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

Glen Pearsall (B Ed) is a highly experienced class room teacher who has been recognised as “one of the leading professional development presenters in Victoria.” His passion is improving the class room experience of teachers and young people by creating engaging and practical everyday approaches to new ideas in teaching. Glen has worked for the past seven years as English Teaching and Learning Leader at Eltham High School and is a board member of the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority. He has presented a wide array of professional development seminars and workshops for the TLN, AEU and Critical Agendas. He co-authored Literature for Life, a text for young people dealing with grief. Glen has a particular interest in the role of graduate teachers and has worked part time as a seminar leader and research fellow at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne

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.

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.

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.