Constance Muriel Davey (4 December 1882 – 4 December 1963) was an Australian psychologist who worked in the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n Department of Education, where she introduced the state's first

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

classes.

Biography

Davey was born in 1882 in

Nuriootpa, South Australia Nuriootpa ( ) is a town in South Australia and the major commercial centre of the Barossa Valley, about an hour's drive north of the state capital, Adelaide. The name of the town is reputed to be the local Australian Aborigine, Aboriginal word f ...

, to Emily Mary (née Roberts) and Stephen Henry Davey. She began teaching at a

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

private school in 1908 and at

St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School St Peter's Girls' School (commonly known as Saints Girls) is an independent Anglican early learning, primary and secondary day school for girls located in the Adelaide suburb of Stonyfell, in South Australia, Australia. Founded in 1894 a ...

in 1909. She attended the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

as a part-time student, completing a B.A. in philosophy in 1915 and an M.A. in 1918. In 1921 she won a

Catherine Helen Spence Memorial Scholarship Catherine Helen Spence Memorial Scholarships are travelling scholarships founded by the South Australian Government in 1911 in recognition of the pioneering social worker and feminist Catherine Helen Spence. The scholarships are administered by ...

which allowed her to undertake a doctorate at the

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 ...

; her main area of research was "mental efficiency and deficiency" in children. She received her doctorate in 1924 and visited the United States and Canada to observe the teaching of

intellectually disabled Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...

and delinquent children before returning to Australia. J150W-Davey

In November 1924 Davey was hired as the first psychologist in the South Australian Department of Education, where she was tasked with examining and organising classes for "backward, retarded and problem" school students. She examined and performed intelligence tests on all educationally delayed children, and established South Australia's first "opportunity class" for these children in 1925. She set up a course which educated teachers on working with intellectually disabled children in 1931. She began lecturing in psychology at the University of Adelaide in 1927, continuing until 1950, and in 1938 she helped to set up a new university course for training

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

s. She resigned from the Department of Education in 1942, by which point there were 700 children in the opportunity classes she had introduced. Davey was a member of the Women's Non-Party Political Association for 30 years and served as the organisation's president from 1943 to 1947. She became a fellow of the

British Psychological Society The British Psychological Society (BPS) is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. History It was founded on 24 October 1901 at University College London (UCL) as ''The Psychological Society'', the org ...

in 1950 and was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in 1955. In June 1951 she led, along with

Phyllis Duguid use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Linden Park, Adelaide , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = ...

, a deputation from the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

to the Playford Government, to allow women jurors in South Australia. Unsuccessful, she led another deputation in 1955 but received the same response. It wasn't until 1962 that South Australian women were granted the right to sit as jurors, when the deputation led by

Roma Mitchell Dame Roma Flinders Mitchell, (2 October 1913 – 5 March 2000) was an Australian lawyer, judge and state governor. She was the first woman to hold a number of positions in Australia – the country's first woman judge, the first woman to be a ...

was finally successful. In 1956 she published ''Children and Their Law-makers'', a historical study of South Australian law as it pertained to children, which she had begun in 1945 as a senior research fellow at the University of Adelaide. Davey died of

thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck, ...

on her 81st birthday in 1963.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davey, Constance 1882 births 1963 deaths Australian schoolteachers People from Nuriootpa, South Australia Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the British Psychological Society University of Adelaide alumni Academic staff of the University of Adelaide Alumni of the University of London 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian psychologists Place of death missing