Helen May

In 2019, Helen co-edited For Women and Children: a tribute to Geraldine McDonald with Sue Middleton, a collection of writings in honour of the life and work of researcher Geraldine McDonald.

She is the author of numerous books, mainly on historical and political aspects of early years teaching. Since 2017 she has been an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Otago and adjunct professor at Victoria University of Wellington.

Helen was appointed to the first New Zealand professorial Chair in Early Childhood Education at Victoria University of Wellington in 1995, and in 2005 she was appointed as Professor of Education and Head of Faculty of Education at the University of Otago. From 2007 to 2011 she was the Dean of the University of Otago College of Education. On retirement in 2017 she became an Emeritus professor. She is currently based in Wellington.

Their final draft was submitted to the Ministry of Education at the end of 1992. After some negotiation over modifications with the Ministry Te Whāriki, in the form of the draft curriculum guidelines, was accepted by the Ministry, and made available for consultation with Early Childhood Centres and other bodies in 1993. After a trial and further consultation, the finalised version of Te Whāriki was officially promulgated in 1996.

A significant aspect of the new Early Childhood system was the requirement for an educational curriculum for the Early Childhood sector, which by law included pre-school children of all ages, from new-born to six years old. In 1990 the Ministry of Education put out a request for proposals to develop such a curriculum. The responsibilities of the successful contractor were, in summary:

Helen and her colleague Margaret Carr (a Waikato lecturer also originally in the Hamilton Teachers' College) with the overwhelming support both Early Childhood organisations and of Early Childhood academics developed a proposal and won the contract, which was signed in December 1990. In order to adequately represent Māori and kōhanga reo, they consulted with the Kohanga Reo Trust, who asked that they work in consultation with Tamati Reedy and Tilly Reedy, as representatives of the Trust.

In 1989, paralleling the Tomorrow's Schools reforms of Education, the Before Five reforms of Early Childhood Education took place, with the principal aim of unifying the disparate forms of Early Childhood education in New Zealand, in terms of funding, regulation and teacher training. Helen chaired the working party on National Guidelines, Regulations and Charters. The recommendations resulting from the Before Five process were broadly speaking implemented by the Lange-Palmer government, with regulations implementing quality standards and substantial funding increases. The funding was to be implemented via a four-year staged plan.

In 1987 Helen was appointed as a lecturer in early childhood at Hamilton Teachers' College, and later, after an institutional merger at the beginning of 1991, became a senior lecturer and head of the Department of Early Childhood Studies at the University of Waikato.

The dramatic change in the political landscape, following the 1984 election of the Lange Government led directly to the 1986 transfer of Government responsibility for Childcare Centres from the Department of Social Welfare to the Education Department. In turn, this led to major changes in the funding and nature of early childhood education in New Zealand. For the rest of her career, Helen was actively involved in the development of early childhood policy, curriculum development and teacher education.

At the end of 1983 Helen left her marriage and Wellington and moved to Hamilton, where her new partner, and later husband, Crispin Gardiner was located. Her third child was born there in 1986. She continued her engagement in childcare politics, commenced, and in 1988 completed a Victoria University Ph.D. with a thesis entitled Postwar Women 1945-1960 and Their Daughters 1970-1985: an Analysis of Continuity, Contradiction, and Change in Two Generations of Pakeha Women as Mothers, Wives, and Workers. During this period she also wrote her first two books.

At the 1979 annual conference of the NZACCC, Helen met Sonja Davies who announced she was setting up a trade union for childcare workers, and called a meeting of all workers. Helen attended and became the first president of Early Childhood Workers' Union (ECWU), from when it was registered on 23 March 1982, until 1984. The ECWU met strong opposition from the Auckland Employers Associations in their first negotiation (where Helen led the ECWU negotiation team):

Although in the Arbitration Court the Union and the Trust won the right to negotiate, the 1982 wage and price freeze (see Robert Muldoon Economic recession and wage and price freeze) was imposed on the day after the hearing, making any industrial negotiation illegal. It was July 1984 before the union's first industrial award was negotiated, this only after a successful campaign to get an amendment to the wage-price freeze regulations specifically to allow the Union and Employers to negotiate.

