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Helen May (born Helen May Bradwell on 25 February 1947, sometimes known as 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.

During her career she has taken on the roles of infant teacher,  childcare worker, teachers' college and university lecturer, and professor and dean of education.

She is the author of numerous books, mainly on historical and political aspects of early years teaching. She is currently an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Otago.

== Early Life and Education == 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, decided to train as a schoolteacher, and did a Masters 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.

The family moved to Kenya in 1950 when Mr Bradwell took up a position as a schoolteacher in a African boys' school. May noted "So we moved from a struggling existence in New Zealand into a situation where there was a very nice bungalow, a magnificent garden, huge grounds, a vegetable gardener, a flower gardener, a cook and a houseboy. ... I remember it as an idyllic time of so many rich experiences. But it was also an early introduction to racism. I remember wondering why the African teachers at my father's school lived in very different circumstances."Her schooling in Kenya was initially provided by the New Zealand correspondence school, with her mother organising lessons and materials sent from New Zealand - however, it was impractical to send work back to New Zealand be marked. From the age of 7 she attended  a Kenyan secular boarding school, which provided a very progressive education.

In 1956 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, May found it "very strange ... and somewhat constraining after my experiences in Africa". The schooling she found to be narrow minded, compared to that of her school in Kenya. She experienced her secondary schooling at Riccarton High School, where her father was deputy principal, as "boring", apart from an inspiring introduction into modern art by art teacher and Christchurch artist Ted Bracey.

Primary School Teaching Career
May trained as a primary school teacher at Christchurch Teachers' College in 1964 - 1965:"Having survived secondary school, all of my sixth form girlfriends and I went to Teachers' College. We went for interviews in our school uniforms, and we all got accepted. Years later I found out that the [1962] Currie Report actually recommended that 50% of sixth form girls go into teaching. They more than met their goal at our school - an indication of the lack of good long-term careers advice about what was possible for a young woman in the 1960s."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 1970 - 1971 teaching in England.

Student, Mother and Childcare Worker at Victoria University of Wellington 1974 - 1983
On the birth of her first child in 1974, because of the unavailability of childcare, she left the teaching profession, and concentrated on finishing her B.A. in anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington, where there was a Creche. In 1976 she became a part time childcare worker, and then in  1978  became the full time Co-ordinating Supervisor of Victoria University Creche. In 1977 she completed her B.A., and gave birth to her second child. During this period she furthered her studies, completing in 1979 a Diploma of Educational Studies, in 1982 a Bachelor of Educational Studies, and in 1983 an M.A. in Education, with a thesis entitled The politics of childcare : analysis of growth and constraint

Hamilton Teachers' College and University of Waikato
Then a Ph.D. 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.

In 1987 she began work in teacher education at Hamilton Teachers' College, and later at the University of Waikato.

Development of Te Whāriki
During the early 1990s she worked with Margaret Carr on the development of Te Whāriki ,

the first national curriculum guidelines for early childhood education in New Zealand.

The document

Professor of Early Childhood Education at Victoria University of Wellington
She was appointed to the first New Zealand professorial Chair in Early Childhood Education at Victoria University of Wellington in 1995,

Professor and Dean of Education at the University of Otago
and in 2005 she was appointed as Professor of Education and Head of Faculty of Education at the University of Otago. From 2007-2011 May was the Dean of the University of Otago College of Education. On retirement in 2016 she became an Emeritus professor. She is currently based in Wellington.

She is still actively involved in PBRF (Performance Based Research Fund).

New Zealand Council for Educational Research
In 2019, May and Sue Middleton co-edited For Women and Children: a tribute to Geraldine McDonald, a collection of writings in honour of the life and work of researcher Geraldine McDonald.

Accolades

 * 1990: Life Member NZ Childcare Association (Te Rito Maioha - Early Childhood Education)
 * 2014-2016: President of the International Froebel Society
 * 2016 New Year Honours: Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Education

Books
May has written numerous books, mainly on subjects related to education and education policy for early-years teaching.

