Soldier to Civilian: Army Education and Postwar New Zealand Citizenship

Abstract

New Zealand's army education schemes were established in 1943, following overseas practice, with several objectives in mind. Those on active service often suffered from boredom, and the schemes' libraries, movies and study courses offered one means of boosting flagging spirits. At the same time, military personnel needed to be prepared for an eventual return to civilian life, and the educational programmes had an important role to play. Personnel could study a range of practical skills courses by correspondence, and engage in discussion groups on current affairs and the changing nation to which many of them would return. The army's study materials provide both an important source of contemporary social analysis and a means of acculturating servicemen and servicewomen into a new postwar citizenship. In this way, education and recreation were fused together in ways that dovetailed with individual needs on the one hand, and the New Zealand government's wish to foster aware and self‐governing citizens on the other.