Australian College of Educators

The Australian College of Educators (ACE) is a national professional association for educators across all sectors and systems.

ACE provides a collective voice for all Australian educators. It advocates, leads and drives positive change and raises the status of the education profession.

It encourages and fosters open, collaborative discussion to enable its broad membership to provide the best outcomes for Australian students across all levels of education.

About

The College’s role

ACE was founded in 1959 to provide an independent voice for educators and advance the education profession. Today, the College continues as a representative, authoritative voice for the education profession speaking from a position of evidence, experience and independence.

ACE aims to advance the education profession in Australia across all sectors and levels by

• providing a strong national voice for the profession
• enhancing the status of the education profession
• promoting professional standards
• recognising excellence in professional practice
• fostering the professional learning of educators.

In pursuing these goals, ACE strives to

• speak with authority on educational issues
• exercise ethical leadership of the profession
• enhance the professionalism of educators
• create unity among all sectors and levels of the profession
• foster cooperation and networking
• acknowledge outstanding contributions to education
• facilitate continuous professional learning and improvement
• recognise and value highly accomplished teaching.

History

The Australian College of Educators (ACE) was formally established (as the Australian College of Education) in May 1959 at a Founders’ Convention held at Geelong Grammar School. That followed an informal gathering of a number of key educators at Wesley College Melbourne in June 1958 at which the possibility of creating such a body was first raised. As a consequence, a Provisional Council was established to undertake the planning.

The then Headmaster of Geelong Grammar School, Dr James Ralph Darling invited 118 educators from around Australia to the Founders’ Convention in May 1959 – it was a representative gathering from all sectors State, Independent and Catholic representing all levels of education from early childhood through to tertiary.

The first National Conference, held at the University of Sydney was opened by the Governor-General of Australia. Within two years, chapters/branches had been established in all states, and later in the ACT, PNG (for a short time prior to independence) and the NT. The first Buntine Oration (given every second year) was delivered in Melbourne in 1962 by Professor Peter Karmel. Involvement of educators in branch and regional activities has been a key aspect of the life of the College for the past fifty years.

The first major project of the College, a five-year survey of teachers in Australia, involved all states in a comprehensive review of teachers and teaching. The first report, completed in 1967, was followed by others roughly on a decade by decade basis. Over the years ACE has been involved in major research projects at both national and state levels, and made many submissions to government at national and state levels.

From the very beginning, College Presidents were drawn from the ranks of Director Generals of Education, senior educators in schools and universities, and from national organisations such as the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Sir James Darling was followed as National President by Sir Harold Wyndham (NSW) and then by Professor Charles Moorhouse (Victoria). Dr Eve Eden (Victoria) was the first female President.

For the first three decades headquarters for ACE were in Melbourne. After many years of discussions and planning, the sometimes-controversial move of the National Office to Canberra was completed in 1988, at the time of the presidency of Dr Shirley Randell. In Canberra a significant reputation was established for a range of publications and conferences, educational research, projects and submissions to governments, all with the aim of supporting the profession.

The 1966 National Conference was held at Shore (Sydney Church of England Grammar School, North Sydney) - the College Archives holds a copy of the one-hour live-to-air ABC telecast of the Divine Service, held in the school chapel during that conference. The only National Conference to be held out of Australia took place in Port Moresby in1974, one year before independence, when Dr AW Jones was National President.

In 1984, when Professor William Walker was the National President, ACE celebrated its Silver Jubilee, with events at Geelong Grammar School, followed by a National Conference at the Australian National University.

The 1988 Bicentennial Conference was held at Hunters Hill in Sydney, as a joint project with the ACEA (later to become ACEL). The name of the College and the logo were changed to the Australian College of Educators in 2002. In 2004, the Second College Convention was held, again at ANU in Canberra, to mark 45 years of service to the profession.

In May 2009, and with one of the Founder members – former Director-General of Education in Victoria, Dr Lawrie Shears - as an honoured guest, the College celebrated its 50th year with a National Conference and celebrations where it all began – in Geelong. The National President in 2009 was Professor Denise Bradley.

For the past four years, the College has been located within the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) at the University of Melbourne. It was at this university, in May 1962, that Professor Peter Karmel delivered the landmark first Buntine Oration, entitled Some Aspects of the Economics of Education. In 2014, in partnership with MGSE, ACE held the Inaugural Jean Blackburn Oration, delivered by Mr David Gonski.

The National President for 2014–2015 is Professor Stephen Dinham from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, and the Chief Executive Officer is Ms Catherine Pickett.

