Victorian Professional Learning Advisor

Ron Toomey (BA Melb. BEd Latrobe. MEd Melb. PhD Monash) started out as a secondary school English and Social Science teacher in Victoria. He subsequently worked in the Curriculum Branch of the Queensland Department of Education and then managed aspects of the Victorian HSC program for the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education.These roles involved both managing curriculum development and related teacher professional learning. He has worked in teacher education in four Australian Universities. The last of these positions was as Professor of Education and Foundation Head of the School of Education at Victoria University. Over a long period he has worked on projects delivering, managing and evaluating professional learning programs. For the last twelve years he has worked as an educational consultant with commissions from DEEWR, the DEECD in Victoria, AusAID, VECCI, Curriculum Corporation, the OECD and many others. Much of this has been related to delivering, managing and evaluating teacher professional learning programs. He also currently holds two honorary positions. At Australian Catholic University he is an Adjunct Professor within the Faculty of Education’s Centre for Lifelong Learning. At the University of Newcastle he is a Conjoint Professor within the School of Education.

The following are the Key Learning Advisors that are currently employed in Victoria

Carmel has been teaching in Victoria for about twenty-five years. Although her experience ranges from pre-school children to pre-service teachers and she has held a variety of leadership roles, her work has been predominately in Curriculum, mathematics and Middle Primary. Carmel is passionate about effective pedagogy and the development of learner/learnee relationships for maximising each person's potential in an enjoyable and productive way! Carmel is currently teaching BEd Primary and BEd Early Childhood students at ACU Auqinas Campus in Ballarat.

Alex is Director of Resources: Languages and Literacy at Brighton Grammar School. This position replaces the Head of English and Head of LOTE positions at the school, where he oversees the human and financial resource management for those two departments. He is also the Curriculum Co-ordinator for Years 9 and 10 English. He has been developing curriculum in a leadership role for eight years, with a particular focus on the needs of boys in developing the passion and confidence in English. He has presented at the VATE Middle Years Conference on using online chat rooms for assessing wider reading and at the VATE State Conference on the development of Elective modules in an English syllabus. He has spent time teaching in France as a Language Assistant. He is an experienced assessor of the VCE English examination. He has a strong focus on encouraging innovation within his curriculum areas whilst maintaining a strong level of core skills development.

Tracy is the Head of Mathematics at Strathcona Baptist Girls’ Grammar School. She has excellent experience in developing innovative curriculum at the Year 7 – 9 level. She has presented a variety of workshops at the MAV Annual Conference and NAVCON 2K7, as well as running quality professional development for her school. She has been highly influenced in her practice and thinking by her knowledge gained when undertaking Teaching for Understanding course at Harvard University School of Education and attending the 12th International Thinking Conference. Tracy has a great interest in problem based learning, inquiry learning and Habits of Mind in Mathematics. She has a strong knowledge and passion for improving Mathematics teaching through innovative yet practical changes in teaching and learning.

Bill Esman (BSc hons. Bed, MRACI CChem) is a Science /Mathematics/Chemistry teacher at Padua College Mornington with over 30 years experience in teaching students from year 7 through first Year University. He has run professional development sessions for teachers at both the College and local schools and had articles published in educational and professional magazines. His current passion is applying the principles of Brain Based Learning to his classes and sharing the results with colleagues. He is also actively involved in analysing the proposed National Curriculum and assessing its impact on school based courses when implemented.

Ross has taught in both Australia and the UK and is currently the Director of ICT at a Girls’ Secondary College in the Southern suburbs of Melbourne. He specialises in programming, multimedia tools and using Web 2.0 technologies with his students, as well as the development of student friendly assessment tools and techniques. Ross has completed his Masters in School Leadership and Post Graduate Certificate in Assessment and Evaluation. Ross utilises free and open source programming and multimedia software with his students and is focused on spreading the use of such software through other schools and colleges.

Anna Murphy is currently the Humanities Domain Co-ordinator at St. Columba’s College, Essendon. Over a twenty year career she has taught a wide variety of Humanities subjects including History, Geography, Legal Studies, Political Studies and Accounting and across all secondary year levels. In her work she continually strives to improve and refine her teaching practice. Anna is excited that Humanities subjects have been recognised within the National Curriculum as essential in the education of Australian students. She is passionate about the way Humanities is delivered and the role of the teacher in engaging students in their learning. As a domain co-ordinator Anna has supported teachers who are new to Humanities subjects by providing access to professional development and teacher networks. She has presented workshops at VCTA Comview, developed VCE course material for commercial purposes and conducted in-house professional development for her school.

