Excellence in Professional Practice Conference

About our Expert and Concurrent Presenters

Belinda Berrington, Teaching Artist, The Song Room (Concurrent Presenter)

Belinda Berrington has an extensive background in theatre, working as director, actor, writer, workshop facilitator, producer and artistic director. Belinda is a graduate of Griffiths BA Applied Theatre course and has a Masters degree in Education/Drama. She established Green Mango Theatre in 2003 producing street/fringe theatre, community cultural development projects and theatre in education. She is passionate about creating opportunities for young people to experience art in exciting and new ways, helping them to develop and grow through artistic mediums.

Helen Bezzina, Acting Leader Teacher and Teaching and Learning Coach, Thomastown Meadows Primary School, VIC (Concurrent Presenter)

Helen drives planning with the use of data and relates this to teacher practice within the classroom. She was the Learning Leader at Thomastown Meadows for two years implementing the NMR ’s AiZ. In her current position, she has built upon developing Teaching Practice to bring about continued student performance.

Erin Bolger, Teacher, Mabel Park State High School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Erin has previous experiences in exercise science and mental health and has an interest in Biological Science and Numeracy. Erin is working on how educators can optimise learning by creating a dynamic classroom culture, including the use of digital learning spaces, kinaesthetic learning and building capacities as students move into Senior Schooling. She is currently involved in Action Research into Working Memory and Pedagogical practices.

Angela Brennan, Deputy Principal, Edge Hill State School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Angela began her career 20 years ago as a primary school teacher. Her passion for curriculum has resulted in a variety of leadership roles, including Head of
Curriculum, leading whole school curriculum initiatives. Angela was the recipient of the 2012 (Australian College of Educators) Noreen Wilcox Awards for Excellence in Education, non-classroom based educator category.

Daniel Buttacavoli, Curriculum Coordinator, Emmanual College, VIC (Concurrent Presenter)

Daniel has taught in Australia and overseas for 10 years. In that time he has led several professional learning teams focused on improving teacher practice which have informed the implementation of the Australian Curriculum at his school. Daniel was the Victorian nominee for the AITSL Australian Secondary Teacher of the Year Award in 2012.

Philip Callil, President, Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association (Expert Presenter)

Philip has been an Apple Distinguished Educator since 2006. In 2011, he worked in the eLearning Team at the Catholic Education Office, Melbourne, and was Faculty Head of ICT at Xavier College since 2001. He was heavily involved in the integration of ICT across the curriculum at Xavier College through innovation and eLearning for more than 20. In recent years, Phil was the Director of Learning and Teaching at Mater Christi College and in 2013 took up the role of Director of Information Technology and eLearning at Yarra Valley Grammar.

Sean Collins, Head of English, Emmanual College, VIC (Concurrent Presenter)

Sean leads Professional Learning Groups in analysing and assessing data, feedback and visible learning, assessment as feedback for teachers, and levels of feedback. Sean undertook the VIT Identifying High Performing Teachers Pilot Program in 2012 and he has worked as a teacher for more than 10 years.

Tracy Cronin, Head of Curriculum, Mount Ommaney Special School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Tracy has worked in Special Education for over 15 years, primarily with students with complex needs. She has a Master of Education (Special Education) from the University of Southern Queensland. She is passionate about engaging students with the curriculum using innovative and functional pedagogies and currently works across the whole school campus. Tracy is a Mentor Teacher for the Teacher Education Centre of Excellence Special Education in Brisbane. She has recently been involved in the writing of a Literacy Framework for Special Schools through the Special Education Curriculum Cluster.

Sherrie Davis, Dean of Teaching and Learning, Beach Currumbin State High School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Sherrie began teaching in 1988 in the far North Queensland Gulf country town of Normanton. Her two years in this remote location gave her a solid foundation and passion for teaching in the Middle Years. Throughout her career she has worked in the roles of: Year Coordinator, Head of Middle School, Head of English, Regional Literacy Manager, Regional Literacy Advisor and now Dean of Teaching and Learning. She is driven by the beliefs that students must be ‘insiders’ to their own learning and that ongoing professional development of teachers to deliver ‘cuttingedge’ pedagogy is critical to improving student outcomes.

Kirsty Edwards, Head of Curriculum, Edge Hill State School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Kirsty began her career as a secondary Maths and Science teacher and has worked as a Regional Curriculum Adviser and Regional Manager.