The strength of the College has always been its involvement of educators from all sectors and all levels of education, thus prompting a founder member, Dr A W Jones, to focus his writings on the collegial aspect of the College as 'bridging the gaps' by bringing together state, independent and catholic teachers from early childhood to tertiary level.

Tony Ryan, FACE
College Archivist

Governance

The College is managed by the ACE National Board, they are as follows:

National President – Hon. Bronwyn Pike, MACE

Bronwyn Pike spent her early years in South Australia and Malaysia and studied Humanities and Education at Adelaide University. Following an early career as a secondary school teacher in Adelaide and Darwin she worked in the Human Services Sector and was Director of Justice and Social Responsibility for the Victorian Uniting Church. Bronwyn had responsibility for a broad range of health and welfare services delivered by over 100 Uniting Care agencies and policy development, education and advocacy. In 1999 Bronwyn was elected to the Victorian Parliament as the member for Melbourne and as a Minister in the Victorian Government. As the longest serving female minister in Victoria’s history she held the portfolios of Housing, Aged Care, Community Services, Health and Education. In 2012 Bronwyn was appointed as Chair of the South Australian Urban Renewal Authority, a Director of Melbourne’s Wesley Mission, Chair of the Centre for Urban Research Advisory Committee and recently Chair of Western Health.

Bronwyn has a strong interest and expertise in public policy and works as a consultant to improve the quality and strategic focus of service delivery. Her extensive experience with government, non-government, business and academic sectors across a range of policy areas provides a strong foundation for her work.

President-elect – Professor Diane Mayer, MACE

Diane Mayer brings more than 20 years of experience in education leadership to this role, having worked at institutions such as the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Queensland.

Diane holds a Master of Education from the University of Canberra and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Southern Queensland.

She has previously served as Head of the School of Education at Deakin University and Associate Dean for Professional Programs at the University of California, Berkeley.

Immediate Past President – Professor Stephen Dinham OAM, FACE

Stephen Dinham is Chair of Teacher Education and Director of Learning and Teaching at the University of Melbourne.

Stephen taught in government secondary schools in NSW before being appointed in 1989 to the University of Western Sydney where he held a number of positions including Head of the Department of Curriculum Studies, Associate Dean (Postgraduate) and Associate Professor.

In 2002 Steve took up a position as Professor of Teacher Education, Pedagogy and Professional Development at the University of New England. He then became Professor of Educational Leadership and Pedagogy at the University of Wollongong in 2005. Two years later his next role was Research Director of the Teaching, Learning and Leadership research program at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) followed by his current role at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE).

Steve was a Past President of the ACE NSW Branch (2000–2002) and chaired the Steering Committee responsible for the NSW Minister for Education and Training and ACE Quality Teaching Awards introduced in 2001 till 2007. In June 2002, he was appointed to the Interim Committee for the NSW Institute of Teachers and in August of the same year, to the Commonwealth Review of Teaching and Teacher Education.

In November 2011 he was appointed to the Council of the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

Associate Professor Tania Broadley, MACE

Tania Broadley is Academic Lead of the Curtin Learning Institute at Curtin University. She continues to conduct research into teacher education, which follows on from her background as Lecturer in Educational Technology for the School of Education at Curtin University, she taught in undergraduate and postgraduate programs, both face-to-face and online including Open University Australia (OUA) and regional programs.

Tania was Technology Project Manager for an ALTC grant and Research Associate with the Western Australian Hub of the National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology, and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR). From 2011–2014, she was State President of the Western Australian branch of the College. In 2014, Tania chaired the ACE National Council and was a member of the ACE Board.

Currently, Tania is a project member for the OLT funded project, ‘Building Resilience in Teacher Education' (BRiTE, 2013–2015) which will develop online modules to assist pre-service teachers build resilience for the profession. Tania is also working on ‘Mapping resources, activities and processes supporting the development of tertiary learning and teaching grant applications’, a strategic initiative grant funded by the OLT in 2014.

Mr Pat Elsworthy, FACE

Pat Elsworthy has made a significant contribution to the design and implementation of curriculum in Queensland secondary education over many years. As a representative of the Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes Queensland and The Queensland Catholic Education Commission in numerous educational arenas he has been a leading advocate for the School - Based Assessment and Moderation processes.

Through his involvement with the Queensland Studies Authority on its Curriculum Committee and Assessment, Moderation and Certification Committee, and previously as Chair of both District and State Panels, Pat has played an instrumental role in the introduction of numerous educational initiatives such as the ETRF, QCAR and the Queensland Certificate of Education.

