Speakers, Presenters and Panelists

Chris Althaus is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA).

AMTA is the peak national body representing Australia’s mobile telecommunications industry and operates programs covering telecommunications policy, infrastructure, health/safety, recycling and law enforcement / national security.

AMTA represents mobile Carriage Service Providers, handset manufacturers, network equipment suppliers, retail chains and other suppliers to the industry.

In July 2008 AMTA formed a partnership with the Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO) to:

• build new approaches to school learning
• improve communication between parents and schools
• analyse ways that new converging technologies can help improve education both at home and at school

An example of this partnership in action is ACSSO's nationwide promotion of AMTA's guidelines for dealing with cyber bullying and mobile phone abuse, an outstanding example of commercial industry interests accepting a role of corporate social responsibility and acting on it in partnership with a parent organisation.

Terry Aulich has held the position of Executive Director with the Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO) since early 2004.

Terry Aulich has been State Education Minister as well as Minister for the Arts, Manpower Planning and Training; and for many years a Senator for Tasmania.

As Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Education & Training, he made a significant contribution to the education debate over issues such as adult education and, later, the quality of university teaching.

Terry was a senior teacher of English and History for ten years. Later he was an organiser with the Tasmanian Teachers Federation and in 1983-84 he was State Secretary of the ALP in Tasmania.

For over twelve years his company, Aulich & Co, provided strategic advice to more than 60 major Australian companies and organisations. This service included the building of communications strategies and the provision of hands-on media training. He was director of the Australian School of Government Studies (ASGS) from 1993, in charge of all polling and focus groups.

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Margaret is President of the Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens' Associations (QCPCA) and previously Vice President and Treasurer of the national body. Margaret joined her first P&C when she lived on a cattle station 400km from town in the Northern Territory - home schooling her children as a member of the Katherine School of the Air P&C and a member of Isolated Children's Parents Association.

Her family's home schooling days continued in Sarawak for a time, and then back in Australia where they decided the children needed the social interaction of other children - in a two-teacher country school - where she learnt first hand what QCPCA could do for our schools. P&Cs do give parents a voice and provide a forum where each person’s beliefs and concerns can be discussed.

As President, Margaret foreshadows interesting times ahead for State education, in no doubt that there will be a major push for national consistency in areas such as Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting, to name just a few, where the full impact of what this means is yet to be clearly outlined and worked through inclusively of all the stakeholders - especially parents!

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Andrew is President of the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals (VASSP), President of the Australian Secondary Principals Association (ASPA) and World President of the International Confederation of Principals (ICP).

Andrew has over 30 years experience working as a teacher and principal in Victoria. He was Principal of Mt Eliza Secondary College and Murrayville Secondary College and taught at Churchill Post Primary School, Maryvale High School and Derrinallum High School. He has also taught Graduate Diploma of Teaching/Visual Arts courses at Monash University.

Andrew is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators (ACE) and the immediate past President of the Victorian Branch of ACE. He is also a Board Member and Director of the Education Foundation, a Board Member of the Asia Education Foundation and an Executive Member of the International Confederation of Principals.

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Jennifer Branch has been President of the Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO) since 2005; and previous to that held positions of Senior Vice President and Vice President of ACSSO.

Jennifer has been actively involved in public schooling in Tasmania since her daughter started preschool, representing the interests of parents on the Tasmanian State School Parents & Friends organisation from 2001, subsequently becoming their Vice President and in recent times (and currently continuing) the State President.

At State level Jennifer’s work on a range of projects and advisory committees has gained the recognition of formal Awards from the Minister for Education.

And at federal level, Jennifer’s wide-ranging commitments include active membership on an extensive range of national steering committees, advisory groups, planning forums and policy development processes.

Jennifer is a passionate advocate for an effective public education system which achieves the highest standards and provides access to an appropriate range of opportunities that can enable and assist every child to achieve their potential.

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Getting parents involved in schools in remote areas of Northern Australia presents complex challenges of distance, isolation, languages and cultures. Families, rather than parents, have strong ideas about what they expect of schooling.

Getting them involved means negotiating the story of school and then finding ways to raise the level of their cultural capital so they can operate effectively in whitefella structures, which doesn’t necessarily mean coercing people into adopting an alien system.

The first step is building relationships and developing trust, which takes time.

Michael Duffy is vice-president of the Northern Territory Council of Government School Organisations and is closely involved in two funded projects - Strong Schools, Strong Communities and Parents and Teachers Working Together.

He is a freelance writer and editor who has worked with Aboriginal communities and organisations in Northern Australia for more than 20 years. "It's a learning process, which makes it both exciting and exhausting," he says. "And I've learned to leave my ego at the door, listen carefully and avoid narrowing the parameters and pre-judging the outcome!".

