Beeby, Clarence Edward

Beeby, Clarence Edward, 1902–92, New Zealand educator, b. Leeds, England. After studying at the universities of New Zealand, London, and Manchester, Beeby taught at the Univ. of New Zealand from 1923 until 1934. In 1934 he became director of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research; from 1940 until 1960 he served as Director of Education and undertook a comprehensive program of reform. He was New Zealand's ambassador to France from 1960 to 1963, while also serving on the Executive Board of UNESCO. He subsequently was a research fellow at Harvard and a visiting professor at the Univ. of London before returning to New Zealand in 1968. His main area of interest was education in East Asia. His writings include The Quality of Education in Developing Countries (1966) and The Biography of an Idea: Beeby on Education (1992).