Towards a social history of education in Auckland

As we approach the 150th anniversary of the colonial foundation of Auckland (1990), we still lack both a general scholarly account and detailed critical analysis of various aspects of Auckland’s history. So far as education is concerned, there presently exist some useful published articles on diverse themes, a number of unpublished theses, many ‘celebratory’ histories of schools and other educational institutions, and some journalism. This paper seeks to explore the main characteristics of this established literature, and then to suggest some themes that seem central to the development of a social history of Auckland education.