Join us at the Huddle Symposium 2023
Australia’s Biggest Secondary School Middle Leadership Conference
Date
24th November, 2023
Location
Melbourne Polytechnic, Building U/67 Cramer St, Preston VIC 3072
Conference Parking
Public Transport
To find out more contact
Symposium Speaker Bios
Keynote
Leadership development is everyone’s responsibility:
navigating the muddy waters of the education ecosystem
Dr. Barbara Watterston
CEO of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL)
This keynote and activity session is all about you. Who you are as a leader, your impact and influence, and how this is crafted through creating your own leadership identity. Barbara will draw on her experience to share insights, observations and leadership lessons offering you valuable time to pause and reflect on your current context and future steps. Provocations will engage you in reconceptualising expectations of middle leaders both on a personal level and as part of a collective effort. You will be encouraged to contemplate leading not only in your current context, but in the context of the whole picture. With an emphasis on leading from the middle not in the middle, and the conditions to enable all to thrive, yourself included. We’ll delve into why leadership development is everyone’s responsibility, one that is approached strategically and with intentionality. Importantly, we will consider our collective aspirations to actively contribute to shaping the voice and agency of the profession in advocating for meaningful policy changes and impactful practices within the muddy waters of the education ecosystem.
Bio
Dr Barbara Watterston is currently the CEO of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL). She has extensive experience in education and has held several executive leadership positions across Australia within the education and not-for-profit community sectors. Her national and international research, coaching, and speaking engagements are centred around leadership development that emphasises the impact of high-quality leadership on providing the enabling conditions for achieving optimal outcomes.
Her national research report, Insights: Environmental Scan Principal Preparation Programs contributed to five major national recommendations for preparing future school leaders. This has informed her design and delivery of bespoke emerging, principal and system leadership programs.
An author, Barbara’s most recent co-authored book Step In, Step Up: Empowering women for the school leadership journey, received a silver medal in the international 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards. She is also co-editor with Elizabeth Benson and Patrick Duignan of the soon to be released publication Middle Leadership in Schools: Ideas and strategies for navigating the muddy waters of leading from the middle.
Recognised for her contributions to leadership and professional learning, she was the Inaugural Recipient of the Women of Achievement Award (WA DoE), is a National Fellow of ACEL, and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne Faculty Education. She has a special interest in the links between leadership sustainability, wellbeing, and impact on performance to ensure learning, for all, can thrive.
Workshops
Dr. Sophie Specjal and Heidi Arena
The Art and Impact of Effective Communication in Educational Leadership
We are living through a communication revolution where ideas, stories and facts are globally communicated 24/7, yet our understanding, connectedness and deeper learning can often feel fragmented, surface and fleeting. Sophie and Heidi explore meaningful human interactions, including effective listening and communication with others and the impact this has on being effective with others. In this workshop, Sophie and Heidi describe the ‘art of communication’ as a potent ‘superpower’, inherent in an educator’s DNA.
Effective communication for leaders in schools is an essential tool to build a culture of clarity, connection, and collaboration through our interactions, listening and understanding of one another. Sophie and Heidi share personal anecdotes and thought-provoking stories, together with research and the practical strategies needed to design and tap into a deeper understanding of how and more importantly ‘why’ we need to communicate more effectively to enhance our leadership capabilities.
Bios
Sophie Specjal
Sophie Specjal is passionate and determined to translate educational research into educational settings. She is the founder and CEO of Language of Learning. Sophie is currently lecturing at the University of Melbourne and is the host of the Faculty of Education’s Podcast, “Talking Teaching”. Sophie has taught and held teaching and leadership positions in Kinder-Year 12 settings for over the past 20 years in Australia and is a sought-after keynote speaker, presenter, and consultant across Australia and Internationally. Sophie recently completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2022 as part of the Science of Learning and Research Centre with Professor John Hattie.