Pat has been a long term President of both the ACE Brisbane Metropolitan Group and of The Association of Catholic Secondary Schools of Queensland and in 2015 has become Chair of the ACE 2015 National Conference Working Party and a member of the ACE Finance Committee.

Mr Trevor Fletcher

Trevor Fletcher has been the Principal of Eastern Fleurieu School in South Australia since October 2011 where he has been instrumental in overseeing the transformational change the school has undergone in recent years. Prior to this appointment, he was the Deputy Director General, Schools for the NSW Department of Education and Training for six years.

Trevor has also held other senior positions in the Education Departments of Victoria, South Australia and Abu Dhabi. While in Victoria, he was selected to attend the Senior Managers in Government course at Harvard University.

Trevor is one of eight members of the national Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) and is also a member of the Professional Experience Advisory Group at the University of South Australia.

Ms Rachel Hunter

Rachel Hunter is the current chair of Children's Health Queensland Hospital and Health Board in Queensland.

Rachel holds board directorships with University of Queensland College and Service Trades College Australia. Her previous roles included Director-General of the Department of Education, Training and the Arts, and Director-General of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General. She also served as Queensland's Public Service Commissioner and is a member of the Queensland Family and Children Commission's Advisory Board.

Previously Rachel was chair for the board of the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) and the board of TAFE Queensland, and as such was the lead executive and spokesperson for the TAFE system.

Rachel's acute interest is in the role education and the arts play in individual, community and economic development.

Mr Peter Jacob

Peter Jacob is the Director of Alphington Private Wealth Pty Ltd, which is a firm specialising in Wealth Management for affluent private clients.

Being the former Head of Southern Region for Wesptac Private Bank’s Premium Wealth Services business meant that he was responsible for multi-million dollar direct investment portfolios. Peter has worked for Australia’s largest financial institutions including Westpac Private Bank, ANZ Corporate and Institutional Banking and AXA Funds Management.

With an MBA from Melbourne Business School and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and B.Sc (Forestry), he is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the French Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Peter is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

Mr David Kronenberg, MACE

Mr David Kronenberg’s career has been diverse, particularly since his move to Hobart in 2003. He is currently the Academic Director – Undergraduate Programs, in the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, UTAS, and formerly Co-Head of the School of Accounting and Corporate Governance at UTAS.

Prior to his shift into the academic world, David has held some wonderfully rewarding positions including State Coordinator for the AGQTP (a cross-sectoral position) and Senior Education Officer with the Catholic Education Office. Prior to Tasmania, he worked for over 30 years in Victorian schools – in both the state and independent systems – as well as overseas (Zimbabwe prior to the Mugabe era).

Dr Catherine Scott, MACE

Catherine Scott has taught in NSW primary and secondary schools, as well as working as a school counsellor in that state. Catherine has also worked at a number of Australian universities where she taught educational and developmental psychology to pre-service and practising teachers and trainee school counsellors. While living in NSW, Catherine served as a co-opted member of the ACE NSW Committee and also Chaired the university panel of the ACE Quality Teaching Awards.

Professor Erica Smith, MACE

Erica Smith holds a Personal Chair in Vocational Education and Training (VET) at Federation University Australia in Ballarat. She has published widely, mainly in the area of training policy; apprenticeships and traineeships; enterprise training; and VET teachers and teaching. She is an experienced researcher and currently holds several Australian Research Council grants. Erica has worked on VET teacher-education programs at three universities.

Erica has previously worked as a human resource manager and trainer in several industries; and, in the VET sector, as a TAFE teacher, a manager of a Registered Training Organisation, and a manager of a State Industry Training Advisory Board.

Erica is currently the convenor of the Australian Council of Deans of Education Vocational Education Group (ACDEVEG) and contributes to Australian and international developments in VET teaching quality and qualifications. One of her current research projects examines whether higher qualifications for VET teachers would help to address quality problems in the VET system.

The College also has a National Council that is responsible for ensuring the interests of members at state level are considered in planning and decision making. It is made up of state/territory presidents.

Structure

While the ACE National Board and ACE National Council steer the leadership of the organisation, the grassroots work of the College is run by the ACE State and Regional committees.

ACE has State Committees across Australia with many active Regional Committees within the states and territories. Talented members from the College community make up the Committees and are nominated by other members on an annual basis. ACE relies on the expert work of the State and Regional Committees, driving the focus of events, awards and other initiatives. The work of the Committees changes from state to state and region to region depending on the issues of the day.

ACE National Presidents

Awards

A full list of College awardees can be found on the College website.

External links

• College Website