New Year Honours: Maureen Jehly

INFLUENCE: Maureen Jehly, with her granddaughter Isabella Te Wehi o te Rangi Jehly, 5 months, was instrumental in early childhood education's bicultural curriculum. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER 271213SP5

If you have children in early childhood education then they will be reaping what Maureen Jehly has sown.

The 76-year-old, named in the New Year Honours as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, was key in the development of Te Whariki; the early childhood education curriculum.

Mrs Jehly, known formerly as Maureen Locke, said she was surprised when she received news of her nomination, which she received for services to education and Maori.

"My friends in early childhood education said they were going to nominate me but that was ages ago so I was surprised that it actually happened," she said. "It's also a huge honour for all Maori, especially the Ngati Whakaue tribe."

Mrs Jehly has only recently retired from the New Zealand Childcare Association (NZCA), which this year awarded her an honorary degree. She first got involved in 1982. She has been involved in early childhood education for as long as she can remember, starting with her own nine children. She was originally an office clerk and teleprinter operator but in 1960 with her own children as inspiration she got involved in Playcentre, eventually becoming president of the Rotorua Playcentre Association. In 1977 after moving to Wellington she worked at the Victoria University creche.

"I was seconded to the reforms in education in late 1980 to implement the Treaty of Waitangi across the whole of the early childhood sector," she said.

She said this is what had led to pre-schoolers learning te reo Maori and other parts of Maori culture.

In 1992 Mrs Jehly established the NZCA's Mana Maori training centre in Rotorua. She also established and managed the first bilingual early childhood centre in Rotorua specifically for low-income whanau, Tuporo, which is now operated by Te Kohanga Reo National Trust.