The Australian Council for Education Leaders would like to formally announce this year’s Australian Showcase as part of the line-up for 2018 National Conference “Evidence & Experience”

The newly announced Australian Showcase joins an esteemed line-up of keynotes undoubtedly presenting the greatest line-up in the event’s history. The Australian Showcase will take place on Day 2 of the three day premier event and feature all Australian keynote speakers discussing and presenting local issues and learnings. Comprising the showcase ACEL are delighted to welcome Scott Eacott relational theorist Gonski Institute for Education UNSW, Helen Wildy Dean & Head of the Graduate School of Education, University of WA, Jenny Gore Laureate Professor School of Education University of Newcastle and Tom Bentley Executive Director for Policy & Impact at RMIT University.

SCOTT EACOTT

Scott Eacott is a relational theorist in the School of Education | Gonski Institute for Education at UNSW Sydney and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Saskatchewan (Canada). He has previously worked at The University of Newcastle, Australia, the Australian Catholic University, and the NSW Department of Education. Dr Eacott is widely published with contributions and interests falling into three main areas: i) a relational approach to organizational theory in education; ii) theory / methodology, and iii) strategy in education. Current projects include: Regional secondary school consolidation – experiments in school leadership; and Principals’ Experiencing Time (for further details see scotteacott.com). He is Founding Co-Editor of the Educational Leadership Theory book series (Springer), and his latest book is Beyond leadership: a relational approach to organizational theory in education (2018, Springer).

HELEN WILDY

Professor Wildy’s background as a student of a very small rural primary school in Western Australia underpins her commitment to education, particularly the leadership of small schools. As a secondary Mathematics teacher she taught at all levels of secondary schools and across sectors in Western Australia and Victoria. As an academic for the past 18 years, her teaching expertise is in the fields of leadership and research methods. She coordinates, and teaches into, a bespoke Master of School Leadership to prepare and support school principals in the decentralising system of the Department of Education in Western Australia.

Professor Wildy currently conducts research and supervises doctoral and Masters students in a range of school leadership and assessment topics, particularly related to the use of assessment data by school leaders. She also conducts research into the use of digital technologies in the development of literacy, and the implementation of the new national frameworks for Early Years Education and Care. Her ARC grants have funded research into the development and application of standards for school leaders. She has been chief investigator or co-chief investigator in research projects worth more than A$10m since 2000. She publishes extensively in highly regarded international and national journals on a range of topics related to leadership, standards, and qualitative research approaches.

Professor Wildy sits on a range of School Boards, primary and secondary, private and state schools. She has held leadership positions on professional organisations connected to teaching, leadership and school governance, as well as in the tertiary sector. She belongs to international and national professional research organisations.

JENNY GORE

Jenny Gore is a Laureate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she was Dean of Education and Head of School at the University of Newcastle for six years (2008–2013). She completed a Master’s degree at the University of British Columbia, Canada (1983), and PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (1990), and has held executive roles for the Australian Association for Research in Education, the Australian Council of Deans of Education, and the NSW Teacher Education Council. Currently Director of the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre and Co-Editor of the international journal, Teaching and Teacher Education, Jenny has won more than AUD $7.2 million in research funding including several grants awarded by the Australian Research Council. Her educational and research interests consistently centre on quality and equity, ranging across such topics as teacher socialisation, reform in teacher education, pedagogical reform, teacher development, and student aspirations. Jenny's program of work on Quality Teaching (a framework developed with James Ladwig in 2003) has had significant impact in government, Catholic, and independent schools throughout Australia, especially in NSW and the ACT. This work subsequently led to the conceptualisation of Quality Teaching Rounds (with Julie Bowe), an innovative approach to teacher professional development. Widely published and cited (more than 9,100 citations), her recent major research projects include a longitudinal study exploring the formation of educational and career aspirations during schooling and a randomised controlled trial investigating the impact of Quality Teaching Rounds on teaching quality. Regarded as one of Australia’s leading teaching and teacher education academics, Jenny is deeply committed to supporting teachers in delivering high quality and equitable outcomes for students.

TOM BENTLEY

Tom Bentley is a writer and policy adviser based in Melbourne. He is currently Executive Director for Policy and Impact at RMIT University. He has worked with policymakers and education systems around the world, including as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Hon Julia Gillard (2008-13), Director of Demos, the London-based think tank (1999-2006) and adviser to institutions including the OECD, Mindlab, NESTA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Victorian Government. His publications include Educating Australia: challenges for the decade ahead (ed, with Glenn Clifton Savage, MUP 2017); and Learning Beyond the Classroom: Education for a Changing World (Routledge, 1998)