Dr Ken Avenell

Director of Formation and Identity, Toowoomba Catholic College

Ken Avenell is the Director of Formation and Identity for Toowoomba Catholic Education. His work centres around developing, coordinating and aligning capability through continuing formation, relationships and learning for individuals, teams and the TCS organisation. Dip Teach, Dip Theol, B. Ed., Grad. Dip ECE (Hons), M. Ed. Admin, Ed D, FAIM, FACEL, FQIEA, MAHRI, MACE, JP (Qual).

Tameika Grist

President ACEL TAS

Tameika Grist is an experienced and committed educator currently serving the community of learners at St Mary's College, Hobart as Director of Pedagogy. She has been a passionate teacher and leader in Primary and Secondary settings within the Department, Independent and Catholic sectors in Tasmania for the past 20 years.

Tameika is always keen to question and understand the influences on students' learning, and as such has always sought ways to improve her own practice, seeking opportunities in professional learning, study and collaboration with teachers and leaders.

Tameika's current passions include: leading professional learning communities, developing teachers and leaders, and harnessing teacher efficacy in driving learning outcomes for students.

Steve Cook

Foundation Principal, Albert Park College

Steve Cook has led the development of two inner-city secondary schools in Melbourne. The Bayview Street Campus of Williamstown High School was the first 5-star green school built in Victoria, and featured innovative environmental design including a 1.8 hectare wetland and a Marine Education Centre. Currently, Steve is the Foundation Principal of Albert Park College. An investment of $26 million has been made in creating an open plan 21st Century learning environment in which the use of technology is king. Steve will outline the challenges educators face, and explore both the opportunities and challenges that a modern learning environment creates both for the designer and end-user of the school. He will also explore emerging trends in education and the implications that they represent for students, educators and architects.

Chris Robertson

Principal, Aurora College

Chris Robertson’s career with the NSW Department of Education has spanned 31 years, including 20 years as a classroom teacher and Head Teacher in a number of high schools in Western Sydney. In the period 2008 to 2014, Chris held various state office positions in which he: designed and developed online and multimedia teaching and learning resources; managed statewide student engagement and teacher professional learning programs; provided curriculum support and strategic advice for schools integrating technologies in teaching and learning; and managed trials of next practice initiatives and evaluations of educational programs. In 2014, Chris collaborated with key stakeholders to plan for and operationalise Aurora College, NSW’s first virtual school. The Aurora model is highly innovative when compared with other virtual schools worldwide in that the majority of learning is based on face-to-face, real-time lessons, where students work with their peers and teachers in a cutting-edge virtual learning environment.

Sue Bell

President, Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals (VASSP)

Sue Bell has been involved in education for 40 years. She has taught and been a leader in tech schools, academic high schools and pathway colleges, giving her a broad view of the teaching and learning experience of local and international students. Sue was Executive Principal of Monash College, the pathway college for Monash University, for five years, with locations in the Clayton, Caulfield and Peninsula campuses of Monash University as well as four overseas campuses in Singapore, Guangzhou, Sri Lanka and Jakarta. Her passion has always been about improving learning outcomes for students through understanding how they learn best. Sue was then Principal of Wantirna College, where she worked with her staff and the local community to use data and research to maximise the learning of individuals. From the beginning of 2018, Sue has been supporting the work of secondary principals across the state and promoting public education through her role as President of Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals.

Dr Jane Hunter

Senior Lecturer, Research Intensive & Engagement Leader: STEM Education Futures Research Centre, University of Technology

Jane Hunter is a former primary and secondary school head teacher. Her research focusses on the pedagogical framework of High Possibility Classrooms and building teacher capacity; in April 2019, it was awarded HIGH impact by the Australian Research Council in the Engagement and Impact Assessment. Three studies that she has conducted in STEM in NSW schools are the subject of a new book, to be published in 2020, and reinforce the importance of teacher professional learning and constructing teacher agency through ongoing school-university partnerships. This latest publication follows Technology Integration and High Possibility Classrooms: Building from TPACK (2015) and has led transformative change in many schools. Jane is a requested keynote speaker at national and international education conferences. An award-winning leader, she works in the School of International Studies and Education in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Leonie Clelland

Principal, Treendale Primary School

Leonie Clelland is the Foundation Principal of Treendale Primary School in Western Australia. Leonie is passionate about supporting teachers to provide opportunities for all students to succeed in an environment that fosters curiosity, creation and inquiry whilst nurturing happy kids. She has led a culture of growth and excellence at Treendale since its inception. Acknowledged as an Apple Distinguished School and Teacher Development School for Digital Technologies, teachers and leaders travel across the state to visit, learn from and be inspired. High levels of engagement are displayed at all times with staff and students learning together in spaces that promote and encourage choice. As an experienced school leader with more than 18 years in leadership roles across regional Western Australia and a member of the ACEL WA Branch Executive, Leonie brings knowledge and insight to this conversation.

