October 12, 1923 – November 12, 2019
CNZM, QSO, Honorary Life member, International Play Association

“New Zealand’s strongest and most resilient advocate for children’s right to play – our taonga and treasure”. So reads the citation from Sport NZ for Beverley’s Lifetime Achievement Award, granted to her in June 2019.

Beverley Morris first became interested in ‘Play’ in the early 1950s as a young teacher and parent when she became involved in New Zealand Playcentre organisation and established the Newtown Playcentre in 1951. Beverley Morris supported the philosophy of the NZ Playcentre Federation and was responsible for developing the original NZ Playcentre Diploma – prioritising family, and the value of play in children’s learning. As she said,

“Children don’t play to learn, they learn while they play.”

Beverly Morris

In 1960 in London, Beverley became involved in Adventure Playgrounds built on WWII bombsites, working as a volunteer in the Lambeth Adventure Playground in South London. Lady Allen of Hurtwood, a pioneer of IPA, invited Beverley to her Playground for Handicapped Children in Chelsea.

After her return from London, Beverley Morris worked with parents and teachers and in 1965 as a member of the Department of the University of Extension, Victoria University and began exploring children’s development and the place of play in education and parenting practices. By 1967 Beverley had published “Understanding Children” and had established an Adventure Playground in Newtown, on Wellington City Council land, with a paid ‘play leader’—one of the first in New Zealand. The Adventure Playground programme lasted seven years. Beverley’s knowledge and experience regarding playground design was known and sought after by Wellington City Council.

In 1967 Beverley published a comprehensive introduction to child rearing; guidance for parents about the developing child’s need for opportunities and space to play, and to be creative, arguing that play was a vital part of a child’s lifelong learning. Her book “Understanding children” was republished in 1983 and the updated version Understanding children Whakamohiotanga i nga tamariki (3rd ed.) in 1994, also translated into Braille.

In 1970 Beverley joined IPA World as a formal member in correspondence with Drummond Abernethy, London, IPA expert in the training of playground leaders, and persuaded six other people in New Zealand to subscribe as members. At the IPA Conference in Vienna, 1972, Beverley established a friendship with Akka Larsson from Gōteborg, Sweden.

In 1972 Beverley was appointed to the New Zealand Government’s first National Council for Recreation and Sport, along with fellow council members (Sir) Edmund Hillary and (Sir) Murray Halberg. She was able to promote the rights of all children to access play/recreation, establishing a Play Unit with Diana O’Neill as the play officer and national co-ordinator within the Council. Play provision guidance in Play News was circulated regularly throughout New Zealand to organisations that provided play activities for children and adults. Beverley Morris supported Diana O’Neill, advising upon books and articles from IPA and through IPA members connected to the Adventure Playground UK work. A Play Unit Resource Library was established for copies of papers of interest from IPA Conferences and from her own teaching and studies and issues of Playground Safety were debated. (The Hillary Council for Recreation and Sport became the Hillary Commission and is now called Sport NZ).

In 1973 the Labour Government established the Ministry of Recreation and Sport and Beverley Morris was appointed to the Ministry’s Council to be a watch dog for the interests of children. Beverley Morris managed to get a Play Officer paid by the Ministry to coordinate and disseminate news about play activities and resources for play in NZ. On the mailing list were planners, architects, physical education teachers, early childhood organisations and some community workers.

During this time many “adventure playgrounds” were established in primary schools and local parks by school boards and community groups but only the playgrounds at Newtown in Wellington and Aranui in Christchurch had Local Body paid play leaders.

In 1975 for the International Year of the Child, Beverley contributed articles such as The Child at Risk in Play, arguing for children with special needs to be given opportunity to play and advising parents /adults to avoid inhibiting children’s play and advocating for ‘risky play’.

Beverley attended the IPA conferences in Milan (1975), Ottawa (1978) and Stockholm (1987) as the NZ representative. At the 1975 IPA Conference in Milan, Beverley gained more knowledge of Adventure Playground possibilities and at the 1975 International Year for Women conference she promoted the idea that play was an essential element within the education and care of young children.

As NZ Playcentre Federation National President (1975 -1978) Beverley wrote an influential article, Birth to 5 years, published in Education and, as a way to counter the mistrust of play and learning, reiterated that young children had the right to play

“PLAY was not a popular word in conservative NZ society [at that time], but I equated it with LEARNING and GROWTH.”

Morris, 2015

At the 1978 IPA Conference in Ottawa-Beverley met up with the IPA Secretary, Murielle Otter, in 1981 Beverley was awarded Life Membership of the NZ Playcentre Federation, and later in Who needs equipment? she argued that a child has a right to play and requires firstly, human beings who can enable the child, in Dewey’s words, “to live each day fully”.

In the early 1980s Beverley engaged in small-scale studies exploring the source of mothers’ ideas about childrearing and play. (See Morris, B. (1992). Hearing my mother’s voice: A study of sisters and mothers. Wellington: NZCER.)

The Ministry for Recreation and Sport became the Hillary Commission and under the National Government and after the late 1980’s recession, the Play Unit was lost. Beverley, however, continued to remain an active IPA member and represented NZ at IPA World conferences in Milan (1975), Ottawa (1978) and Stockholm (1987).

At the IPA Stockholm Conference 1987, Beverley met with Brian Ashley and Big Almstrōm who later visited with her in Auckland; the exchange of ideas continued for the rest of Beverley’s life as she continued to serve on the IPA Aotearoa NZ Executive Committee

In 1988 Beverley was awarded the Queens Service Order (QSO) from the NZ Government for contributions to early childhood education and adult education.

