Year: 1949 - 1953
Occupation: Educationist

Don was Director of Victoria’s Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) professional development programme – a programme he had worked with a consortium to develop in the late 1990s. He had a clear vision for how we should support students with special needs and how we can improve our schools and classrooms to cater for their needs. He believed in cooperative teaching and learning and had a huge influence on teaching practice in NZ as we move to inclusive classrooms. He was elected a Life Member of the Psychological Service Association, a Fellow of the New Zealand Psychological Society, an Associate of the NZEI and was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal for services to New Zealand. When he won the Dame Marie Clay Award, the President of the New Zealand Psychological Society commented that Dr Brown had been “an inspirational mentor, leader and teacher of educational and developmental psychologists and other education personnel, as well as a strong advocate for children’s rights and parental involvement in education”.