Blogs and Messages

ACEL Constitution Review

By Elizabeth Foster posted 2 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
We are incredibly respectful of our past whilst also firmly looking to the future as we continue to be Australia's member-driven community for educational leadership. As the association that supports educators at every career stage through professional learning, partnerships and networks that shape the future of our profession, we will continue to position ourselves in leading for the future. It matters to us that structures of governance enable opportunities for leaders to connect, contribute and drive meaningful change within their schools, systems and communities. We will continue to position ourselves for this to occur through mentoring, coaching, conferences ...
0 comments

WA Branch News: August 2026

By Rachael Lehr posted 15 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
Leaders, What Are You Bestowing? I recently listened to the audiobook version of Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. This book is a work of fiction that is not focused on leadership, and also does not fit into my usual crime novel genre that I read to break up my doctoral studies. That said, as I listened, I reflected on the way the story lends a beautiful lens through which we can reflect on education and leadership. Theo of Golden is a captivating (for me anyhow) story that follows Theo, an elderly man who arrives in the fictional town of Golden and begins buying and “bestowing” the portraits on display in a local coffee shop to the people depicted ...
0 comments

ACEL National Inclusion and Disability Conference

By Charlotte Forwood posted 15 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
ACEL National Inclusion and Disability Conference “Do we talk to parents about diversity as a strength?” Professor Martin Westwell, Chief Executive of the Department of Education in South Australia invited attendees at the ACEL Inclusion and Diversity Conference held in Adelaide this year, to consider the culture shift that is needed to ensure we are truly inclusive and to understand what we really mean when we use the term diversity. It was a conference where educators and leaders were challenged to lead and provoke, to truly believe that all students are capable of high expectations (Kathleen Janecek), to reflect on how and if what ...
0 comments

QLD Branch News: August 2026

By Bruce Addison posted 15 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
ACEL Branch Awards 2026 It is with great pleasure to announce this year’s list of ACELQ Award recipients . It was exciting to receive so many nominations. One of the defining features of our ACEL Awards is that they are proudly peer nominated. The 2026 award recipients represent a broad cross-section of educational leadership across the State, Catholic and Independent sectors. This cross-sectoral representation highlights ACEL’s strength as a truly representative professional association. This year’s Miller-Grassie Award recipient is Mr Brendan Cahill. The Miller-Grassie Award is Queensland’s pinnacle ACEL award, recognising outstanding educational ...
0 comments

ACEL Shaping the Future Together Toolkit - Now Available

By Lisa Newland posted 29 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
Shaping the Future Together The future is not something that happens to us. It is something we create. Across Australia, educational leaders are navigating unprecedented complexity. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we think about learning. Communities are changing. Expectations of schools continue to evolve. New opportunities are emerging alongside new challenges. The future feels both exciting and uncertain. In this environment, leadership is no longer simply about responding well to change. It is about helping to shape what comes next. That question sits at the heart of this toolkit. It also sits at the heart of ACEL’s work. As an ...
0 comments

Meet Our 2026 National Awardees

By Lisa Newland posted 15-07-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
ACEL 2026 awardees – recognition of the profession by the profession We are delighted to announce this year’s 2026 National Award winners and New Voice Scholars and are looking forward to formally celebrating their achievements at our Awards Ceremony during the National Conference in Perth from 30 September - 2 October 2026. These awards are presented to those individuals or teams who have made a significant educational contribution and influenced education at a national level in Australia and beyond. ACEL Gold Medal Andy Mison, Australian Secondary Principals' Association (ASPA) ACEL National Fellowships Dr Adrian ...
0 comments

QLD Branch News: July 2026

By Bruce Addison posted 01-07-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
The Power of Ouch: Leadership with Clothes, with Apologies to the Emperor A few weeks ago, The Weekend Australian Magazine had a superb article by Charlotte Ree entitled “ The Power of Ouch: My New Friend Offers a Beautiful Lesson ”. The following quote is instructive. Recently, Miranda looked at her friend’s face, swollen lightly from chemotherapy, and asked if she was feeling alright. “You look a little puffy,” they commented. “Ouch,” she replied. It’s a tiny act of honesty. Immediate. Sharp. Decisive. A clear incision through the theatre of politeness, where our pain is often forced to sit in silence. Too often people release ...
0 comments