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Sue Ferguson is Manager, Strategic Communication, The Le@rning Federation, Curriculum Corporation.

Sue is responsible for the Helping at home pilot which aims to provide access to digital curriculum content for parents to use to help their children at home.

Sue has been Manager, Curriculum Development in the Victorian education department and was Project Director for the Discovering Democracy project.

Sue started her professional career as a secondary maths teacher in Victorian government schools.

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Angelo Gavrielatos is the newly elected Federal President of the Australian Education Union (AEU), where he had been the Deputy Federal President since July 2003 and Deputy President from 2006. Angelo had been an Organiser in Western Sydney since 1992. Prior to this, he was a secondary teacher in Green valley in South West Sydney.

A commitment to social justice unionism is at the heart of his work. His areas of primary responsibility have included the development and implementation of campaigns in a range of social justice areas within the Australian context and beyond.

Angelo was born in Newcastle and grew up in Bankstown, a South Western suburb of Sydney where he attended Bankstown Public School and Punchbowl Boys High School. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), from University of Sydney and a Graduate Diploma in Education, Sydney Institute of Education. He is married with two children.

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Getting back in the workforce, building your own skills and balancing work, home and other competing priorities, isn't easy.

Liana Gorman of Part-Time Online helps both employees and employers to plan so that part-time work is productive, available and satisfying.

ACSSO is also interested, like Liana, in providing avenues for parents to improve their skills and confidence and to reach the right type of employer.

Recognised as Australia’s leading industry spokesperson on flexibility in the workplace, it's Liana's celebrated 25 year career in recruitment placing hundreds of successful candidates across a diverse range of industries that has shaped her cutting edge view of the Australian employment landscape.

Working in Australia for small business, national and global organisations and responsible for professional, government and executive disciplines as well as niche retail, call centre and onsite 'blue collar' placements, Liana has herself balanced both full time and part time jobs and is now an active advocate of flexibility in the workplace.

A parent of 2 school aged children, Liana understands the conflicting priorities faced by parents, teachers and employers alike in trying to balance the demands of all areas of their professional and personal lives.

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Brenton is Research, Projects & Communications Officer for the Family-School and Community Partnerships Bureau, an organisation dedicated to greater parental engagement and community involvement in Australian schools.

The Bureau conducts research, disseminates best practice and provides practical support and advice to parents, principals, teachers and others about how to build and sustain partnerships.

The Bureau is funded by the Australian government, and is governed by the two peak parent bodies representing the government and non-government school sectors: the Australian Council of State School Organisations, and the Australian Parents Council. Both have long been involved with, and have frequently collaborated in, the promotion of parent and community engagement with schools.

Brenton has spent most of his career in the public and parliamentary services, He is a former head of the Parliamentary Education Office, and was Senior Clerk of Committees in the Australian Senate. Brenton has been a Public Member of the Australian Press Council since 2003.

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Brian Johnson has won the highest award in Australian journalism, the Walkley Award.

In a career spanning 26 years, he was news director at Triple M Melbourne and Sydney, working with the D-generation and Eddie McGuire, Doug Mulray, Paul Vautin.

In 1994, he established his own company. His clients at Fingerprint Communications have included Readers Digest, Wheels motor magazine, National Nine News, the Australian Tourism Commission, 60 Minutes, Telstra and Optus.

Communications in any organisation is about building relationships and clear messages. Whether you are in a school or a bureaucracy, all employees need to understand that they have a part to play in making their organisation credible and respected.

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Kathe Kirby is Executive Director of the Asia Education Foundation and Asialink, University of Melbourne - Australia’s largest Asia-Australia Institute.

Kathe has a long background in education having worked as a secondary school teacher, university lecturer in education and as a senior policy officer in the Department of Education, Victoria, prior to joining Asialink in 1993 to run the Asia Education Foundation (AEF).

The AEF is a national strategy to lead and promote the studies of the countries of Asia in Australian school curriculum. Kathe’s expertise focuses on leading change and innovation in education.

Over her career she has worked at the cutting edge of student focused learning, the use of ICT in schools and vocational education. In 2001 Kathe was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate studies of Asia in schools in the US, UK, Japan and Korea.

The work of the AEF has been recognised internationally as world’s best practice in developing curriculum that prepares children for an interconnected world in which the Asian region will increasingly play a central role. In 2007, Kathe was nominated as an education finalist in the The Bulletin’s Smart 100.

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Tony is Executive Director of the Melbourne based Centre for Strategic Education, Australia, a Centre focused on leading educational thinking and practice at State, National and International levels. Tony is also an Honorary Fellow in the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne. Tony specialises in the areas of school and system leadership, improvement and innovation.

