Bill Renwick

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Bill Renwick

CBE
Born
William Leslie Renwick

(1929-01-08)8 January 1929
Auckland, New Zealand
Died29 June 2013(2013-06-29) (aged 84)
, New Zealand
OccupationEducationalist
Known forThe development of the education system in New Zealand

William Leslie Renwick

QEII Arts Council and the advisory committee of the historical branch of the Department of Internal Affairs
.

Renwick helped found Toi Whakaari, the National Drama School, and the National Dance School, as well the New Zealand Youth Choir. He published many papers, and a biography on Colin Scrimgeour, whose radio programme had sparked his love of singing.

He received a Distinguished Visitor Award from Monbu-shō, the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture in Japan, a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship, and the Mackie Medal from the Australia and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science. He gave the 1987 John Beaglehole Memorial Lecture and the inaugural Peter Freyberg Memorial Lecture. In the 1988 New Year Honours, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Deakin University recognised Renwick's contributions to Australian education with an honorary LittD degree.

Early life and education

Renwick was born in 1929 in Auckland. His parents were William Arthur Renwick and Agnes Edith Martha Renwick (née Andin). His father was unemployed, but later worked on a road gang.[1] Renwick attended Matakohe, Newton Central, and Te Papapa primary schools. His secondary education was at Seddon Memorial College.[2] His brothers were a welder and a truck driver, and Renwick's desire at age 14 was to become a carpenter, until his teachers encouraged him to stay on at school.[3] He then attended Auckland Teachers' Training College, Auckland University, and Victoria University of Wellington.[2] He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria in 1952.[4] He studied at the London University Institute of Education and graduated with a Master of Arts in 1961.[2] Returning to Victoria, his 1962 master's thesis was titled Self-government and protection: a study of Stephen's two cardinal points of policy in their bearing upon constitutional development in New Zealand in the years 1837–1867.[5]

Career

Renwick's professional career started in 1949 as a teacher at Fairburn School in Ōtāhuhu. From 1950 to 1954, he taught at Muritai School in Eastbourne. From 1954 to 1960, he was a lecturer at the Wellington Teachers' College. Under the chairmanship of George Currie, he was research officer for the Commission on Education from 1960 to 1962, appointed by Keith Sheen, who had already picked him as a potential future Director-General.[6][3] From 1962, he held positions with the Department of Education:[2] inspector of primary schools, senior inspector of teacher training, district-senior inspector of Southland schools, and senior inspector with special duties in Wellington.[7] Renwick was younger than many of his colleagues, and had a reputation as a "bright young man" and a "mouthpiece of the new left". He said of this time "I took the advice of Keith Sheen ... that what you do is keep your head down and do what you are doing to the best of your ability, and that is as much as you concern yourself with. I was also conscious that at that particular time, the mid 1960s, I could name three people of whom it had been earlier said they would become a Director-General and they didn't so I viewed all that with a certain scepticism."[3]

In May 1971 Renwick succeeded Joseph Langmuir Hunter (1908–1985) as Assistant Director-General of Education, under new Director Robin Williams.[8] It was around this time that Renwick met C. E. Beeby. Renwick had responsibility for organising a government-backed seminar on educational planning, which was held in Wellington in May 1972.[9] Beeby and Renwick met monthly for lunch and Beeby commented on and reviewed many of Renwick's publications. Renwick influenced Beeby's thinking on educational policy in developing countries, discussed extensively revisions to Beeby's last book, The Biography of an Idea: Beeby on Education, and provided an "elegant and thoughtful" assessment of Beeby for the latter's 90th birthday festschrift.[10]

Renwick was promoted to Director-General of Education in 1975,[2] replacing Ned Dobbs. His "backwoods ... Depression-era" childhood led to him being described as a "man of the people" who had attained his achievements through hard work and the opportunities afforded him by New Zealand's education system.[3]

Within days of his appointment Renwick had scrapped a proposal for internal assessment of the Secondary Certificate, which the School Certificate Examination Board had spent two years preparing but which two out of three teachers opposed.[11] The following year Renwick led the New Zealand delegation to the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, where it was reported that Third World countries were finding imported educational systems problematic and might need a move towards more vocational training.[12]

During the 1970s and 80s there was criticism of the Department of Education as overly bureaucratic and too conservative.

Tomorrow's schools, which broke the Department of Education into several agencies, devolved decision-making to school Boards of Trustees, and abolished regional boards.[13][14]

Lyall Perris, former acting secretary for education, later wrote "The Report of the Taskforce (Picot 1988) was released in May 1988, a few months after the Lange government had been returned with a sizable majority. There was to be no slackening of the pace of change. The Director-General of Education, Bill Renwick, could have been an obstacle but instead announced his retirement, and a new head for the Department of Education was to be appointed."[15]

After his retirement, Renwick took up a position as senior research fellow at the Stout Research Centre of Victoria University,[2] where he undertook background research for Treaty of Waitangi claims.[1]

From 1971 to 1988, Renwick was a council member of the

QEII Arts Council. In 1988, he joined the advisory committee of the historical branch of the Department of Internal Affairs. From 1989, he chaired the New Zealand School of Dance.[2]

University of Waikato 'Kupka report'

