Hocken Digital Collections

University of Otago College of Education : Records

Details

Reference NumberARC-0531CreatorUniversity of Otago College of EducationDescriptionThe collection includes annual reports and minutes of various college committees, correspondence, staff and student records, subject records and scheme files, reports, publications (including calendars and issues of 'Te Rama'), records of anniversary celebrations, scrapbooks, plans, photographs, and film.
Only a small part of this collection is digitised and available through Digital Collections. Information about other items can be found on the Hākena catalogue, through the Library Catalogues link above.History / BiographyThe foundation of the Dunedin College of Education can be traced back to 1876 when the Training Department of the Otago Normal School was opened in Moray Place, the first of its kind in the country. In 1880 the name was officially changed to the Dunedin Training College. The school's first rector, William Sanderson Fitzgerald, received his training in Scotland before emigrating to New Zealand in 1861. He modelled the College on the Free Church Training College in Edinburgh and introduced many practices learned in his homeland. In particular he encouraged his students to take classes at the University with the aim of attaining a degree as well as a teaching certificate. The college was largely dictated to by financial worries and teacher demand in its early years. Teachers were often forced into service before the completion of their studies, and in 1933 the college closed its doors for three years as the country coped with the Great Depression. Threatened with closure in the 1980s and absorption by Otago Polytechnic and University of Otago during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the college diversified to ensure its place in an increasingly competitive market. In January 2007 the Dunedin College of Education merged with the University of Otago to form the University of Otago College of Education.

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