Five- and Six-Year-Olds at Kindergarten: Miss Morris’ Experimental Primary Class, Wellington Free Kindergarten Association 1921–27

Abstract

Between 1921 and 1927, the Wellington Free Kindergarten Association (WFKA) offered selected children turning five, and about to enrol in the state school system, the opportunity to stay at kindergarten for a further two years. With the approval of education officials, these children became students of a kindergarten-based primary class for five- and six-year-olds and taught the school curriculum according to Froebel’s play-based pedagogy for children from 3 to 7 years. This paper pieces together fragments of data from a range of discrete material sources that, whilst scanty in nature, together help illuminate the aspirations, expectations and experiences of those involved in the experimental project; in particular, the first fifteen children enrolled in 1921 and their teacher Miss Edna Morris. While the project proved to be a short-term endeavour, it shows the Association’s desire and commitment towards the use of kindergarten schools to change educational provision for children along the line of Froebel’s teachings. Whilst the ideological argument for education reform remained strong amongst supporters of Froebel’s pedagogy and progressive ideals, long-term change proved more complex than realised.