In 1979 Victoria University financially supported Helen to attend both the First Early Childhood Convention in Christchurch (a feature of the International Year of the Child), and the annual conference of the NZ Association of Child Care Centres. This began Helen's active involvement in politics of Early Childhood Education.

Helen then concentrated on finishing her B.A. in anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington, where there was a Creche. She studied with Jan Pouwer, the foundation Professor of Anthropology at Victoria University who introduced his students to the structuralist analysis and dialectical thought of scholars such as Claude Levi Strauss and Michel Foucault. In 1976 she became a part time childcare worker in the Creche, and then in 1978 became the full time Co-ordinating Supervisor of Victoria University Creche. In 1976 she completed her B.A., and in 1977 gave birth to her second child. During this period Helen also completed in 1979 a Diploma of Educational Studies, in 1982 a Bachelor of Educational Studies, and in 1983 an M.A. in education. The M.A. thesis, entitled The politics of childcare: an analysis of growth and constraint analysed the political situation of childcare as it was developing in real time. "My own life and the national scene merged. All my years of reading came together and made sense and made me more angry."

Helen's first child was born in 1974, 18 months after her return to New Zealand, and although she wanted to continue her teaching career, the reality was that in Wellington there was no childcare for babies. This ended her career as a primary school teacher. She said:

She receiving her Trained Teacher's Certificate in 1966, and from then to 1974 taught classes mainly of 5 to 6-year-old children, in Auckland and Wellington, as well as spending 1971 - 1972 teaching in British infant schools, where she found:

Helen trained as a primary school teacher at Christchurch Teachers' College in 1964 - 1965. She recalled:

The NZACCC, set up in 1963 by a group led by Sonja Davies, had as its overall aim "to improve the quality of care and education for preschool children, by supporting centres and providing staff training." In practice it liaised with Government agencies on aspects of legislation and funding for Child Care Centres, and provided an in-service training programme for childcare workers. From 1980 to 1990 Helen was on the Association's executive, and in due course became vice president. During this period she also became and the Convenor of Training, overseeing a considerable expansion in breadth, in depth and in Government funding for the programme.

From 1960 to 1963 she attended Riccarton High School, opened in 1958 to accommodate the post-war baby boomers reaching their teens. There were a few exceptions to the tedium of most classes, including being taught history by her father, the deputy principal of the school, taken to Shakespeare plays, the NZ Symphony orchestra and an introduction to modern art by art teacher and Christchurch artist Ted Bracey.

In 1955 the family returned to New Zealand, initially to Oamaru and then in 1958 to Christchurch. While her parents easily returned to their former lifestyle, centred on teaching and the Salvation Army, Helen found it "very strange ... and somewhat constraining after my experiences in Africa". The schooling she found to be regimented and narrow minded, compared to that of her school in Kenya.

The family moved to Kenya in 1951 when Mr Bradwell took up a position as a schoolteacher in an African boys' secondary school in Kisii. Helen noted

Helen May ONZM (born Helen May Bradwell on 25 February 1947; from 1968 to 1983 known as Helen Cook or sometimes Helen May Cook) is a New Zealand education pioneer. She has been an eloquent activist and academic in education, with a strong feminist focus on early childhood education. Her advocacy has been characterised by its focus on the rights and needs of children and teachers, expressed by an active and collaborative engagement with educational institutions, trade unions, the Ministry of Education and other government agencies.

Helen Bradwell was born in Christchurch New Zealand in 1947. Her father Cyril Bradwell was a returned serviceman, previously an accountant, who, after his wartime experiences, trained as a teacher, and did a master's degree in history. Her mother Nola Bradwell (born Carrington) was a professional tailor. Both parents were of working-class background, and were committed members of the Salvation Army.