TQI Board

Lyndall is a highly experienced and respected school leader, who has held many positions across the education sector during her more than 20-year career. After gaining her Bachelor of Education degree through the University of Canberra, Lyndall taught for two years in Japan before returning to Australia and working in Early Childhood Education and Care in NSW and the ACT. Lyndall moved to the ACT Public Education system as an executive teacher in Preschool Education and was appointed to various leadership positions within Children’s Services and Early Childhood Education. Lyndall led the ACT work to introduce the Early Childhood National Quality Framework and is most proud of her work on the Early Childhood Schools initiative, resulting in nation leading early childhood schools being developed across the ACT.

Lyndall has most recently contributed to improving outcomes for children and young people in the ACT as Director of School Improvement for the South Weston Network. As Co-Vice President of the ACT Principals’ Association and as a Director of School Improvement, Lyndall has had a dedicated focus on principal wellbeing and school improvement. Lyndall is a passionate teacher who loves to learn and is committed to quality education, Cultural Integrity and equity, most especially when listening to the voices of children and young people.

Lyndall is an outstanding communicator, whose engagement and ability to build, and foster networks across the education system is well known, including through her roles as the Principal of Southern Cross Early Childhood School and Latham Primary School. She is a strong advocate for the teaching profession and, as the Chief Executive Officer of the Teacher Quality Institute is looking forward to the opportunities it presents to continue to uplift and promote all teachers across the ACT.

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Barney commenced as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Canberra in February 2020, moving from Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga where he had spent 22 years in academic and leadership roles culminating in the position of Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor Learning and Teaching.

Barney’s journey as an educator began in Canberra in 1980 when, as a year nine student at Lyneham High School, he participated in a ‘cross-age tutoring’ program at Turner Primary School. He was struck by the intellectual and social challenge of teaching long division to an unconfident year five student and achieved a great deal of satisfaction upon his success.

His early career after graduating from a Computer Science degree at ANU included periods with a primary focus on the application of Information Technology skills and periods in tutoring and workplace technology training roles, before undertaking further studies in Education at UC. He enjoyed a stint as a Secondary Teacher in Griffith NSW before further postgraduate studies led to an academic career path.

His Research Masters at UC and his PhD at the University of Wollongong focused on Technology Enabled Learning providing a foundation for a long career in educational research. Barney’s research areas of focus have included the educational and social impact of digital technologies, the learning affordances of virtual, mixed and augmented realities, and the future of universities and schools in the age of digital disruption. He has had international influence through over 100 presentations and publications, award winning online learning innovations and editorship of educational technology journals and conference proceedings.

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Ms Samantha Page is the CEO of Early Childhood Australia (ECA), the national peak advocacy organisation for children under eight, their families and professionals in the field of early childhood development and education.

Samantha holds a master’s degree in (Community) Management from the University of Technology, Sydney and she is a Graduate of the Company Directors course offered by the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Her passion is for social equality and she has worked in the non-government sector for 20 years across roles encompassing service delivery, executive management, consulting, social policy analysis and advocacy. She has extensive experience in the development and implementation of social policy and sector development projects.

Helena represents the community on the TQI Board. She currently works for Charles Sturt University as an Educational Designer for online course materials. Prior to this she worked for three years as a student support officer, trainer and content developer for CIT Solutions in the Indigenous Apprenticeships Program (a national program), delivering a Diploma of Government to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

Before all of the above, Helena facilitated Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) reading and writing courses to a wide variety of people in the Skills for Education and Employment program and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the Adult Migrant English Program in Canberra. She was also the education officer with Arthritis ACT after returning from teaching English as a Foreign Language in Kazakhstan. All of these experiences have expanded Helena’s understanding and sympathy for the diverse needs of our community and strengthened her awareness of the great challenges that some groups face to accessibility.

Helena previously taught science in a high school and so understands many of the issues that ordinary teachers face. Somewhere in the middle, she became a parent and currently has two school-aged children in the ACT schooling system. Having the experience of being a parent after being a classroom teacher has been both humbling and revealing and she wishes every teacher could know the things it has taught her.

Helena was born in Canberra and has spent most of her life here.  She supports the long term interests of locals and wants to be part of coming up with solutions to the problems in our community to make life better for all of us. Being a member of the TQI Board is one way she hopes to do this.

Ms Maria O’Donnell is Assistant Principal, Curriculum at St Mary MacKillop College. Maria has strong leadership skills and is a confident, strategic and judicious representative of the voice of teachers and principals of non-government schools.

She has extensive teacher and school leader networks as a HALT assessor. Maria has been involved at the Catholic Education system level in the roll out of the system wide evidence based professional learning program – Catalyst. She is a member of the Assistant Principals network and is also on a Board of Senior Secondary Studies committee.

Maria has a strong connection with TQI, having been a HALT Assessor since the early days of HALT certification. She has significant experience in policy development, and the design of professional learning policy. She is a mentor for teachers and shares her knowledge of quality teaching within her own school and across the system. She has a deep understanding of and commitment to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. She understands the Standards’ correlation with HALTs, with professional learning and with TQI’s ultimate goal of improving outcomes for students.

Ms Amanda Hawkins is Deputy Principal, Bonython Primary School.

Amanda is an authentic, professional role model who is highly regarded amongst her peers. She is a practising classroom teacher with senior leadership responsibilities.

Ms Hawkins’ has an enthusiasm for promoting the teaching profession and an understanding of the context within which teachers grow as professionals. She has a long connection with the Teacher Quality Institute, has a thorough and practical knowledge of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and their integral place in the many faceted work of TQI.

Ms Hawkins is an excellent advocate for the government teaching profession, and, drawing on her diverse networks, and her strong collaborative and communication skills, is able to competently represent the views of teachers and principals of government schools on the TQI Board. She adds value to the TQI Board in her capacity as a school leader in a primary school. Given the Board’s focus over forward years is on designing and implementing professional registration for all Early Childhood teachers in the ACT, Ms Hawkins’ knowledge of early childhood education will be of significant value.

Joanne is Deputy Head of the School of Education at ACU's Canberra campus. She has led ACU’s primary education programs and teaches and researches in literacy education.

Joanne has previously taught in primary schools across the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia, in classroom settings and specialised intervention programs. More recently, she has engaged in teaching, research, and leadership at universities in NSW and Victoria before commencing her current role in the ACT.