Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2016
While New Zealand has a long history of providing special classes for the educationally handicapped, (Havill & Mitchell 1972) substantial specialized training programmes at a post-graduate level for teachers of these classes are a comparatively recent development. Apart from well-established courses for speech therapists and teachers of the deaf, the first systematic attempt to develop specialized training programmes for teachers in Special Education in New Zealand was the establishment in 1974 of a one-year post-graduate course for teachers of the Educationally Handicapped at Christchurch Teachers College.