AAFIE in Conversation Megan Hall

AAFIE's Dale Murray is joined by Dr. Andrew Bills, Flinders University, and Nigel Howard, UniSA Futures to discuss the development of AAFIE first Special Interest Group focusing on how we might reimagine and reengineer curriculum that builds on an ethic of care and seeks to make accredited outcomes more accessible for young people in alternative and inclusive education.

Dale also chats with Andrew and Nigel about their presentation at the upcoming Doing School Differently Conference in Adelaide this June. Nigel and Andrew will be presenting a Workshop entitled: Doing Professional Learning Differently: Implications for preservice education.

In this episode, Dale and Tom cover some of the impacts of COVID-19 on young people with complex unmet needs for learning and the sudden in schooling when the pandemic set in in early 2020. Tom shines light on the fact that the unexpected change away from in-person learning made our already vulnerable learners immediately more vulnerable. While this conversation focusses on some of the challenges of this vulnerability, is also aims to share a message of resilience, strength and adaptability of these young people in such uncertain times.

Dr Tom Brunzell has experience as a teacher, school leader, researcher and education advisor. Currently he is the Director of Education at Berry Street and Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education.

Dr Tom Brunzell presents internationally on topics of transforming school culture, student engagement, trauma aware practice, wellbeing and positive psychology, and effective school leadership.

His research at the University of Melbourne investigates both the negative impacts of secondary traumatic stress and the positive impacts of wellbeing on teachers and leaders working towards educational equity in their communities.

His new book: Creating Trauma-informed Strengths Based Classrooms, co-authored with Dr Jacolyn Norrish, is now available as part of Berry Street's professional development resources and bookstore, as well as booksellers world-wide.

Taryn Marks, General Manager and previous Board Director of AIME, is a Wotjobaluk woman from Western Victoria. She is also the inaugural Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.

Taryn was previously a Senior Adviser Indigenous Policy and Strategy and Outreach Manager for SBS, working closely with NITV.She has qualifications and experience in early childhood development, health promotion and mentoring, Reconciliation Action Plans, workforce, strategy, and organisational policy development. Previous experience includes working in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy at a local, state and national level.

Dr. John Davis, CEO Stronger Smarter Institute 

John has worked as a lead educator in schools including positions as Principal, Head of Department, and Subject Area Coordinator for Indigenous Education. He has also held lectureship positions with the University of Queensland and James Cook University, and has worked as a QCAA and ACARA Advisor. In 2016, John completed his PhD in Indigenous Community Models of Education - Community Durithunga, with the Queensland University of Technology. Other research interests include Indigenous languages as LOTE, embedding Indigenous Knowledges and Indigenous ways to multimodal literacy. John is passionate about our people, our languages and culture and working and moving our ways forward as best practice in education and community development.

"My people are Cobble Cobble kinnected to Warra and Dalby. We have links directly to the Barunggam and Wakka Wakka people".

John's core work roles over the past decade have focused on educational excellence, woven within a team environment.

"Wherever I weave, I lay a footprint based on sustaining excellence - a core feature of my work outcomes - growing leadership density and developing cultures of excellence and aspirations".

The first comprehensive research on 'flexis' across Australia. The foremost national flexi provider in the country. Put these two together and you get MAGIC!

In this first ever episode of AAFIE in Conversation Prof. Kitty te Riele & Dale Murray yarn about how it all started, the Doing School Differently Conference & AAFIE. What they've learnt since then, and where they see it all going...