My passion for student voice and agency began with the children I failed in my first years of teaching and grew from a desire to ensure that learning for every child is purposeful, engaging and appropriately challenging. I started with creating an environment in my own class where students’ passions, interests and needs activated the learning; where I planned with students, not for students and co-constructed authentic learning opportunities and projects that gave ownership of the learning to the students. I then took this further by supporting colleagues to cultivate studentcentred environments in their own classrooms while still ensuring academic rigour. I have authored a paper on selfdirected learning, published in the Early Childhood Australia’s journal Every Child, and have given presentations on student voice and agency at several conferences, including the 2017 ACEL Early Childhood Conference in Brisbane and most recently in Vancouver, Canada, at the Deep Learning Lab 2018. I see it as a matter of urgency that teachers and schools re-imagine learning so that all students flourish and recognise their ability to contribute to the betterment of our world.

In my current role as Instructional Coach I mentor graduate and experienced teachers, supporting educators to make learning visible to their students. I lead teaching teams to analyse student data, at both the micro and macro level, in order to continually evaluate the impact of teaching on the learning outcomes of students and build the capacity of teachers to improve practice and outcomes. In this role I have introduced and embedded evidence-based literacy teaching at my school through providing whole staff professional development, co-teaching, co-planning and mentoring, resulting in significantly improved growth and achievement outcomes in NAPLAN Reading, Writing and Language Conventions. The initiatives that I have introduced and led have been soundly based in evidence, but implemented with a strong focus on student engagement and agency.

I continually seek opportunities to improve my own skills and build my understanding of ways to positively impact student learning. When I first commenced teaching I quickly became aware that in every class I taught there was at least one student who struggled to access the learning, was disengaged, highly anxious, or failed to thrive under my care. In order to be able to better cater for every child I enrolled in a postgraduate course in Autism Studies and after graduating I taught in a Special School and an Autism School to see what I could learn. I then went back to mainstream to apply my new understandings and make a difference through personalising learning to re-engage students who were disconnected, and to ignite a spark for learning in my students.

I continue to seek new understandings and am currently completing the Masters of Instructional Leadership at Melbourne University. My goal is to combine the rigour of evidence-based teaching strategies with learning experiences and opportunities that engage, excite and empower both students and teachers. I believe that this type of learning is not only possible, but the right of every child.