Friday 19 July 2019 12:51pm
Dr Beverley Clark
An advertisement in a Sunday newspaper in the mid-1990s calling for teachers led Beverley Clark from South Africa to Auckland, and the recently appointed College of Education Early Childhood Education lecturer says she hasn’t looked back.
During a welcome to the College of Education on earlier this month Dr Clark joked a feature of the 11-hour flight from Durban to Auckland was not excitement, but consistent crying over leaving friends, family and her homeland behind.
The move, however, has proved to be highly professionally and personally rewarding, and she has since gained a doctorate (EdD) from the University of Auckland, adding to her MEd, BEd, BA (majoring in English and Psychology), HDE (Primary), and Diploma of Education for the pre-primary school (Dip Ed pre-prim). These qualifications complimented her many years’ experience as a kindergarten teacher.
She has taught in tertiary education since 2000 at NZTC, Unitec, AUT and until recently was a regional lecturer in the Southland and Central Otago areas for the Open Polytechnic, specialising in early childhood education.
Dr Sonya Gaches
While she has enjoyed working from home for the past four years, she already has a sense of the Colleges’ collegial atmosphere and is “looking forward to contributing to its energy and sense of direction.”
Dr Clark’s research interests focus predominantly on early childhood, second language acquisition; self-talk in children from diverse language backgrounds; the visual arts; and am currently working on research into the role of music in curriculum and children’s learning through play.
Early Childhood Education Lecturer and Programmes Coordinator Sonya Gaches says Dr Clark is a very welcome addition to the College’s early childhood education team.
“Three early childhood teaching and learning volumes that were edited by Dr Clark and colleagues have been core texts in our programme the past few years. Our students are very excited that they now get to learn from her in person.
“We know that her depth and breadth of early childhood knowledge, scholarship and research will be a tremendous addition to our programme.”