WA Professional Learning Advisor

Dr Rashmi Watson joined Teacher Training Australia (TTA) as the Western Australian Professional Learning State Advisor in January 2013 and is keen to work collaboratively with the team to create effective and engaging professional experiences to enhance learning for all stakeholders.

Rashmi joined Cambridge Education Australia in 2011 as an Associate in Western Australia providing leadership courses for Principals and school leaders at various levels (K-12). In addition, she delivers whole-school professional learning to support schools in achieving their goals whilst meeting national standards of excellence.

Rashmi has extensive experience and interest in many areas of education, having worked with students from Kindergarten to higher education and adult education. She began in primary teaching with the majority being in early childhood (EC) education. Rashmi has spent a number of years in the university context with various roles including: supervising university teaching students during their school placements, tutoring, lecturing and coordinating numerous education units within early childhood, primary and post-graduate teacher training, leading the EC and primary literacy program, early childhood specialist units (undergraduate and Master’s level) and in a variety of units in effective pedagogy.

Since 2005, Rashmi has been in a consultancy role alongside her teaching role providing engaging workshops and support in a range of areas, including First Steps Literacy courses, early childhood and teaching and learning, for school leaders and whole-school development. Her other expertise includes positive change management through Appreciative Inquiry as an accredited facilitator. In 2008, Rashmi began facilitating workshops for academic staff across all Faculties and disciplines in higher education in all areas of teaching, learning, assessment and curriculum development.

In 2011, Rashmi won an inaugural Excellence in Teaching award in the university context. In the same year, she graduated from the Doctor of Education. Her thesis title was: Linking assessment and pedagogy: How pre-primary teachers monitor literacy practices in Catholic schools, Western Australia. The thesis won an award for Best Doctor of Education, past two years, Murdoch University Award, 2012.

“I am focused on developing a program for WA that actively engages participants in practical, educative support to enhance and improve practices in teaching, learning and assessment across diverse contexts.”

The following are the Key Learning Advisors that are currently employed in Western Australia

After many years in diverse teaching, speech pathology, literacy research and development roles; Carmel is currently enjoying her employment at a metropolitan government school. As a Deputy Principal with a focus to curriculum development and Learning Support, Carmel also has a Level 3 classroom teaching role in a Year 2 classroom. This combination of opportunities has enabled her to consider school improvement processes and staff development from various perspectives. One of her current interests is the development of connectivity between school administration processes and pedagogy. Carmel believes that by balancing challenge and support for more teachers to become curriculum leaders across phases of learning, whole school planning is more closely connected to classroom practice, performance management and the professional development of individual teachers.

Carmel is strongly committed to the co-construction of teachers’ professional learning and high quality teaching. Through her roles as a Getting it Right Literacy Specialist Teacher, a school-based speech pathologist, a child language researcher (across school sectors) as a tertiary lecturer and whilst working for ACARA; Carmel reflected on the diverse models of professional development available to undergraduate and practising teachers. During her doctoral studies she examined factors impacting on teachers’ reciprocal learning and subsequently developed processes for building expertise with classroom teachers and specialist staff. Her intent is always to improve the educational outcomes of individual children.

Opportunities to work in indigenous communities, with ESL students, non-English speaking families, students with disabilities and gifted and talented students have also shaped Carmel’s commitment to the effective teaching of a differentiated curriculum. With the recent application of the Early Years Learning Framework in Australia and the planned implementation of the Australian Curriculum, she encourages early years teachers to reflect on their repertoire of practice and developmentally appropriate strategies for literacy and numeracy teaching. Given the diversity of Australian schools and classrooms, each teacher’s greatest challenge will be the continuous provision of high quality teaching for each student.

“I am inspired by the opportunity to be involved in the development of TTA in Australia at a time when Australian teachers require access to exceptional professional development.“

Michelle Murphy is an experienced English teacher who has accumulated a great deal of knowledge, skills and abilities during her 25 year career which has provided her with opportunities to contribute in a variety of classroom and leadership roles to private and public schools, country and metropolitan schools, large and small schools. She loves the buzz of teaching and learning when it all works and culminates in the “Ahah!” moment of transference and sharing of skills that identifies true communication.

As an English teacher she has been employed as a WACE marker for both NAPLAN and TEE English Stage 3 and TEE English Stage 2 for several years which has allowed her to develop a significant understanding of syllabus issues related to her subject area. Her passion for and commitment to professional development and teaching has seen her recently acquire additional qualifications and experience in areas related to student participation and curriculum development; most notably Classroom Management and Instructional Strategies. She is currently involved in a number of networks and professional associations that value and empower English classroom teachers to ensure they are effective literacy educators who experience job satisfaction.

“I am excited about making a positive contribution to professional development opportunities for English and Literature teachers in WA. The adoption of a National Curriculum has created a need for and the potential to develop and share pedagogy with English teachers from all over Australia. TTA has the capacity to deliver authentic professional learning experiences and that is why I think this format will facilitate valuable resources for all teachers.”

Jane has a Masters in Education specialising in Learning Difficulties and Behaviour focusing on Policy Development). She has a broad range of experience across a number of areas in education. She started her career in the 80’s as a classroom teacher in a small rural school and from there has progressed into numerous and diverse settings around Western Australia, England and Canada as a classroom and distance education teacher, students at educational risk program coordinator, support officer learning difficulties and physical education specialist. Jane worked at a district office as a project manager in behaviour and advised schools on students at educational risk policies and programs. She has also worked as a deputy principal and lectured for Curtin University in curriculum and inclusive education. She continues to work with the Department of Education WA to support teachers working in the field of inclusive education and is also a certified trainer with Focus Education.

