The Deviant Child and Larrikin Youth in Colonial Towns: State intervention and social control through education in New Zealand

Abstract

This paper examines the role of schools in the socialisation of settler children and families, beginning with those who were believed by the State to need 'civilising' in order to be fit for citizenship. It analyses the ways in which government policies reflected the shifting balance of power and responsibility between the State, children and families in New Zealand between 1867 and 1935. The focus is the increasing populations in colonial towns that forced a reluctant State to face up to a range of social ills associated with deviant children and youth that led to the establishment of industrial and reformatory schools.