Donna Evans, Deputy Head of School, The Glennie School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Donna has worked as a secondary teacher for a number of years, working in both the public and private education sector, regional and metropolitan schools, religious and non-denominational, in single sex and co-educational environments undertaking a variety of roles as a Social Science /Economics/English teacher, a Head of Department (Social Science) and Director of Curriculum and Learning. Her professional interests relate to the way teachers work in constantly changing internal and external environments.

Jim Green, Education Program Officer, Mount Ommaney Special School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Jim Green has been involved in Special Education since 2004 and initiated Mount Ommaney Special School's partnership with The Song Room in 2009, having identified a need to increase student’s curriculum access to the arts. Since then Jim has been instrumental in the development and evolution of the partnership to the point where there is now an effective and sustainable drama program in every classroom. Since the partnership’s NAB Schools First award in 2011, Jim has led a project to produce an educational documentary on the benefits of educating students with complex support needs through drama.

Sarah Greenhatch, Teacher, Woorabina State School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Sarah has been teaching for three and half years at Woorabinda and has previously taught in Brisbane. She has taught within Special Education and as a classroom teacher.

Dr Eeqbal Hassim, Senior Manager (Australian Curriculum and Research), Asia Education Foundation, The University of Melbourne (Expert Presenter)

Dr Eeqbal Hassim works closely with ACARA in his current role and is on its General Capabilities Advisory Group. He has also held a range of academic and research management roles at The University of Melbourne, the Australian Catholic University and Deakin University. Eeqbal completed a first-class Honours and a PhD from the Asia Institute (The University of Melbourne). He was co-developer for the UNESCO-listed Learning from One Another project and the DEEWR-funded Difference Differently diversity education resource. In 2010, he was profiled by a range of national and international newspapers, including The Age (Insight), Herald Sun and Berita Harian (Singapore Press Holdings).

Alanna Hawthorne-Smith, Assistant Principal, Thomastown Meadows Primary School, VIC (Concurrent Presenter)

Alanna was a Leading Teacher for 15 years running Literacy and Numeracy. In her role as Assistant Principal it has been her passion to drive the Northern Metropolitan Region’s (NMR ) Powerful Learning document and Curiosity and Powerful Learning through teacher practice.

Stacey King, Head of Department (Mathematics and Science), Mabel Park SHS, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Stacey has an interest in how improvement strategies and teaching innovations affect the performance of students in the transition from primary through to senior schooling, including the needs of diverse learners, especially those with learning difficulties and the gifted and talented. Stacey is a previous recipient of the Peter Doherty Outstanding Primary and Middle Phase of Learning Teacher of Science Award and is currently involved in action research into working memory and pedagogical practices.

Anne McGrath, Education Manager/ Teacher of the Deaf, Media Access Australia (MAA)/ Catholic Education Office, NSW (Concurrent Presenter)

Anne combines her experience with students who are deaf and those who have hearing impairment, to inform her role at MAA . MAA ’s comprehensive Education Strategy includes the exploration and development of best practice models for accessibility to captioned educational multimedia. Anne has personal experience of hearing impairment, growing up with a deaf mother and being hearing impaired herself. Anne uses hearing instruments and assistive
listening devices as part of her daily life.

Anne Mirtschin, Teacher, Hawkesdale P12 College, VIC (Concurrent Presenter)

Anne is passionate about rural and global education, immersing technology into the classroom, eLearning, and collaborating and learning online. She currently teaches Information Technology and Accounting. Anne is a web conference coach for Digital Learning, Victorian Education Department and Early Childhood Development, coorganising and moderating two weekly webinars, Tech Talk Tuesdays and eT@lking. She has presented locally, nationally and internationally both in person and virtually. Anne is an innovative, award winning teacher, (including ACCE’s Australian Educator of the Year 2012) who uses online tools to create powerful learning opportunities for students.

Naomi Meerwald, Acting Principal, Darlington State School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Naomi started teaching in 1993 in Bamaga, Cape York, teaching in an Indigenous community for two years. In 1995, she returned to Brisbane to teach Physical Education across the Inala District before returning to the middle phase classroom at Richlands East State School in 1996. After eight and a half years she joined the Logan Albert Beaudesert Behaviour Advisory Team supporting students at risk of suspension and exclusion. This led to acting roles as Head of Curriculum and Head of Special Education across the Metropolitan and South East Regions.

Mike O’Connor, Principal, Mabel Park State High School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Mike was appointed in 2009 and is committed to ensuring that every student at his school exits with recognised qualifications and a successful pathway.
Mike’s teaching career has taken him to Gladstone, Calen, Hannaford (Teaching Principal), Helensvale (Deputy Principal) and Eagleby South (Principal). Mike has presented his leadership models to professional audiences in Toronto, Canada and all over Queensland.