History and politics of early childhood education

 * Mind That Child: Childcare as a Social and Political Issue in New Zealand; BlackBerry Press, Wellington, 1985
 * The Discovery of Early Childhood, the development of services for the care and education of very young children, Auckland University Press and NZCER Press, Auckland and Wellington, 1st ed 1997, 2nd ed 2013
 * Politics in the Playground. The world of early childhood in postwar New Zealand; 1st ed. Bridget Williams Books with NZCER, Wellington, 2001; 2nd ed. University of Otago Press, Dunedin, 2009; 3rd ed University of Otago Press, 2019
 * Concerning Women Considering Children: Battles of the Childcare Association, 1963-2003; Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa-NZCA, Wellington, 1st ed 2003, 2nd ed (e-book on mebooks.co.nz) 2013
 * Ngā āhuatanga hurihuri o te tiaki tamariki. The changing fortunes of childcare 2003-2013; Te Tari Puna Ora o Aoteraoa—New Zealand Childcare Association, Wellington, 2013  (Also published as an e-book on mebooks.co.nz)
 * People, places and play in the ‘child gardens’ of Dunedin, Dunedin Kindergartens - Mana Manaaki Puawai O Otepoti 125 years old; Dunedin Kindergartens, 2014
 * Growing a kindergarten movement: its peoples, purposes and politics;  Wellington, NZCER Press, 2017 (with K. Bethell)
 * A Celebration of Women in Early Childhood; Waikato Education Centre, Hamilton, 1990 (Edited, with J Mitchell)
 * A Celebration of Early Childhood Volume II; Waikato Education Centre, Hamilton, 1993 (Edited, with J Mitchell)
 * Kindergarten Narratives on Froebelian Education: Transnational Investigations;  London, Bloomsbury Press, 2016 (Edited with K Nawrotzki, and L Prochner)
 * For Women and Children: A Tribute to Geraldine McDonald; Wellington, NZCER Press, 2019 (Edited with S Middleton)
 * Ngā kohinga kōrero ate aumangea: Kia mana te ara kōhungahunga ki Aotearoa. Life Stories on the Frontline: Growing a childcare movement in Aotearoa; Wellington, Te Rito Maiaoha Early Childhodhood New Zealand, 2021 (Edited with A Card and  J Carroll-Lind)

New Zealand schooling and teaching

 * Teachers Talk Teaching 1915-1995, early childhood, school, teachers college, Dunmore Press, Palmerston North, 1997 (with S. Middleton).
 * School Beginnings: a 19th century colonial story; NZCER Press, Wellington, 2005
 * I am five and I go to School: the work and play of early education in New Zealand; University of Otago Press, Dunedin, 2011
 * Working for Children and Social Change: Tracing the endeavours of three Scottish lady teachers who immigrated to New Zealand in the early 20th century; The Red House, Wellington, 2021 (with K Bethell)

History of education

 * ''Empire Education and Indigenous Childhood: Missionary infant schools in three British colonies; Ashgate, England Publishing Series on Childhood, 2014 (with B. Kaur and L. Prochner)
 * Re-imagining Teaching in Early 20th Century  Experimental Schools; Palgrave Macmillan (New York), 2020 (with A A Hai,   K Nawrotski,  L Prochner and Y Volkanova)

Social history

 * Minding Children: Managing Men: Conflict and Compromise in the Lives of Postwar Pakeha Women; Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 1992

Personal memoirs

 * Secrets Searches and Surprises: Catherine Jubilee Robertson 1890-1979, Cyril Robertson Bradwell 1916-2008; Wellington, 2018
 * Recollections of a Childhood in Kenya; The Red House, Wellington, 2021

Journal articles and book chapters

 * May, H., & Carr, M. (2016). Te Whāriki: A uniquely woven curriculum shaping policy, pedagogy and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. In T. David, K. Goouch & S. Powell (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of philosophies and theories of early childhood education and care. (pp. 316–326). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
 * May, Helen. "'Minding','Working','Teaching': Childcare in Aotearoa/New Zealand, 1940s—2000s." Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 8, no. 2 (2007): 133–143.
 * Moss, Peter, Gunilla Dahlberg, Susan Grieshaber, Susanna Mantovani, Helen May, Alan Pence, Sylvie Rayna, Beth Blue Swadener, and Michel Vandenbroeck. "The organisation for economic co-operation and development’s international early learning study: Opening for debate and contestation." Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 17, no. 3 (2016): 343–351.