand People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School New Zealand officials of the United Nations New Zealand educational theorists Christchurch College of Education alumni 20th-century New Zealand educators 20th-century New Zealand public servants