Candidates for election to the PETAA Board of Directors 2023

The PETAA Annual General Meeting will take place in-person at the PETAA offices in Newtown and remotely via Zoom at 5:00pm (AEST) on Thursday 25th May 2023.

Map of AustraliaVoting procedure in 2023

Three PETAA Board directors are to be elected by digital voting, in a locked and confidential ballot, via invitation and confirmation emails sent to financial members of PETAA.

All members who remain subscribed to PETAA emails and are eligible to vote have the opportunity to vote digitally — following the link to a ballot in an invitation email, then responding to confirm that vote — from when voting opens on Wednesday 3rd May until the close of digital voting at 5pm AEST on Tuesday 23rd May 2023.

 

Register to attend the 2023 PETAA EGM & AGM

Denise Squire (SA)

Denise has been involved in the teaching of English and language and literacy as a classroom teacher and as a literacy consultant across several schools. She is currently a school instructional leader, supporting teachers to develop a coherent program in language and literacy in English, and across other learning areas, developing whole school literacy policy and implementation. She has extensive experience in low socio-economic schools with high EAL/D and ATSI cohorts.

Denise also works with her regional education team in supporting quality professional development in English and literacy across the curriculum, and serves on the PETAA Ambassador committee in South Australia.

Timothy Warwick (VIC)

Tim is currently serving on the PETAA Board as a Director. He worked with Department of Education & Training (VIC) as a Project Manager on the Shepparton Education Plan.  This was a plan for transformational change in the outcomes and opportunities for the young people of Greater Shepparton. He is a former Principal of  Gowrie St Primary School in Shepparton. Earlier in his career, he taught Legal Studies and Humanities at Wanganui Park Secondary College. Tim has led and supported a number of Indigenous education and cultural awareness strategies which have been launched in schools across the Murray Goulburn Valley region.

He was the Project Co-ordinator for the Kaiela Dhungala First Peoples Curriculum and is on the boards of Ganbina and Boundless, two organisations aimed at supporting the aspirations of our young people.  

Helen Harper (NSW)

Dr Helen Harper is a Senior Lecturer in English, Literacies and Language Education at the University of New England. She has previously worked as a researcher, lecturer and mentor in literacy education, as a linguist in remote Indigenous communities, and as an EAL/D teacher. Helen spent more than two decades in the Northern Territory. Initially she went to study Aboriginal languages, but over time she was drawn more to primary education, and to questions about how schooling can best support children to become effective users of language and literacy. Helen’s current research interests include collaborating with teachers to apply principles of scaffolding language both in the literacy block and across the curriculum.

In 2016-2017 she was a co-recipient, with Bronwyn Parkin, of the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia (PETAA) Research Grant. She is the co-author of 3 PETAA publications: An EAL/D Handbook, Teaching with Intent: Scaffolding Academic Language with Marginalised Students, and Teaching with Intent 2: Literature-based literacy teaching and learning. 

Mardi Gorman (VIC)

Mardi Gorman is currently serving on the PETAA Board as a Director. She is an experienced educator who has worked within a range of educational contexts both in Australia and overseas in New York and London. Mardi manages her own education consultancy in Melbourne, focusing on building educator’s pedagogical knowledge and instructional practice on effective literacy practice. She is part of the team who has developed the University of Melbourne’s Network of Schools project, where she plans and presents professional learning seminars, leads focus groups and supports schools in connecting research to the practicalities of school action planning and professional learning.

Mardi strongly believes that quality teachers and leaders remain pivotal to driving a positive impact on student learning. This drives her passion for, and focus on, professional learning for educators.