WA Branch News: July 2026

By Rachael Lehr posted 01-07-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
Leading in a Climate of Change: Courage, Clarity and Connection Earlier this month, we hosted a fabulous Hot Topic event, Leading in a Climate of Change , which brought together three generous and insightful leaders from across the Western Australian education sector, Peter Allen, Principal of Guildford Grammar School; Lisa Fogliani, Principal of Aranmore Catholic College; and Stephen Jeffrey from the Campaigns and Projects team at the Department of Education, for an evening of conversation. Hosted by Dr Ray Boyd, Principal of Dayton Primary School and one of our ACEL WA executive team, the evening explored what it means to lead, not only through change, ...
0 comments

ACT Branch News: June 2026

By Sandra Darley posted 03-06-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
Dear colleagues, Members and guests joined us at the National Portrait Gallery last Friday for our premier event, our annual Breakfast with the ACT Minister for Education Yvette Berry. We were also very privileged this year to be joined by our National President Liz Foster who flew in from Queensland to join us. VIEW PHOTO GALLERY Minister Yvette Berry spoke with great aspiration about the profession and the future of education in the ACT taking questions from patrons. This was once again one of our largest gathering of attendees at the Ministers Breakfast and on behalf of the ACT Branch Executive I thank our distinguished guests, System leaders, ...
0 comments

The 80s Generation Leading AI-Driven Schools: A Leadership Paradox

By Gary Racey posted 03-06-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
The 80s Generation Leading AI-Driven Schools: A Leadership Paradox I walked out of Optus Stadium after the AISWA Leaders Conference energised, inspired… and unsettled. It was a fantastic event. Rich conversations, powerful speakers and a sense that education is standing on the edge of something enormous. But it wasn’t the buzz of innovation that lingered with me. It was a question. One that refuses to sit quietly: How can we authentically lead a generation we no longer truly understand? Two keynote sessions collided in my thinking. First, the familiar and deeply resonant concept of Head and Heart Leadership - leading with intellect and ...
0 comments

Unmasking the Invisible: The Emotional Work in Leading Australian Schools

By Fiona Longmuir posted 03-06-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
Unmasking the Invisible: The Emotional Work in Leading Australian Schools For years, school principals have carried a weight that is rarely documented in job descriptions or policy frameworks: the intensive emotional management required to lead communities through increasingly volatile times. Our four-year research project (2022–2026), Invisible Labour: Principals’ emotional labour in volatile times , has sought to understand and highlight these aspects of principals’ work. The project is a collaboration between Monash (Professor Jane Wilkinson, Professor Lucas Walsh, myself, and Tim Delany), Deakin (Professor Amanda Keddie), and the University ...
0 comments

Winter Is Coming: Is Your Culture Ready?

By Daniel Johnson posted 03-06-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
Winter Is Coming: Is Your Culture Ready? The warmth of summer evenings can feel like a distant memory as the days grow shorter and the chill of winter settles in, well, a Queensland winter at least. With earlier sunsets and colder mornings, we often begin to feel the weight of the season. Fatigue creeps in, illness makes its rounds, and the busyness of school life begins to show its strain. It is in these moments, when energy fades and pressure rises, that we are reminded of the importance of wellbeing. In schools, wellbeing is about more than feeling good. It is about creating the conditions where students, teachers, leaders and teams can connect, ...
1 comment

Sustaining the Profession: Lighting the Path Forward

By Lisa Newland posted 28-05-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
Sustaining the Profession: Lighting the Path Forward Early in my career, I was given an opportunity that I had not sought—and, if I’m honest, would never have applied for. I was teaching in a small mining town. Like many early career teachers, my focus was on doing the job well, learning my craft, and getting through each term with some sense of success. Leadership was not on my radar. It felt distant—something for “later,” or perhaps for others. And then I was asked to step into a Head of Department role. It wasn’t part of a carefully mapped career plan. It was circumstance, context, and someone seeing something in me that I had not yet seen ...
0 comments