In April 2000, the University of Waikato found itself in the national news when complaints, which had been ongoing since 1995, that a doctoral student researching the German language in New Zealand was a neo-Nazi suddenly became public.[16] In December 2000, Vice-Chancellor Bryan Gould called on Renwick to provide "a full review of the University's handling of the case",[17] a process that was initially intended to take three weeks.[18] Renwick finally provided his 161-page report in September 2002, and made a number of recommendations, including that a formal apology be made to the Jewish community.[19][20] Gould said that the university accepted the report in its entirety and would act on the recommendations.[19]

Personal life

Renwick's first marriage, to Merle Norris, was dissolved. They had no children.[1] In 1960, he married Margery Elizabeth Rose, daughter of Rachel and Erle Rose. They had two daughters and one son.[2]

Renwick had a love of singing, begun when listening to "Uncle Scrim" as a child. When a civil servant, he was known to request that his overseas trips be arranged to suit the Phoenix Choir rehearsal schedule.[1] Renwick was a co-founder of the New Zealand Youth Choir. He was the choir's chairman of trustees from 1979 to 1988.[2] He also helped found Toi Whakaari the National Drama School and the New Zealand School of Dance.[1]

Renwick died in Wellington on 29 June 2013, at the age of 84.[1][21] Russell Marshall, who was Minister of Education from 1984 to 1987 and spoke at Renwick's funeral,[1] wrote that "Bill Renwick died believing that his life's contribution had been worth little. His view was understandable but mistaken."[21]

Honours and awards

In 1977, Renwick was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.[22] In 1978, he received a Distinguished Visitor Award from Monbu-shō, the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture in Japan. In 1986, he was awarded a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship. He was invited to give the John Beaglehole Memorial Lecture in 1987.[2] In the 1988 New Year Honours, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[23] Also in 1988, Deakin University recognised Renwick's contributions to Australian education with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree and he received the Mackie Medal from the Australia and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science.[2][1] In 1991, Renwick gave the inaugural Peter Freyberg Memorial Lecture.[2]

Selected publications

In 2011 Renwick published a biography of Colin Scrimgeour, Scrim: The Man With a Mike, billed as "a cautionary tale of one of New Zealand's most popular radio broadcasters".[24] He published many reports, several books and a selection of speeches, a selection of which are listed here:

  • William Leslie Renwick (1979), This side of paradigm: Patterns in verbal interaction: a study of children's language behaviour, Hamilton: Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research,
    Wikidata Q113587890
  • W. L. Renwick; Whiteford, Peter (1987), Emblems of identity : painting, carving and Maori-Pakeha understanding, Wellington:
    Wikidata Q113587894
    (an educational resource)
  • W. L. Renwick (1986). Moving targets: six essays on educational policy. Wellington:
    Wikidata Q113587927
    . Contains a foreword by Beeby.
  • W. L. Renwick (1990). The Treaty now. Wellington: GP Books.
    Wikidata Q113587902
    .
  • W. L. Renwick (2004). Creating a national spirit: celebrating New Zealand's centennial. Wellington:
    Wikidata Q113587889
    .

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h O'Sullivan, Vincent (3 August 2013). "Leader guided views on education for 25 years". Stuff. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ a b c d Brown, John (21 August 1975). "Top educator from the 'backwoods'". The Press. Vol. CXV, no. 33927. p. 14. Retrieved 24 August 2022 – via PapersPast.
  4. ^ "NZ University Graduates 1870–1961". shadowsoftime.co.nz. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  5. ^ Renwick, W. L. (1962). "Self-government and protection: a study of Stephen's two cardinal points of policy in their bearing upon constitutional development in New Zealand in the years 1837–1867". tewaharoa.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  6. Wikidata Q111963908{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  7. ^ "Top education posts to be announced". The Press. Vol. CXI, no. 32576. 8 April 1971. p. 10. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  8. ^ "Education director". The Press. Vol. CXI, no. 32597. 4 May 1971. p. 12. Retrieved 24 August 2022 – via PapersPast.
  9. Wikidata Q113587899
  10. .
  11. ^ "S. C. plan dropped". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 11 July 1975. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  12. ^ "Imported education 'major problem'". The Press. 7 June 1976. p. 20. Retrieved 24 August 2022 – via PapersPast.
  13. ^
    Wikidata Q57679137
    .
  14. ^ "Ten Years of Tomorrow's Schools | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. 4 October 1999. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  15. Wikidata Q113588963
  16. ^ Drummond, Joshua (13 July 2009). "Dark Dreams: Waikato's and the van Leeuwen thesis | Nexus | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  17. ^ University of Waikato Official Circular, No 50, 20 December 2000 The Kupka Case https://unipr.waikato.ac.nz/news/kupka_report/pdf/a.pdf
  18. Wikidata Q113587565
  19. ^ a b Gould, Bryan (October 2002). "University releases Kupka Report". unipr.waikato.ac.nz. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  20. ^ Bennett, Caroline (8 October 2002). "A Review of the Case of Hans Joachim Kupka: The Chancellor's letter of apology to the Jewish Community". unipr.waikato.ac.nz. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  21. ^ a b Marshall, Russell (10 July 2013). "Bill Renwick Honoured: Visionary educationalist's life was not in vain". Kāpiti & Coast Independent. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  22. .
  23. ^ "New Year honours 1988" (PDF). Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette. No. 6. 19 January 1988. pp. 95–98. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  24. Wikidata Q113587903
    .