Sophie’s research focussed on the science of talk and the language used in the classroom (both teacher and students) to create meaningful interactions that promote deep-level thinking, questioning, and understanding. Sophie began investigating effective talk and questioning through the eyes of the students, developing an understanding of what students see as effective communication, meaning-making, and understanding when teachers are talking and questioning in the classroom using investigative tools such as The SOLO Taxonomy, the Visible Classroom and the ‘Big Brother’ Interaction Classroom at the Faculty of Education. Sophie is currently writing a book on effective communication practices with Heidi Arena and together they will be working with schools across Australia for leadership, teachers and students in 2024.
Heidi Arena
With over 20 years of experience as an acclaimed actress, Heidi Arena is a much-loved veteran of the Australian entertainment industry, best known as Mrs Gonsha in the award-winning ABC series Little Lunch and Working Dog’s Thank God You’re Here, Audrey’s Kitchen and ABC series The Librarians to name a few. Heidi pursued her passion for performance and storytelling at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) after completing a Bachelor of Communications.
Heidi is also one of Australia’s most sought-after executive coaches and facilitators of communication and leadership programs. Heidi divides her time by combining her passion for storytelling, character and communication across the entertainment, corporate and educational sectors- including acting/writing/producing TV/film projects and creating extremely practical, dynamic, skill-based communication programs for a vast array of corporate clients and schools nationally.
Heidi is currently filming her 5th series of Thank God You’re Here while enjoying growing credits as a creator/writer with Plan G (Pilot), co-created and written with Sarah Lambert (ABC & Easy Tiger), Part-Time Private Eyes (Co-created with Nicola Parry) for Channel Ten and a feature film in development with KOJO to commence filming in 2023. Heidi is working on an exciting project within teaching and learning, currently collaborating with Dr Sophie Specjal, writing a book on effective communication practices and creating partnerships in schools across Australia for leadership, teachers and students.
Neil McDonald
Leading Critical Conversations
This practical session will focus on an evidence-based model for leading difficult conversations in the workplace. It is based on the significant work from Crucial Conversations and is a critical piece to assisting all middle leaders engage confidently with the range of difficult conversations they face in their crucial leadership role.
Bio:
Neil McDonald is the Chief Executive Officer of Edge Institute, an innovative leadership training company committed to delivering excellence in leadership by supporting leaders and organisations to establish a strong vision, improve outcomes and lead change in their school or organisation.
He has over 25 years of school system and leadership experience as a teacher, principal and Assistant Regional Director within the Queensland Department of Education. In his previous role as CEO of the Queensland Education Leadership Institute under Neil’s leadership, QELi engaged with leaders across all sectors in Australia and internationally, working closely with schools and systems to develop and deliver tailored leadership and capability professional development programs for driving collaboration and organisation improvement.
Prior to commencing at QELi, Neil was Executive Director, Organisational Transformation and Capability, in the Queensland Department of Education and was
instrumental in leading the Department’s Teaching and School Leadership Program.
Dr. Michael Witter
Transforming teaching: the intersection of teacher beliefs, practices, and outcomes
Transforming teaching is fraught and often unsuccessful work for school leaders. This session will highlight key research unpacking how teachers’ beliefs, practices, and outcomes interact in the change process (or lack thereof). Mike Witter will share practical, evidence-based tips on how school leaders can build beliefs and mindsets that nurture and sustain positive change in the classroom.
Bio:
Mike began his education career teaching in primary and secondary school settings in Washington Heights and Harlem, New York. As a founding middle school English Teacher, year-level chair, instructional coach and lead teacher, he supported the establishment and early success of KIPP Infinity Charter School, which was ranked #1 of all New York City Public Schools during his time there.
Mike received the KIPP National Teaching Award in 2010, shortly before relocating to Australia where he became the Director of Teaching and Leadership and National Curriculum at Teach For Australia (TFA). At TFA, Mike set the vision and led the design and delivery of an integrated teaching and leadership development program for high-achieving graduates employed to teach in high schools in disadvantaged communities throughout Australia. He supported more than 1000 high school teachers to successfully complete the program, who in turn taught nearly 300,000 students across Australia.