Message from the President, Term 2 2026

By Elizabeth Foster posted 28-05-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
Together, we are shaping the future of education. The human spirit that animates our work is resilient, purposeful and ultimately irrepressible. In this edition of Australian Educational Leader, we consider the sustainability of our profession, one that enables societies to evolve with hope for the future. In 2015, the Queensland Executive of ACEL researched the criteria of established professions, with a view to ascertaining whether there exists a common set of criteria that comprise a profession. It was agreed that teaching clearly meets all but one of the criteria evident in the research. What was missing was a deep statement of ethically based values ...
0 comments

WA Branch News: May 2026

By Rachael Lehr posted 07-05-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
Building Stronger Teams: What The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Teaches Us About Educational Leadership At our recent ACEL WA book club, a small yet passionate group of leaders gathered over coffee and cake to discuss Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team . A rich discussion ensued which led to many helpful ‘take-aways’ that were food for thought. In schools, we often speak about the importance of collaboration, shared purpose, and collective efficacy, something that, in my role as Associate Principal at Dayton Primary School, we return to often; recognising that our positive culture is not something that happens by ...
0 comments

VIC Branch News: May 2026

By Annette Rome posted 07-05-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
ANZAC Day 2026 was celebrated recently across the country. This year, many of the services felt particularly poignant, perhaps, sadly, because of current world events. At my school, one of the students shared the following and I believe it is a powerful reflection of the current challenges and hopes that some of our young people recognise in relation to such commemorations. I hope you find it as thought provoking as I do. Theirs was a generation that did not have the luxury of looking away. They could not mute it, minimise it, or scroll past it. When the moment came, they stood in it — fully, completely, without the option of retreat. And in standing ...
0 comments

SA Branch News: May 2026

By Martyn Anderson posted 07-05-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
ACEL Branch Awards 2026 It gives me great pleasure to announce our ACEL SA 2026 Award Winners: Alby Jones Gold Medal Award Dr Neil McGoran ACEL SA Fellowship Awards Anna Mirasgentis Deb Dalwood Dr Michelle Kohler The Distinguished Contribution to research in educational leadership award Prof Simon Leonard ACEL SA Educational Leadership Award Angela Phillips Rebeca Huddy Roy Page Luke Ritchie Pip Field Emerging Leaders Award Kerry Proctor Lucy Warnock Simon Miller Ed McInnes ACEL SA Media Award Will Goodings We will celebrate these outstanding leaders at the ACEL SA Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, ...
0 comments

Highly Effective Teams: Reflective Relationality and Organisational Richness

By Bruce Addison posted 07-05-2026
Be the first person to recommend this.
Highly Effective Teams: Reflective Relationality and Organisational Richness Late last month ACEL released its new publication, The Teamwork Toolkit: Designing Teams that Matter . After the success of the Bold Teacher Toolkit , this publication promised much—and it did not disappoint. Teams are central to our organisational contexts, and it is always valuable to examine them through different lenses. The reflections below were, in part, stimulated by reading and interrogating this resource. Most schools can point to teams that are working. They meet, share information, move through agendas, and complete their work. Yet there is often ...
0 comments

ACEL Teamwork Toolkit - Now Available

By Lisa Newland posted 23-04-2026
1 person recommends this.
As we begin Term 2 across schools in Australia, I’m excited to share a new resource to support your leadership practice—our Teamwork Toolkit . So much of our work through ACELearn focuses on leadership teams: building culture, strengthening collaboration, and designing real teams—not teams in name only. Grounded in the Harvard Six Conditions of Team Effectiveness, this toolkit is designed to prompt reflection, sharpen practice and support the important work of leading together. I hope it offers something valuable for you and your teams as the term unfolds. We are also continuing to invest in leadership at every stage. Our reimagined NextGen program ...
0 comments

Courage Fatigue

By Fiona Roush posted 09-04-2026
2 people recommend this.
This month’s article has been written by ACELQ Executive Ms Fiona Roush. Fiona is currently Dean of Teaching at Sunshine Coast Grammar School. There was a genuine sense of community at the March ACEL Aspiring and Early Career Teacher Breakfast. A splendid gathering of early‑career educators and mentors sharing their experiences and thoughts of the joy of teaching. The event originated from the conceptual work of ACELQ Executive members Adam Kuss, Tania Leech and Bruce Addison. Head of St Hilda’s Learning Institute and ACELQ Executive member Majda Benzenati’s keynote address offered a compelling reflection on her teaching journey, affirming the ...
0 comments