Ann-Marie Furney

Director, SCHMIC Consulting

Ann-Marie Furney is an experienced school and systems leader with a passion for expanding opportunities for teachers and students in rural schools. Ann-Marie's recent work has focussed on activating and sustaining teacher collective efficacy. Helping teachers to work together to identify and address problems of learning and thinking. Throughout her career she has maintained a strong focus on pedagogy, innovation and teacher professional learning. Ann-Marie has always been interested in expanding opportunities for teachers and students to collaborate, to create new learning and expand their knowledge and experience. She led the implementation of xsel – a virtual selective high school operating across Western NSW. xsel was the first time synchronous IT delivery systems had been used to support the secondary education of an academically selective cohort of students.

Ann-marie founded SCHMIC Consulting in 2014. SCHMIC provides leadership, change management, strategic planning and teacher professional learning opportunities for schools and community organisations. Working collaboratively with colleague Kate English, Ann-marie co-wrote the Learning Thinking SCOPE a pedagogy of learning focusing on thinking. Incorporating a comprehensive professional learning program, delivered in context over time, Learning Thinking SCOPE is currently being tested by around 700 teachers working across years P-12 in rural, regional and metropolitan settings.

In 2016 Ann-marie was awarded an ACEL NSW Fellowship in recognition of her contribution to teacher professional learning and educational leadership. In 2019 she joined the NSW ACEL Executive.

Matthew Deeble

Director, Evidence for Learning

Matthew Deeble is the founding Director of the national, non-profit organisation Evidence for Learning. Matthew has more than 20 years’ experience in building and running enterprises in education and health. He co-founded Australia's first and largest schools internet supplier and is a non-executive Director of an evidence efficiency platform, Covidence.

Sophie Murphy

K-12 Educational Leader and PhD Candidate, the University of Melbourne

Sophie Murphy is an experienced Kinder-Year 12 teacher and educational leader in Australia. She has taught and held leadership positions in both Primary and Secondary settings in the State and Independent sectors for over the past 20 years in Canberra and Victoria. She is currently completing her PhD with Professor John Hattie at the University of Melbourne. Sophie’s PhD research focus is on effective communication and transfer of understanding through discourse and questioning, with a specific focus on student and teacher talk. Sophie currently writesa segment for the AEL, sharing student voices from across Australia. Sophie is contributing valuable insights as a forward-thinking, relevant and responsive educator into the private world of student voice, teacher voice and the voice of the school leader to build a culture of success through language. Sophie is a proud teacher advocate after experiencing a unique moment when she was on a plane and responded to the call of a teacher being on board to assist a teenage boy with down syndrome. When the story went viral, she shared that this is what ALL teachers do, every day. They communicate and connect.

Dr Barbara Watterston

Director, Watterston Consulting

Barbara Watterston is an education consultant, researcher and author. She has held a number of executive leadership positions across Australia in the education sector and learning institutes. She specialises in facilitation and research focussed on the design and delivery of professional learning programs to develop, enhance, and promote the work of the education profession – in particular school and system leadership to ensure learning for all can thrive. Her national research report, Insights: Environmental Scan Principal Preparation Programs contributed to five major national recommendations for preparing future school leaders. Barbara’s doctoral thesis focused on gender, leadership, and learning, which informed Women in School Leadership: Journeys to Success; and more recently Step In, Step Up: Empowering Women for the School Leadership Journey. Together with advocating for more diverse perspectives of leadership, she has a special interest in the links between leadership sustainability, wellbeing and impact on performance.

Hilary Bland

Principal, Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School

Hilary Bland is currently the Principal of The Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School (VCASS). She is an experienced educational leader who has held various roles in schools in Sydney, London and Melbourne. Hilary completed postgraduate studies in drama education at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London and later a Masters Degree through Monash University. In 2011 Hilary achieved Apple distinguished educator status for innovative leadership regarding technology. Recently she has studied positive psychology and is implementing learnings into the school environment. Hilary believes in the importance of giving students a global perspective to their studies and experiences. Not only is she passionate about Arts education, but she is also committed to adolescent health and well-being and leadership development.