Michael is a father, a friend, a learner, and a leader, who lives, learns and works on Kaurna Land, in South Australia. He believes that his purpose in education is to inspire, motivate and support people to live well in a world worth living in. Michael began his professional life as a chef, before attending Flinders University to first study Marine Biology and ultimately become an educator. Following a Master’s degree in Gifted Education, Michael began teaching in regional South Australia, undertaking leadership roles in two schools in Middle Years and Mathematics, before becoming a Leading Learning Consultant in the Catholic Education South Australia head office. Seizing the opportunity in 2020 of online learning environments, Michael studied at Sydney University, completing a Graduate Certificate of Educational Leadership. Always drawn to learn from the passion and skills of others, Michael has supported the development of the “World Elephant Day” curriculum, a combined project with the Human Elephant Learning Program, and UNESCO, a project he became familiar with in Zoom “break out rooms” when studying with a global cohort at Sydney University. Having worked in a range of roles across sectors in South Australia, Michael returned to school-based leadership at Norwood International High School, where a record infrastructure build was being undertaken, to lead the development of culture in the Mathematics Learning Area.

In preparation for working in the complex build project and diverse environment at Norwood International High School, Michael developed plans and systems that are centred on how social life and education are produced, reproduced, and through collective action, transformed, in practices. This model produces a clear articulation of the current and future state of communities, and aims to develop a self-awareness of collective staff, so they are empowered to build a positive, autonomous future in which they can work and thrive. The case study for this project has been presented at international conferences, as well as a documented in Australian Educational Leader as an expression of planning within the framework of the Theory of Practice Architectures.

Committed to the ongoing development of the profession, Michael is also a part time teaching lecturer at the University of Adelaide, where he delivers engaging sessions on Curriculum and Pedagogy to post-graduate students in Mathematics and General Science. He has continued mentoring students from these programs, and his students enjoy a very high employability rate, with some going on to be Principals and leaders in a variety of school contexts.

Michael approaches his work with a thorough clarity, and after being asked what the optimum test length was for mathematics, he conducted a clarificative evaluation that was published in the Australian Mathematics Education Journal to improve the quality of his answer. Michael is known for his commitment to the development of collective staff emotional intelligence and a sense of connection within the ecosystem of school faculties. Staff he works with appreciate the truly distributed leadership models used, commitment to emotional intelligence, highly engaging faculty projects, rewarding working environment, and a variety of panna cotta made for each meeting.

On his desk, Michael has a laser cut replica of the tables from a previous home class, and a card from a student that bares the words: “I can’t say a big enough thank you for everything you do. I admire your ability to include people, empower us and I appreciate the joy and smile you bring to everyone. You only deserve the best. Have fun taking on a new world, I know you will win”.