Valerie Burns
Valerie Burns, of Lower Hutt, received the Insignia of a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for services to early childhood education. She was the first woman director of early childhood education at the Department of Education, where she was in involved in increasing funding for the sector. She has also been involved in setting the direction of early childhood policy in New Zealand and internationally. She worked at Wellington Teachers' College, where she implemented a kindergarten teacher education curriculum and introduced innovative subjects in early childhood teacher education, including family and community studies, baby studies, and Māori studies. She contributed to the early childhood education reforms in 1989 and established a course on early childhood education ethics. She initiated the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education.