Jane has always been passionate about supporting others to make a difference and learning about learning. Her particular interest in catering for diverse learning needs and learning difficulties over the last 3 decades has lead her down the path of research into brain development and memory. This resulted in the formation of her business Brains Alive which focuses on educational neuroscience and how learning connections are made, centering on the whole child. This sits within the field of inclusive education and helps provide some answers for educators, carers and parents alike, as to why some students struggle with learning.

Sarah Tielman is an experienced Indonesian teacher and Head of Department. She has taught in Indonesia and Australia and her experience as both teacher and Head of Department is from Pre-Primary through to Year 12. Most recently, Sarah has worked as a Teaching and Learning Advisor - e-learning for Education Services Australia. During her time at ESA Sarah was heavily involved in the procurement and alignment of digital resources to the new Australian Curriculum and worked across all four first stage learning areas. Sarah has also been involved in a number of recent classroom trials and pilot projects which have looked at the use of ICT’s to support classroom practice.

As a result of Sarah’s work as a Languages teacher and administrator and her success in improving the state of the Languages programs within her schools, Sarah began work on a doctoral project entitled ‘(Un)natural selection in Languages Education, exploring the factors contributing to the implementation of embedded and sustainable Languages programs’.

Stephanie Brown has taught in both Primary and Secondary schools in Western Australia within both the private and public sector. She is a highly experienced Level Three Classroom teacher who recently left the classroom to explore new opportunities in education. Stephanie has delivered a wide array of professional development workshops for both Graduate and Senior teachers, specialising in curriculum planning, instructional practice and career promotion. Stephanie has a particular interest in developing newly Graduated Teachers, having worked as both a Graduate Coach and Presenter of Graduate Professional Development Modules for the past 3 years

She has also been a practicum supervisor/teacher for University students in their first year through to their final year of primary teacher training.

Stephanie is a highly experienced and engaging presenter with experience at all levels of schooling from early learning through to tertiary.

She graduated from Curtin University with both a Bachelor of Applied Science & Graduate Diploma in Education.

Stephanie‘s first 4 years teaching experience was in Home Economics, Art and Drama at several Western Australian secondary schools.

Stephanie has also taught in the Primary school setting for 15 years She worked in a collaborative teaching environment that enabled her students to explore the use of practical, hands-on activities whilst providing them with opportunities to improve and develop their critical thinking skills. She has developed an Inquiry based model of teaching which is Multiple Intelligence based that allows for interactive and relational dialogue.

She has developed an in-depth understanding of learning styles and how to cater for individual needs within a classroom. Her passion for enabling students to learn in a student centred learning environment led to her being awarded with both an Excellence in Teaching and Innovation in Teaching Award.

This open ended form of task completion fostered individual progression, higher-order thinking and collaborative learning that modelled curriculum differentiation and connected concepts for all students in mixed ability classrooms.

Stephanie demonstrates a strong personal interest and sound working knowledge of recent initiatives in education and has presented many valuable professional development courses in both online and face to face formats.

Richard has had a long involvement with education in a variety of positions; with the Department of Education in WA as a primary teacher, with Edith Cowan University, Curtin University and Notre Dame University as a primary mathematics lecturer of pre-service teachers and graduate teachers and with the Catholic Education Office as a primary mathematics and generalist consultant serving schools in all parts of WA.

Richard is well known for his love of mathematics. He develops and presents a range of Professional Learning opportunities for teachers and curriculum leaders. He has presented Train the Trainer PD in Mathematics, Integration, Assessment, Thinking Skills and Co-operative Learning. He brings to his workshops a wealth of strategies in generalist ideas and applies them to mathematics. One of his passions is enhancing teacher’s knowledge in mathematics to enable them to improve outcomes for the students they teach. He focuses on flexible thinking strategies through the use of mathematics manipulative materials, drawings and abstraction using graphic organisers in mathematics.

Paul is a self directed Educational Consultant who is currently employed as the Chief Examiner & Marker for the tertiary administration course of Design in Western Australia. He also holds a position as Facilitator for the European Pedagogical Information Computer Technology License program.

For the past seventeen years, Paul has been actively involved with and seen as a leader in the Design & Technology learning area. He started as a classroom teacher at St Mary’s College (QLD) and has since held a number of teaching positions, as well as leadership positions at Mater Dei College (WA) and Scotch College (WA).

His employment as a Head of Department at Scotch College was centred around being an instigator of strategic and pedagogical change through: restructuring the subject offering in the department; devising and implementing curriculum materials based on the International Baccalaureate middle school program; developing and co-project managing a new building program for the department; and implementing computer technologies into the teaching pedagogies.

Paul has significant experience in curriculum development and leadership. Whilst working at the Curriculum Council (WA) he was an integral to the implementation of new courses in Design and Technology across the state and monitored standards for eleven state-wide senior secondary courses. He was also engaged in the development of the Learning Area statements and standards for the Curriculum Framework and provided advice and leadership in the development of the Student Outcome Statements. In the final year of his employment, he researched and developed the briefs, content and assessment for eight of the existing post compulsory WACE courses.

In addition, Paul was employed as the Consultant for Technology & Enterprise at the Association of Independent Schools of WA (AISWA). Whilst at AISWA, Paul was responsible for the identification, structuring and delivery of professional development for Technology & Enterprise teachers in senior secondary schools. This involved a broad range of professional development and training offered to the Independent, Catholic and Public sectors. Part of his role was to be a member of eight senior secondary Courses of Study advisory committees.

Paul’s philosophy is about teaching and delivering of courses that engage and inspire students to develop a passion for the subject and its relationship to lifelong learning. He is an enthusiastic supporter of the use of technology in the classroom and encourages teachers to promote relevant real life learning environments for their students.