Peripheralisation within a centralised state education system: Small schools and the Auckland Education Board, 1877-1914

Abstract

Small schools are an icon of New Zealand’s schooling system, but little attention has been focused on them outside the context of rural education. This historical study addresses the relationship between administrators and small schools in New Zealand to examine the part of small schools in the gradual centralisation of education. It examines how a centre-periphery framework contributes to an understanding of the relationship between the educational State and schools within the context of the relationship between the Auckland Education Board and small schools between 1877 and 1914. It suggests that systemic factors apart from peripheral geographical location contributed to tensions caused by the persistent numerical domination by small schools of the educational landscape. It proposes that small schools were gradually relegated to the periphery as part of the growth of central government within a nationalising discourse of uniformity and efficiency.