Tony's work at State, National and International levels focuses on strategic thinking and facilitation for Government bodies, education agencies, think tanks, school boards and leadership teams.

It encompasses the areas of school and system leadership, improvement and innovation, teacher professionalism and curriculum and assessment policy and includes the design and implementation of Research and Development Programs and Leadership Development Programs.

Tony is a founding member of the Governing Council of the National College for School Leadership in England and is a Visiting Fellow at the London Leadership Centre. He is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Innovation Unit Ltd. England; an OECD Senior Consultant for the Schooling For Tomorrow Project, Improving School Leadership Project and Alternative Models of Learning Project and a DEMOS International Associate. He is currently working on a number of ‘Next Practice Projects’ on School Leadership and Improvement and Reform in Australia, UK, Europe, Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

Tony is President-elect of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and School Improvement (ICSEI). Tony has recently been appointed as Deputy Chair of the Australian Government’s new National Curriculum Board.

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Dr Denis Muller is a social and policy research consultant, and a Visiting Fellow in the Centre for Public Policy at the University of Melbourne.

He has conducted a substantial body of research in the education policy field, including:

• a national study into parents’ attitudes to the teaching of values in education in 2007-2008
• an evaluation of the program Successful Learning in the Early Years of Schooling: The Indigenous Parent Factor in 2007
• Family-School Partnerships: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study, for ACSSO, APC and DEST in 2005-06

• An Evaluation of the Families Matter Program, for ACSSO, APC, APAPDC and DOHA in 2005-06
• The Privilege and the Price: A Study of the Impact of Workload on the Health and Well-being of Principal-class People in Victorian Government Schools, for DE&T, Victoria, in 2003
• The Potential for Families Matter, for ACSSO and APC in 2002

Dr Muller has also conducted research projects on parents' aspirations for their children's education, workplace stress in schools, and workload analysis in schools. Since 1995 he has conducted a biennial survey, Forecasting Teacher Demand by Subject, for DE&T, Victoria.

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Fiona has been extensively involved in community work for over 25 years. As Area Chaplain with YouthCARE, Fiona is responsible for the pastoral and managerial oversight of 35 chaplains in 46 Government schools in Western Australia. Within this role, Fiona has been responsible for the organisation of professional development for chaplains, networking with local community groups and working collaboratively with school communities.

Fiona also has over a decade of experience as a Commissioned and Ordained Salvation Army Officer where she established new congregations in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia, and was Chaplain to The Salvation Army Crossroads Network, (Youth & Family Services and Domestic Violence).

During her time as a Charge Nurse in Intensive Care and Emergency departments of two large Melbourne Hospitals Fiona learnt the absolute value of human life. Currently undertaking a MBA at Curtin University, WA, Fiona is committed to supporting others to reach their fullest potential and in developing strong integrated community relationships.

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Dr Peter J Seebacher is a specialist consultant to government and industry on energy and related industries.

With an employment background in multidisciplinary teaching and research Peter has migrated to business development and strategic planning setting up his own firm AusEng Pty Ltd.

Peter is a key member of the team put together by The Warren Centre to focus on The Role of ICT in Enhancing K-12 Educational Outcomes.

The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering is an independent, industry-linked institute located within the University of Sydney and committed to fostering excellence and innovation in advanced engineering throughout Australia.

The Education Team plans to use complex systems analysis to help policymakers, strategists and financiers make informed decisions in education, especially in respect of information communications technology (ICT).

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The Founder and CEO of Alacrity Technologies, Adrian Tatham has been specialising in interactive communications for the past seven years and has decades of experience in the public and private sectors, both in Australia and internationally.

In 1999, Adrian’s dedication to addressing the need for real-time interactive business communication led him to create Alacrity Technologies to develop the core technologies that today underpin the innovative CLEW (Closed Loop Environment for Wireless) communications platform.

Prior to founding Alacrity, Adrian enjoyed sales and project director positions at multinational IT services companies including GECITS (now CSC) as well as Fujitsu and Powerlan. He began his career in the Australian Customs Service, where Adrian worked for more than 20 years in areas including investigations, law enforcement and implementing new technology strategies such as advanced passenger processing.

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Leonie began her career as a junior primary teacher and deputy principal in South Australia and brings to her role 25 years’ experience as a primary school principal, including10 years as a Junior Primary principal (R-2) and 15 years as a Primary principal (R-7). All her experiences have been in very disadvantaged schools.

She was the first principal in Australia to be invited onto the Curriculum Development Council by the then Education Minister; and in 1998 she was elected President of the South Australian Primary Principals Association and remained there unopposed for seven years.

In 2004 Leonie was elected as President of the Australian Primary Principals Association and is currently in her second two year term.

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