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Former early childhood educator and preschool consultant to the federal government
Children's services in Australia recently lost an exceptional pioneer. Joan Fry's working life was dedicated to educating teachers to work in child care centres and to raising community awareness of the need for government funding and standards to ensure children have access to quality programs.
Joan Fry was a former student and later the principal of the Nursery School Teacher's College (NSTC) in Sydney. This college was owned and operated by SDN Children's Services Inc (formerly known as the Sydney Day Nursery and Nursery Schools Association) from 1935 until 1973, when it became a college of advanced education.
One of four children, Joan spent her early childhood years with her family in a survey camp along the banks of the Murray River between Wentworth and Euston. Her father, a surveyor, was a significant role model. She admired his compassionate attitude, determination and political acumen. After leaving school, it was more her desire to study psychology rather than the wish to be a teacher that first attracted her to NSTC. 'I wanted to find out more about people,' she said. On completing teacher training Joan was appointed to a group of 25 two-year-old children at the SDN Woolloomooloo Day Care Centre.
These were the war years and most families in this inner-Sydney suburb lived in single rooms without running water. In later years, Joan often spoke of the admiration she had for those Woolloomooloo families. Reflecting on the negative community attitudes at that time, she said, ‘Child care centres were considered socially unacceptable places where children of the poor, single and unfortunate, were kept off the streets while their mothers worked.' By the end of her career, access to child care centres for children whose parents chose to work had become a right in Australia and part of government policy.
A Thyne Reid Travelling Scholarship enabled Joan Fry to go to England in 1947 where she studied child development at London University. On returning home she became a lecturer at the NSTC and soon became its principal. During her 25 years of leadership, the NSTC grew in size and reputation - from a small fee-paying college to a highly regarded early childhood college of advanced education with a specialisation in the care and education of children attending long day care centres. Apart from Denmark, Australia was the only country in the world at that time to employ teachers to work in day care.
During her career, Joan Fry served on many committees where she took every opportunity to enhance community awareness of the importance of the first five years of life to a child's later wellbeing. Quality child care programs, she said, were achievable when children were cared for in small groups by trained early childhood teachers. She was concerned about the cumulative effects of stressful experiences on young children who spend extended hours at child care centres. She emphasised the need to focus on the educative opportunities that occur as children's needs are met throughout the day and the importance of the overall environment where the care is provided.
Within the wider early childhood field, including the Australian Preschool Association (APA), Joan won acceptance and admiration as an advocate for quality care and for her concern for early childhood teacher education. From 1960 until early 1973 Joan regularly represented the SDN and APA in approaches to state and federal governments in relation to funding and other issues. She was an engaging speaker.
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In the late 1960s Joan Fry had a 'chance encounter' with John Gorton through her membership of the Institute of Educational Research. She pointed out that early childhood teacher education throughout Australia could not continue to meet the community demand for trained teachers unless the federal government took responsibility for its funding. The APA then took up the issue on a national basis. The eventual outcome was that all the established early childhood colleges throughout Australia have since become part of the university sector, having been either upgraded or replaced with new buildings.
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In 1973 Joan Fry was appointed chairperson of the Australian Preschool Committee in Canberra. The committee was asked by the government to report on the future preschool needs of children in Australia and recommend a model that would provide all children with one year of preschool, similar to what was then provided in Canberra. The subsequent report, Care and Education of Children in Australia, attracted criticism from politically active women's groups. They argued that the report failed to adequately address future child care needs and funding. The report was never acted on. Joan then became a full-time member of the Interim Committee for the Establishment of a Children's Commission. When a change of government led to the abandonment of this committee, Joan was appointed as Assistant Secretary for the Education and Planning Group within the Commonwealth Department of Education. She was also the Early Childhood Education Consultant and Ethnic Liaison Officer within that Department.
Joan's work was recognised in 1980 when the Queen conferred on her the award of an OBE. Joan Fry retired in 1982. She lived quietly in Canberra until her death, aged 85 years. She was a true advocate of quality child care.
Adrienne Miles is a former student and lecturer at the Nursery School Teachers College and now a member of the History Committee of SDN Children's Services Inc.
The information and photograph used in this obituary were obtained from the SDN Children's Services archives. To learn more about SDN please visit www.sdn.org.au or contact 02 9699 9311.
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