Yvonne Patterson, Lead Teacher and Literacy and Data Coach, Gray Primary School, NT (Concurrent Presenter)

Yvonne is a teacher, with more than 30 years experience. She is passionate about children and their learning, and knows that through education a difference can be made to individual lives. During the past two years she has been actively involved in the Northern Territory pilot of the new Australian Curriculum and has developed materials in Mathematics, Science and English to support student learning. In her role as Lead Teacher and Literacy and Data coach, she models teaching practice and collects, collates and analyses data to inform classroom practice.

Catherine Pearn, Teaching Fellow, ACER (Expert Presenter)

Catherine Pearn is a Teaching Fellow at ACER (0.4) and a lecturer (Mathematics Education) in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at The University of Melbourne (0.6). As a lecturer in Mathematics Education at the University of Melbourne, Cath teaches early childhood, primary and special education students at postgraduate level. She assisted with the writing of the Australian Numeracy Benchmarks and Victorian curriculum documents. She was the numeracy expert for the School Entry Assessment project in Victoria. Most recently she was a member of the Mathematics Expert Panel for the Department of Education and Early Childhood (DEECD) and gave feedback to the draft Australian curriculum documents. Cath is a Teaching Fellow in the ACER Institute. In this role she has written, delivered and reviewed programs for Australian primary and secondary classroom teachers across Australia and Internationally. Cath has been an advisor for a variety of Early Years, Primary Years and the Middle Years Numeracy Research Projects. From 2004 to 2005 she was an investigator for the research project: Intervention in the Number Learning of Low-Attaining 3rd- and 4th-Graders. Her most recent research experience was with the Australasian research project: Mathematical thinking of pre-school children in rural and regional Australia: research and practice. Cath continues to be invited to present her research at schools, networks of schools and at state, national and international conferences. Cath has been an invited contributor on several important Australian and state government (Victorian) groups.

Anne Pearson, Senior Teacher (Prep), Mango Hill State School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

After beginning teaching 27 years ago in Logan City, Anne taught in early primary, preschool and now Prep. From 2008 to 2011, Anne was a Demonstration Teacher at Kelvin Grove State College for QUT and EQ, and has worked with CQU and QUT as a guest lecturer and currently as a Mentor with the KGTECE and as a Supervising teacher. She has also presented for
ECTA to support and provide information to teachers on best practice in Prep during Prep’s inception and now with the implementation of the Australian Curriculum.

Linda Shardlow, Head of Mathematics, Methodist Ladies College, VIC (Concurrent Presenter)

Linda’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Science, a Graduate Diploma in Education and a Master of Education. Linda has been a teacher of mathematics for 30 years at the secondary level and has taught at both state and independent schools, coeducational and single-sex. She also has a strong interest in professional learning for teachers and has been involved in presenting professional learning sessions for teachers of all disciplines.

Pamela Stewart, Manager (Australian Curriculum Strategy), Asia Education Foundation (Expert Presenter)

Pamela has a Masters in Education in the Studies of Asia and began her career as a secondary teacher of History, Geography and English in Western Australia. Pamela has managed a number of projects for the Western Australian Department of Education including, until 2007, the Western Australian Access Asia Program. In more recent years, she has worked with Education Services Australia as a curriculum consultant and written a range of Asiafocused curriculum texts and online resources for schools.

Alma Tooke, Head of Visual Arts, Methodist Ladies College, VIC (Expert Presenter)

Alma has been teaching in the Visual Arts for 25 years. Alma believes that fostering and developing critical, creative and reflective thinking in students will lead not only to inspiration for great art, but will develop students who will be able to take the greatest advantage of whatever opportunities the unpredictable and rapidly changing world of the 21st century throws their way. Prior to coming to Melbourne she was Chief Moderator for Art SAS in South Australia and was involved in syllabus reform for SSA BSA. She has presented at many conferences both interstate and overseas.

Evan Willis, Principal, Pullenvale State School, QLD (Concurrent Presenter)

Evan has previously held Teaching Principal, Head of Department, Deputy
Principal and Acting Principal roles across the Darling Downs. Evan and his staff are proud recipients of the Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba, Social Justice Award in recognition of the work they undertook in the school to ease tensions between Indigenous, non-Indigenous and a variety of African, Asian and Middle Eastern student groups. Evan collaborated with the Dare to Lead organisation (Lyndall Hill) and the University of Queensland (Associate Professor Liz Mackinlay) to mentor Indigenous preservice teachers to create the Deadly Medley Program. NA B seed funding assists the embedding of the aims and objectives of this program.