Norma Ashton-Smith (HDT SAC, Grad Dip Ed Admin, M Ed, D Ed) is Campus Coordinator of Glenvale School in Berwick. Norma has had extensive senior management experience within schools. Her Doctoral research has a curriculum focus with a particular interest in the integration of new learning technologies into schools and their impact upon teachers. As Director of Curriculum, she was responsible for whole-school curriculum design and development, teaching and learning strategies, and the integration of new learning technologies into classroom teaching practice. Norma’s experience as Director of Human Resources incorporated responsibility for the management of staff in areas such as professional development, induction, performance management, curriculum and student teacher practice. Her recent and past experiences as Head of Visual Arts confirm Norma’s strong belief in the value of arts education. She agrees with Oddleifson (1991) that the deepest and most lasting learning is participatory and whole brained, which is precisely what arts education has to offer.

Katy Marriner (BA, Dip Ed. Monash University) is currently an English and Literature teacher at St. Columba¹s College, Essendon. Over a twenty five year career she has taught a wide variety of subjects including English,Literature, Geography and Religious Education. Outside of school hours, Katy writes curriculum guides for feature films and documentaries, and in doing so addresses the curriculum of a variety of disciplines and domains. She is also a writer and lecturer for a number of educational organisations including the Victorian Association for Teaching English and The School for Excellence.

Simone Cassidy is a Japanese teacher and the LOTE Co-ordinator at Copperfield College, Sydenham. Simone has taught in Japan and Australia working with primary and secondary school students. While working in Japan, she conducted professional development for assistant language teachers. She has also worked at Monash University, training pre-service language teachers and conducting educational research. Simone is currently completing a Masters in Asian Studies in which she has focused her research on Australian policy on Asian Language Education in secondary schools. Simone is also interested in the use of ICT as a means of engaging students in language learning and providing them with opportunities to engage with authentic sources of the language they study. This interest has lead Simone to take on the role of a "lead Ultranet user" at her school, a role that requires her to train and support her colleagues in the use of ICT.

B.A & M.A Monash, Dip.Ed Rusden, Lee is a committed Arts educator with a focus on Media Education, Media Production & Cyber Technologies. Originally a secondary, Drama, Media and English teacher for six years, Lee was seconded to the Curriculum Branch of the Victorian Education Department where she developed Media Education courses and produced videos for schools exploring media issues. At this time she also wrote and produced the 16mm film Thomastown which was broadcast on the Seven network and ABC TV. She then spent 18 years as a Senior Lecturer in Media Education at RMIT University, where she taught in the B. Ed. Primary, Dip.Ed Secondary and B.A. Communications. Lee was the developer and teacher of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School’s 16mm film production external course for 10 years whilst at RMIT. Lee also taught Cross Arts subjects at post graduate level and was a researcher focussing on audience responses to media. From 2002- 2006 Lee was the Education Manager at the Australian Children’s Television Foundation where she managed the education resources for the ACTF and represented it at international conferences and events. During this time she designed and managed an exhibition of ACTF animation cells and films at Dromkeen. Lee now has her own consultancy, imMEDIAte issues. Currently, Lee is the national consultant for Screen Education, a national journal produced by the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM). She is a writer and consultant for The Age's Education section and the Australian Communications and Media Authority's (ACMA) Cybersmart website. She is regularly invited to present at international and local Media Education conferences. Lee consultants to Departments of Education in QLD Victoria and NSW to provide professional development for teachers from K- 12 on media literacy and cross curriculum issues via key notes at conferences, seminars and workshops and print and digital resources. For 20 years Lee has regularly appeared as a media commentator for ABC radio and she has written for the Age, the Australian and education journals. Lee has had published over 400 articles, courses, online resources, CD ROMs, DVD ROMs and books. She is co-author, with Phillip Adams, of Talkback Emperors of Air (Allen & Unwin 1997), an expose of Australia’s shock jocks.