1990 at the IPA Conference in Japan, Beverley became acquainted with Professor Takao Kawahara from Fukuoka University and hosted his visit to New Zealand promoting the work of IPA, advocating for a child’s right to play.

At the 5th Early Childhood Convention in Dunedin; she was one of the first to identify the importance of play spaces, play mates, and the therapeutic value of play for hospitalised children (see Child’s right to play [Washington, D.C.]: Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse, 1991.)

From 1992 Beverley promoted the idea of a Children’s Advocate position for Auckland City Council. A position of youth advisor was appointed several years later and finally a Youth Advisory Group was established in 2011.

After the 1993 IPA World Play Summit in Melbourne, Beverley, organised a seminar on ‘Play’ in Auckland, with Nils Nilson, Swedish educator, President of IPA as a guest speaker and also produced a summary of papers from the Play Summit to celebrate Article 31 and indexed these for the Play Unit Resource Library at the Hillary Commission, Wellington. (See Notes from a player at the World Play Summit 1993).

In 1993 New Zealand signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Beverley presented a report on UNCRC with a plea for the NZ Office of the Commissioner for Children to become independent of the Government to monitor the rights of children, advice encapsulated in the Children’s Commissioner Act 2003.

Beverley’s advice to parents, Living with children Nohongatahi me te tamariki published in 1995 through the NZ Playcentre Federation, overwhelmingly recommended the value of play on the child’s terms from birth through into schooling; and, “that children needed to be appreciated as human beings.” (Morris, 1995, p.148).

In 1996 at the IPA Conference in Helsinki Beverley argued for children to be given time for play (Young children’s right to TIME for play) identifying academic pressures, clock watching schedules of ECE services and schools, Television, ‘extra curricular’ lessons, and parents’ commitments depriving children of time to “muck about, daydream, fantasise, invent, explore and discover.” (Bruce, 1991, cited in Morris, 1996).

In 1998 Beverley advised the Ministry of Education that within provision of ‘positive guidance’ in ECE services, teachers must consider the child’s right to opportunities to be playful, creative and expressive; teachers must avoid ‘misrecognising’ children’s playful actions. This document is still a handbook for teachers in ECE (See, Ministry of Education (1998). Providing positive Guidance : Guidelines for early childhood education services. Wellington: Ministry of Education.)

By 2005, almost 10 years after the launch of Te Whāriki New Zealand Curriculm for Early Childhood (1996) many of the facets of play, views on children’s play as learning were accepted. However in Play: A Personal History (2005,) Beverley expressed her concerns for children’s freedom to play due in part to the commercialisation of ‘supervised’ playgrounds and “palaces for play”. Every child needed opportunity “from an early age to be able to take risks in order to learn how to be self-monitoring, to act responsibly and to settle conflicts” and that “taking risks in play situations can lead to satisfying a child’s curiousity about how and why things work…”(Morris, 2015, p.10).

Between 2005 and 2011 Beverley continued her membership and direct contact with IPA international colleagues of IPA World as the NZ branch had dissolved. In 2011 after the UN decision to draft a UN General Comment on Article 31, Beverley organised a meeting in Auckland, for re-establishing an IPA NZ branch. By 2012 through contacts in IPA, Beverley supported the negotiation of a meeting with Robyn Munro-Miller (Aust), Vice President of IPA World, in Auckland. Beverley, with a small committee led by Scott McKenzie, Jill Rice, Doug Cole, Nola Harvey, and Cheryl Greenfield, worked with Robyn to progress branch status, 2013-2014. In 2014 IPA Aotearoa NZ increased membership beyond the minimum requirement for 10 members, and official branch status was granted at the 2014 IPA Conference in Istanbul.

In 2015 Beverley Morris was awarded the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to Early Childhood Education in Aotearoa New Zealand. To honour Beverley Early Education republished her 1976 article Birth to 5 years. Beverley provided an obituary for Playrights, March, 2015 for Prof. Brian Sutton-Smith, childhood friend and later, fellow children’s play advocate.

In 2016 Beverley was awarded an Honorary Life Membership of OMEP Aotearoa NZ (World Organisation for Early Childhood) for her promotion of children’s rights and in particular, a child’s right to play as a member of a family and community. In 2017 Beverley was honoured with an Honorary Life Membership by IPA World, and on 24th June 2019 a Lifetime Achievement Award from Sport NZ.

She wrote a note to herself:

“Play is not Education. Play is not work. Play is not optional. Play does not need to be justified.”

Beverly Morris

Hear hear!

Beverley Morris worked tirelessly for more than six decades to advocate for play and as a member of IPA in our country since 1970, to promote every child’s right to play.

IPA Aotearoa New Zealand are glad to honour Beverley Morris for her work.

E iti noa ana nā te aroha.
A small thing given with love.

Morris, B. (1962). A guide for pre-school supervisors. London: Publications Department: Pre-School Playgroups Association England.
Morris, B.(1976). Birth to 5 years. Education (?)
Morris, B. (1992). Hearing my mother’s voice: A study of sisters and mothers. Wellington: NZCER
Morris, B. (1994). Understanding children: Whakamohiotanga i nga tamariki (3rd ed.). Auckland: Playcentre Publications.
Morris, B. (2003). Gwen Somerset. In S. Stover (Ed.), Good clean fun: New Zealand's Playcentre movement. Auckland: Playcentre Publications.
Morris, B.(2005). Play: A personal history. The First Years Ngā Tau TuatahiNZ Journal of Infant and Toddler Education7(1), 5–10
Morris, B. (2007). Letter from Herne Bay. Early Education, 42, 4.
Morris, B. (2015). Playing with children: An enduring message of Beverley Morris CNZM Early Education , 57, 26 – 31-(see Early Education photo re produced below)