Briefing the Board Conference

Valerie Gould became the Executive Director of the Association of Independent Schools of WA in July 2008. She has worked for many years in the Western Australian education system with her first four years teaching Economics and Mathematics. The following seven years were spent working in New York with Ernst and Young, and being greatly involved in the introduction of microcomputer applications into business. She returned to WA in 1986 as Director of Computing at St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School for seven years.

During the early 1990s she worked with the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (at the time the Secondary Education Authority) for four and a half years before joining AISWA as the Manager of Curriculum and Australian Government Targeted Programs. She has been with AISWA for more than 10 years and has worked closely with schools and other stakeholders in the areas of curriculum change, Curriculum Framework and Senior Secondary Education; and in meeting government regulations from a national and state perspective. Valerie has a Bachelor of Economics and a Diploma of Education, and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators and the Australian Council for Educational Leadership.

Ron is Deputy Director of AISWA. He has extensive experience in teaching and leading a diversity of schools in WA and Victoria.  Ron manages innovative programmes and university partnerships for AISWA. He is a member of the Global Educators Leaders Partnership and has been awarded Fellow of Australian Council of Educational Leadership (WA). Ron is also past-Chair of the Australian Children’s Laureate Foundation, advocating for Australian authors and illustrators and working closely with the Australian Children’s Laureate.

Jan Clarke has been with AISWA since 2008. She has 40 years of primary and secondary teaching experience, including G&T and Computing, HoLA for T&E and Certificate qualifications. She actively incorporated ICT in her teaching for over 30 years and has a strong belief in its potential for student engagement and learning. Jan has a BEd (Curriculum), Grad Dip in Comp Sci (Education) and a Cert IV in WTA. On behalf of AISWA she has: led the roll-outs of all WACE T&E subjects, the ICT Capabilities and K-10 Technologies subjects; represented AISWA for ISA, SCSA and ACARA and various STEM initiatives; supported the DER; collaborated with universities on research projects; delivered keynotes, papers and workshops at national and international conferences; developed and shared many practical ICT-related resources, including internationally published works; and managed the multi-skilled AISWA Tech Team. She takes great pride in supporting WA Independent Schools.

Therese has worked at AISWA for a number of years, previously in the Aboriginal Schools Support Unit and in the administration of a Commonwealth funding program for the CGA. 

Since 2014 Therese has worked in the area of school registration and compliance, which involves supporting schools with their renewal of registration process and assisting all member schools with queries related to school registration and compliance with the Registration Standards and Requirements. Therese works in this role alongside her colleague, Gary Robinson.  When not visiting schools she and Gary are a contact point for school compliance queries and are involved in presentation delivery, school constitution review, the development, review and maintenance of policy and procedure guidelines, governance guidelines, production of the Registration and Compliance Focus newsletter and other documentation associated with registration and compliance.

Prior to joining AISWA in 2017, Nigel was an officer with the Independent Education Union of WA for 18 years. 16 years of those as Assistant Secretary (Industrial Relations). 
During that time, Nigel focussed on developing strong professional working relationships with Employees, Employers and key sector participants. His key objective was to provide consistent, accurate and timely advice and advocacy.

Since joining AISWA Nigel has been responsible for providing advice and support to member schools on all things relating to Industrial Relations, Human Resource matters and Workplace Health and Safety.  He assesses and advises on ‘conflicting’ issues (e.g. industrial issues and staff welfare; duty of care and discrimination; behaviour management and discrimination; student welfare and rights as well as staff welfare and rights).

Nigel supports schools on any issue that may have legal implications. 

Over many years, Lynne has gained extensive experience in both education and small business ownership. Her teaching career in NSW and WA spans early childhood, primary, and lower secondary classrooms, as well as special needs education and music. She has also held school leadership roles, including Principal of an independent school in WA. In addition, Lynne has supported and mentored school leaders and assisted schools through the school registration process.

Since joining AISWA in 2017, Lynne has demonstrated her passion for supporting schools in the areas of special needs education and child protection. Her roles have included Inclusive Education Consultant and Coordinator, and she currently serves as a Child Protection Consultant.

In her current role, Lynne provides guidance and support to all AISWA schools in the areas of child safety and protection. She is the key contact for inquiries related to child abuse, including mandatory reporting, and delivers a variety of training programs focused on preventing and responding to child abuse, ensuring schools meet registration requirements.

After graduating with a Bachelor in Science (Chemistry) and a Diploma in Education Gary started teaching in 1979 as a science teacher at Norseman District High School. After teaching for 9 years in Department of Education schools in a range of subjects including Chemistry and Physics he moved to Albany, with his family, where for the next 20 years he taught at Bethel Christian School. He was Principal of the school for his last 8 years in Albany. From Albany Gary and his wife moved to Esperance to teach at Wongutha CAPS, a boarding school for Aboriginal students. Gary was offered and accepted a position at AISWA in 2007.

Gary’s first role at AISWA was to support the Aboriginal Independent Community Schools (AICS) as they took on older students as a consequence of the raising of the student leaving age. Gary then worked in the newly created Policy and Registration space for a few years before taking on the management of the AICS support team. Since 2013 Gary has been back as a consultant in the Registration and Compliance area where he works alongside Sarah Kennedy.

Kris brings over 30 years of experience in school and tertiary education, and education policy. Over various roles she has provided leadership and strategic policy advice at both school and system levels. She has a deep understanding of State and National curriculum policy, along with best practices in curriculum leadership, teaching, and learning. Since joining AISWA in 2017, Kris has led numerous successful education initiatives aimed at improving teacher quality and supporting student achievement. In her current role, she leads the Curriculum & Pedagogy Directorate at AISWA, continuing to drive the development and implementation of impactful education initiatives for member schools. Kris holds a Master of Education and has lectured widely in Pre-Service Teacher Education and Public Health. She is also a member of the School Curriculum and Standards Authority Board.