This week I had the honour of speaking with Sir James about his life and work.

On 1st June 2026, all of New Zealand celebrated the announcement of the annual honours list. For the Wellington College community, this was particularly poignant as one of our own, Professor James Chapman (WC class of 1966), was to become Sir James, recognised for services to Literacy Research with an emphasis on learning disabilities and dyslexia.

Early Years at WC

Academically, I was very average. I took six years to pass instead of the usual five. I sat the university entrance exam and failed miserably so I went back and tried again and passed. I also tried for the new university bursary and failed, but I wanted to be a teacher, so I went to Victoria and studied English, History, Education, Political Science, Geography, French Reading Knowledge and Russian Reading Knowledge.

My parents never pushed; my father was a Consulting Engineer, but he worked his way through the trades. I was the first person in my family to go to university. I have tried to analyse why I persevered, and it really was a feeling that I wasn’t going to give up on myself.

The path to transforming literacy theory

It took me four years to achieve my undergraduate degree. English had been my best subject at WC, but I failed my first year at Victoria and had to sit the paper again! One of my lecturers could see my passion for education and encouraged me to study educational psychology. I completed my Honours Degree and then my Masters.

I still wanted to teach, so I went to Christchurch Teachers College in 1972 and did a one-year teaching diploma. I taught History, Geography, and Social Studies at Horowhenua College from 1973 – 1974. Again, I was encouraged by one of my lecturers to do a PHD, and I was accepted at the University of Alberta in Canada in 1975.

My supervisor suggested a topic which I had never heard of and didn’t exist in New Zealand, Learning Disabilities. I didn’t know anything about it, so I took papers and researched them. My PHD focused on children aged 8–12-year-olds. I explored the cognitive motivational factors that affect children with learning disabilities compared to children who learn at a regular level. I researched the beliefs and expectations of these children, their parents, and teachers.

On returning to New Zealand, I got a position at Massey University and achieved funding for research on learning difficulties. The only remedial programme that existed in New Zealand was Reading Recovery, which I was critical of. In the late 1980s Professor Bill Tunmer arrived at Massey, and we built a research team focussed on literacy theory, with an emphasis on learning disabilities and dyslexia.

During that time, I was appointed Head of Teaching and Learning, then Pro Vice Chancellor of the Massey University College of Education, a position I held for 10 years. But I was itching to get back to research – I knew our teaching of literacy was flawed, and we were failing our kids and their families. Bill and I spent years presenting to Ministers and Select Committees, and no one was listening; no action was being taken.

We knew from our research that on day one, 25-30% of kids struggle with learning to read, not because they are not bright, not because their family doesn’t support them, because they were not being taught properly.

I formally retired in 2016, but I kept involved presenting at conferences, speaking to media, just keeping on talking until people get sick of me! In 2018/2019 Bill and I presented our longitudinal research to Ministry of Education officials and for the first time we saw the light go on, finally they started to realise what the research and the data were showing.

I was the guest speaker at a conference in Wellington and the Minister for Education; Erica Stanford was in attendance as Opposition Spokesperson for Education at the time. I could see her furiously taking notes, and she spoke with me at morning tea and lunch break. She asked for research papers to be sent to her, which I was very happy to do. This was the first time I had seen this level of engagement.

My work is not political, I am not political, but I knew that for real change to occur, political leaders needed to become involved. I was appointed to the Ministerial Advisory Group on Literacy and Numeracy, as well as being a research advisor for the Better Start Literacy Approach out of Canterbury University. For decades, we protected an approach to literacy that did not work – now schools will use a pedological approach to teaching and learning, and all kids will be helped from day one, bringing about real change.

Since receiving the knighthood, it has been lovely to receive many messages from people who are very pleased that the research has been recognised. It is important to note that it has been a real team effort. I particularly want to recognise my friend and research partner, Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Bill Tunmer. I believe it is our research projects undertaken in the 1990s and 2010s that have contributed to the current change in teaching literacy today.