Dr Michele Bruniges - Education Queensland

Dr Michele Bruniges
Dr Michele Bruniges has a PhD
in Educational Measurement, a
Masters degree in Education from
the University of New South Wales,
a Graduate Diploma in Educational
Studies and a Diploma in Teaching.
She began her teaching career in
1980 and has worked in primary and
secondary schools. Between 1993
and 2004, Dr Bruniges held a range of
senior positions within the New South
Wales Department of Education and
Training, in the areas of Curriculum,
Assessment and Reporting and
Strategic Information and Planning.
In 2000, she was awarded a Churchill
Fellowship to study the analysis,
monitoring and reporting of student
achievement in education systems
and research studies in the United
States and the Netherlands.
In January 2005, Dr Bruniges took up
the appointment of Chief Executive of
the ACT Department of Education and
Training where she has introduced a
new curriculum framework and a new
model of schooling to support families
in the first years of a child’s life. During
2005, she gained an Outstanding
Educator Award from the Macarthur
group of the Australian College of
Educators.
As Chair of the AESOC Steering Group
for National Assessment Program
(Literacy and Numeracy), Dr Bruniges
has been deeply involved in the
implementation of the new national
assessment program. She is currently
a member of the Faculty of Education
and Social Work, Dean’s Advisory
Board, the University of Sydney, and
until recently was the Chair of the
National Advisory Committee for the
OECD Programme for International
Student Assessment and Trends
in International Mathematics and
Science Study.
Dr Raymond Théberge
Dr Raymond Théberge is the Director-
General of the Council of Ministers of
Education, Canada (CMEC).
Dr Théberge has been Director-
General of the Council of Ministers
of Education, Canada (CMEC) since
June 2005.
Dr Théberge comes to CMEC from the
Department of Education, Citizenship
and Youth, Manitoba, where he was
Assistant Deputy Minister of the
Bureau de l’éducation française. He
is also a former Dean of Education
at St Boniface College and holds a
doctorate in linguistics from McGill
University.
Dr Théberge has published
extensively in the fields of education
policy, multicultural education, and
language planning.
Associate Professor Juhani
E. Tuovinen
Associate Professor Juhani E. Tuovinen
from the University of the Sunshine Coast,
is an experienced researcher in education,
with a special interest in comparative
international education, with a particular
focus on the education system of Finland.
He is undertaking a multi-faceted research
into comparative Finnish-Australian
education and his most recent research
reports in this area are in press at the
moment.
He leads the Commonwealth Department
of Education, Employment and
Workplace Relations funded research and
development project: Indigenous Pathways
in Queensland and is working on an
evaluation project investigating Reversing
the underachievement in Indigenous
students with high learning potential.
He is also currently the chief investigator
in an international ARC Discovery
research project, Securing the future: The
motivational determinants of university and
college success for Aboriginal and Native
American students in remote areas and in
the ARC Linkage research project, Building
the future for Indigenous students. The
relationship of future vision, learning, and
motivational profiles to school success. He
is also an associate researcher on an ARC
Linkage research project with seven partner
institutions, Interactive Distance E-Learning
for Isolated Communities: ‘Opening Our
Eyes’.
He has played a key role in international
education, e.g. advising on the
development of the national Virtual
University for Finland, advising the
Finnish Universities’ quality assurance
delegation on quality assurance and
providing perspectives on cognitive science
applications to education to Malaysia.

Dr Andrew Fuller
Andrew has recently been described as an
“interesting mixture of Billy Connolly, Tim
Winton and Frasier Crane” and as someone
who “puts the heart back into psychology”.
As a clinical psychologist, Andrew Fuller
works with many schools and communities
in Australia and internationally,
specialising in the wellbeing of young
people and their families. He is a Fellow
of the Department of Psychiatry and the
Department of Learning and Educational
Development at the University of
Melbourne.
Andrew has been a principal consultant to
the national drug prevention strategy REDI,
the ABC on children’s television shows, is
an Ambassador for Mind Matters and is a
member of the National Coalition Against
Bullying.
The concept of “resilience” offers a
coherent framework for the creation
of schools that are sensitive to the
developmental needs of young people
and their teachers. As Andrew describes,
resilience is “the happy knack of being able
to bungy jump through the pitfalls of life -
to rise above adversity and obstacles.”
He is the author of Tricky Kids, Guerilla
Tactics For Teachers, Help Your Child
Succeed At School, Raising Real People
(ACER), From Surviving To Thriving (ACER),
Work Smarter Not Harder And Beating
Bullies. Andrew has also co-authored
a series of programs for the promotion
of resilience and emotional intelligence
used in over 3500 schools in Britain and
Australia called The Heart Masters.
Andrew has established programs for the
promotion of mental health in schools,
substance abuse prevention, and the
reduction of violence and bullying, suicide
prevention programs and for assisting
homeless young people. Andrew continues
to counsel young people.
Dr Chris Sarra
Dr Chris Sarra hails from Bundaberg in
Queensland. The youngest of 10 children,
Chris experienced first-hand many of
the issues faced by Indigenous students
throughout their schooling.
He completed a Diploma of Teaching, a
Bachelor of Education and a Master of
Education. In recent years Chris completed a
PhD in Psychology with Murdoch University.
In the late 1990’s Chris took on the
challenges of Indigenous education as the
Principal of Cherbourg State School in South
East Queensland.
Through strong leadership and clear
vision he facilitated many changes at the
school which saw increasing enthusiasm
for student learning through dramatically
improved school attendance and increased
community involvement in education.
Under Dr Sarra’s leadership the school
became nationally acclaimed for its pursuit
of the Strong and Smart philosophy.
He has been the recipient of many awards
and much recognition as his ideas,
enthusiasm and vision have taken hold
nationally and internationally.
Dr Sarra is now the Executive Director of the
Indigenous Education Leadership Institute
which is pursuing improved educational
outcomes for Indigenous children through
engagement with principals, teachers,
community leaders and Government.
The Institute’s work is based on the Strong
and Smart philosophy which espouses a
strong and positive sense of what it means
to be Aboriginal in today’s Australian
society and that Indigenous students can
achieve outcomes comparable to other
students.
Dr Sarra believes that the power teachers
have to inspire their students should never
be underestimated. These are messages
that Chris Sarra has drawn from his own life
- as an Indigenous child, student, teacher,
parent, principal and leader.
Dr Chris Ryan
Chris Ryan was awarded a Bachelor of
Commerce, with honours in Economics
from the University of Melbourne in
1982, a Master of Economics from
the Australian National University in
1986 and a PhD in economics from the
University of Melbourne in July 2001.
His PhD looked at how to test between
human capital and screening theories
of the role of education in the labour
market.
He was employed in Commonwealth
government agencies, primarily in the
employment, education and training and
primary industries portfolios for 13 years.
He was a member of the Senior Executive
Service between 1992 and 1996, holding
Senior Executive Service positions in two
portfolios.
Since that time, he has undertaken his
PhD, held research and administrative
positions in Australian universities and
worked as a consultant.
In 2002, he was awarded an Australian
Post-Doctoral Fellowship by the
Australian Research Council to undertake
research between 2003 and 2005
on the role of literacy and numeracy
in explaining the education, training
and labour market outcomes of young
Australians. Since 2005, Dr Ryan has
been Director of Social Policy Evaluation,
Analysis and Research Centre, Research
School of Social Sciences, Australian
National University.