Vernon Penfold was raised on the East Coast. He is a trained teacher with a BA, and Dip. Tchg, and has taught for many years in Māori schools. Vernon was Senior Lecturer in Māori and Social Studies and Anthropology at Auckland Teachers’ College. He subsequently worked as an inspector in Māori and Islands Education at the Department of Education for some ten years up to his retirement in 1984.
Biographical sources
- Correspondence from Vernon Penfold, 20 Aug. 2004.
- Polynesian and Pakeha in New Zealand Education. Ed. Douglas H. Bray and Clement G. H. Hill. Vol. 2. Ethnic Difference and the School. Auckland, N.Z.: Heinemann, 1974. 245.
- Penfold, Mary. "Editorial Notes Accompanying ‘The City Māori and The Tangi’". Motive 4.15 [1963?]: 9-10.
Non-fiction
- New Zealanders: One People? Wellington, N.Z.: Hicks Smith & Sons, 1973.
- In this book designed for intermediate school pupils Penfold provides chapters on issues dealing with New Zealand identity, race and culture, key components of the Māori culture, Māori traditions and food and clothing customs, meeting other people, and visiting the marae. Penfold concludes by noting the different policies of integration, assimilation and adaptation. Each chapter ends with discussion questions. This is one of a series of books entitled People in a Changing World and edited by R.D. Cartwright. It has been designed for Social Studies classes at Form 1 level.
- "Field Studies in a Māori Community." Polynesian and Pakeha in New Zealand Education. Ed. Douglas H. Bray and Clement G. H. Hill. Vol. 2. Ethnic Difference and the School. Auckland, N.Z.: Heinemann, 1974. 173-176.
- Penfold writes of the use of field studies within the discipline of Social Studies at Auckland Teachers College and discusses a field study conducted by third year student teachers who visited the Māori community at Poroporo for a week.
Other
- 1986 New Zealand Calendar: Myths and Legends of the Māori. Comp. Vernon Penfold and Stuart Middleton. Auckland, N.Z.: Office of the Race Relations Conciliator, [1986].
- This calendar, composed of 13 photographs of murals and written work drawn from Māori legends, was created by secondary schools involved primarily in the Cross Cultural Community Involvement Programme initiated by Arnold Wilson.