He became passionate about educational research and teacher education during his time at TFA, which led him to complete a PhD under the supervision of Prof. John Hattie, focusing on examining multiple dimensions of teacher quality, including the relationships between beliefs, practices, and measures of effective teaching. Mike now lectures and continues to research teacher quality at Australian Catholic University, where he also continues to work with TFA participants as the lead designer and course coordinator of the Master of Teaching (Secondary) (Leading Learning.)
Wayne Craig
Curiouser and curiouser: the intriguing story of the “known unknown” and school improvement.
In this hands-on session, based on Wayne’s doctoral research, you’ll learn about your level of curiosity, your school’s strength of moral purpose, reserves of intellectual capital and how these factors can work together to improve student learning. The focus is on the “known unknown”, curiosity, with a particular emphasis on how workplace curiosity can support your school improvement efforts. You’ll learn about apparent Australian strengths in workplace curiosity, moral purpose and school capital, and critical principal and teacher perceptions gaps.
Bio:
Wayne has been a teacher, principal, and senior administrator and also held an executive leadership role with U.S. education, not-for-profit, McREL.
Wayne was the long-term principal of Box Hill Senior Secondary College and led the school through a remarkable transformation. Although different in outlook and operation, the school became highly sought after, and enrolments tripled under Wayne’s leadership. The school introduced laptop programs for students and staff long before systems went down that path and possibly developed the first online attendance and reporting programs. The school pioneered a rigorous approach to the delivery of vocational education, introduced Victoria’s first sports programs in football, basketball and tennis, and emphasised student empowerment and high-quality teaching.
Subsequently, Wayne became Regional Director for the 200 schools in Melbourne’s educationally underperforming. Working with long-time colleague and friend Professor David Hopkins and principals, teachers and regional staff, Wayne led a concerted and successful effort to lift achievement. He also initiated major school regeneration projects, the successful and unprecedented closure and immediate reopening of two secondary schools, Ideaslab – an IT research hub supported by Intel, Cisco, Microsoft and local government – and the Koorie Academy of Excellence for the region’s indigenous students.
As Vice President for McREL International, Wayne developed the Curiosity and Powerful Learning school improvement material.
He is currently completing a doctorate at the University of Melbourne.
Panel Discussion
Overview:
How does generative AI work and its implications for assessment
- Understanding how large language models like ChatGPT work.
- Strengths and limitations of generative AI.
- Impact of generative (and classification) AI in assessment and reporting.
Panel Speaker
Dr James Curran
CEO and Director Grok Academy
Bio:
Dr. James Curran is the CEO of Grok Academy, an Australian ed-tech charity with a mission to educate all learners in transformative computing skills, knowledge, and dispositions, empowering them to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the future.
James was a writer on the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies (version 8 and 9) and the Digital Literacy capability (version 9). He consults with curriculum authorities and departments of education around Australia. In 2014, James was named ICT Leader of the Year by the ICT Educators of NSW and the Australian Council for Computers in Education.
James is Director of the National Computer Science School, the largest computer science school outreach program in Australia. Last year, over 22,500 students and teachers participated in the 5-week NCSS Challenge.
Prior to Grok Academy, James completed a PhD in computational linguistics at the University of Edinburgh and was an Associate Professor and Director of the Australian Computing Academy (ACA) at the University of Sydney. James co-founded Grok Learning in 2013, and in 2021, the ACA and Grok Learning combined to form Grok Academy.
Panel MC
Garry Williams
Director of Engagement at Tractor Ventures
Bio:
Garry Williams has extensive experience navigating Australia’s technology & creative ecosystem, having worked on innovation projects for scaleups & startups, global agencies, government, local councils, social enterprises, universities, cultural institutions and creative project houses.
He currently works as Director of Engagement at Tractor Ventures, and is frequently creating content and launching initiatives in the form of events, thinktanks, podcasts, blogs and more.
Prior to Tractor, Gaz was Creative Producer of Innovation at University of Melbourne, Head of Partnerships APAC at General Assembly, and worked on a series of projects with leading global companies such as Adobe, AKQA, Arup, Creative Mornings, Evernote, KPMG, Square, and many more.
