Abstract
Otekaieke Special School for Boys functioned at three distinct levels in the period 1908 to 1950. As an institution for dealing with children seen as problematic it functioned on a wide social level. As a backstop to the classroom it functioned as a significant part of the education system. And as the home of a large number of boys it functioned on an individual level as the setting for their experiences. At each of these levels the school fulfilled different needs and served a wide variety of interests. In the three chapters of this long essay I am going to examine each level in turn, and the interests served and needs fulfilled, or left unfulfilled, at each. [from Introduction, p.5]