Waikato Herald
  • Waikato Herald home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Locations

  • Hamilton
  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Matamata & Piako
  • Cambridge
  • Te Awamutu
  • Tokoroa & South Waikato
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Weather

  • Thames
  • Hamilton
  • Tokoroa
  • Taumarunui
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Waikato News

Lois Chick MNZM honoured for considerable services to education

Dean Taylor
By Dean Taylor
Editor·Te Awamutu Courier·
2 Jun, 2020 12:00 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Lois Chick: New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education.

Lois Chick: New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education.

A Queen's Birthday Honour recipient who will be fondly remembered in some circles in Te Awamutu is Lois Chick, now of Shirley in Christchurch.

Lois was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education, which includes establishing and running a private teacher training organisation.

She, and her husband Graham, were part of the education and arts fraternity in Te Awamutu in the 1980s.

Lois came from Norsewood and went to Dannevirke High School before training at Ardmore Teachers College.

She taught in Levin, Napier, Dunsandel, Hamilton and Morrinsville before coming to Te Awamutu, where she worked at Pekerau School for four years under principal George Green.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Lois then won a job at Te Awamutu Intermediate School, under principal Bill Hewitt, as a Year 8 teacher with special responsibility to run the music programme.

Graham was also on the staff and they recall at that time Te Awamutu Intermediate ran magnificent school productions, written by staff members David Lewis and Ian Bacon, who they describe as talented teachers and well-remembered to this day by many in Te Awamutu.

"Graham and I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Te Awamutu and made many life-long friends," says Lois.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Graham was part of Little Theatre and I sang in the Hamilton Civic Choir."

Once the couple left Te Awamutu, Lois' career took her into the area of Special Education, the result of working in Rugby, England, at a residential special school on teacher exchange.

After much training and further teaching at another residential special school she lectured at what was then the Christchurch College of Education.

"This is where my interest in teacher training began," says Lois.

Discover more

Hazel Barnes: Serving her community for 30 years

04 Jun 01:03 AM

Billy Graham honoured

04 Jun 01:16 AM

Waipā District councillor awarded QSM

03 Jun 09:12 PM

McFall group founder receives QSM

04 Jun 02:00 AM

"I became convinced that increased practise time in schools for those in training was critical and needed to be done alongside highly trained teacher educators.

"I came to realise that not all those in training are ready to graduate at the same time. Some people take longer to learn the essentials of teaching and some need less time."

It was at this time Lois and a partner broke away and, with the agreement of the Minister of Education, in 1996 the New Zealand Graduate School of Education (NZGSE) was born.
Lois continues to co-direct the school.

She helped develop a detailed system of criteria for effective practice, as well as tools designed to measure and assess teacher effectiveness.

A Te Reo and Tikanga competencies course has also been introduced at NZGSE.
The organisation has trained more than 1600 primary and secondary teachers since its inception.

Lois says the training programme at NZGSE sees students spend as much as two-thirds of their course teaching in a classroom, a contrast to standard teaching models where students are often sitting in lectures.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And NZGSE has a successful record, with more than 97 per cent of students successfully gaining employment in the field following graduation.

As well as teaching and running her own training college, Lois' expertise in special education and learning support saw her chair the Board of Trustees governing Halswell Residential School and Westbridge Resident School from 2014 to 2017.

Lois also routinely conducts performance appraisals for local boards of trustees in the Canterbury region.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Waikato News

Waikato Herald

Man hides out in bush for 5 months after slicing victim with machete over $20

Waikato Herald

'Everyone could have died': Drink-driving mum who left 6yo critical in crash avoids prison

Waikato Herald

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Waikato News

Man hides out in bush for 5 months after slicing victim with machete over $20
Waikato Herald

Man hides out in bush for 5 months after slicing victim with machete over $20

Christopher Millen went bush, stealing a rifle, tools and a sheep from a nearby house.

17 Jul 08:00 AM
'Everyone could have died': Drink-driving mum who left 6yo critical in crash avoids prison
Waikato Herald

'Everyone could have died': Drink-driving mum who left 6yo critical in crash avoids prison

17 Jul 07:00 AM
'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test
Waikato Herald

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test

17 Jul 05:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Waikato Herald e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Waikato Herald
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP