Dr. Adams was an educator in public schools in Alberta for 17 years before joining the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge in 1996, where she now teaches at the graduate and doctoral levels. In 2005, she was appointed a Teaching Fellow in the Centre for Advancement of Teaching and Learning and went on to serve as an Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Education and faculty liaison for the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) for 10 years. Over the past five years, her research has investigated themes of collaborative inquiry and generative dialogue, school and organizational leadership, teaching effectiveness, school improvement, inquiry-based professional growth, and adult learning.
Colleen Brownlee, retired Superintendent of Rocky View School District in Alberta. Since retiring Colleen has been consulting with schools as well as teaching at the Canadian Forces Base in Esquimalt. She is a Distinguished Alumni Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria. Her community involvement includes being a municipal councilor in Metchosin, outside Victoria and she presently serves as vice-chair on the City of Colwood Advisory Planning and Land Commission.
Denise Budgen has been with FFCA since September 2000 - first as a kindergarten teacher and then as a grade one teacher working with struggling learners. She was an educational coach before opening the Northwest Elementary Campus in September, 2002. This is her fourth year at the Southeast Elementary Campus and her 16th year as an elementary principal.
Joan Burke has been with FFCA since 2005 - first as a grade 3 teacher and then as an Associate Principal at an elementary campus. Currently she is serving in the role of Coordinator of Instruction. Prior to joining FFCA, Joan worked in other school jurisdictions in Alberta. She is entering her 35 year as an educator and has yet to decide what she wants to be when she grows up.
Dr. Chaseling is in the School of Education at Southern Cross University, Australia. She is the Academic Leader of the North Coast Initiative for School Improvement, an Australian adaptation of an Alberta model of school improvement which is based on the twin concepts of collaborative inquiry and generative dialogue. The participants in this Initiative in Australia comprise 10 university academics and more than 100 regional school leaders. The Initiative’s aim is to improve school leadership with the primary purpose of improving student outcomes. In 2016, the North Coast Initiative for School Improvement was awarded Southern Cross University’s Excellence in Community Engagement, Community Impact Award.
Jesse is in his 11th year at FFCA after having spent his first two years teaching in the England. This is his second year in an administrative role having served one year as Associate Principal at the FFCA High School and now at the South Middle School Campus.
Elaine Dolan was a teacher in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Her teaching experience focused on Special Education, working with preschool, elementary and high school students. She was a principal in the Greater Victoria School District at an alternative K -7, South Park Family School, French Immersion K - 5 ECOLE Marigold, and Hillcrest and View Royal Elementary. Elaine is a consultant with Generative Dialogue in Greater Victoria.
Conal began his teacher leadership journey as a literacy specialist implementing a school-wide vocabulary development initiative. He has presented at numerous conferences and teacher learning sessions throughout Alberta, and became assistant principal of JA Williams School in 2010. In his current role as principal at JA Williams, his leadership team implements a school plan with two simple goals: improving student achievement and improving student engagement. Using the collaborative response model, positive.
Bill is in his second year as the Associate Superintendent of System Improvement at Northern Lights Public Schools. Prior to his current role he spent 22 years in a more northern school division where he served in various capacities such as teacher, school administrator, director of literacy, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, and deputy superintendent.
Jeannine Ellis has been working for Northern Lights for over fifteen years. Initially as an educational aide, a teacher, and now as an administrator. Jeanine is in her third year as administrator with 0.5 FTE teaching assignment in a small rural K-8 school.
Mark Sanders Hall is the Principal of Walcha Central School located in rural NSW. Sanders is not a reference to ‘The Colonial’, but comes from his grandfather Jack Hall. His son, Mark’s father John Hall died at 56, the result of concrete dust, cigarette smoke inhalation and drinking beer and wine and spumanti if the price was right. A man of his time. His mother Irene Hall was born in 1935 and still lives in a community where she drives herself and parks her sculptured car using a combination of braille-like techniques and good luck! She was also the first woman to read the news on ABC radio in Australia.
James has been an educator in the Greater Victoria School district since 1998. He was an elementary school vice principal and a district vice principal before he became principal at Doncaster Elementary in 2010. He has been District Principal of Leadership and Learning in the Greater Victoria District since August, 2016. A major part of his work is supporting the professional learning of Greater Victoria School District administrators, particularly in implementing their own generative dialogues.
Elizabeth Hartney, Ph.D., R.Psych. is a Registered Psychologist, Professor of Health Leadership, and Director of the Centre for Health Leadership and Research at Royal Roads University. She holds a MA in Education in addition to her qualifications in Psychology. Elizabeth has over twenty years of leadership experience, and conducts research and training into building Indigenous and non-Indigenous partnerships. She volunteers for Autism Community Training, and has written several publications for teachers. Elizabeth is leading the Royal Roads research project into Generative Dialogue at the Greater Victoria School District, and can be contacted at Elizabeth.Hartney@royalroads.ca .
Piet Langstraat has been the Superintendent of the Greater Victoria School District since 2016. Before that he was superintendent of Red Deer Public School District in Alberta. In Victoria and Red Deer, Piet has played a key role in the implementation and development of Generative Dialogue as a way to help educators in their professional learning.
Leslie has thirty-seven years of progressive experience and accomplishments as an administrator and educator at the middle and elementary level in three school districts. She retired as principal of L`Ecole George Jay Elementary in 2016 and was recognized as one of Canada's Outstanding Principals in 2014 for exemplary leadership and improved student achievement.
Preston Lowther has been with FFCA since the 2004/05 school year. He has taught Social Studies/ Math and Computers. His first year in administration was in 2009 and he has since spent 6 years as an associate principal and 3 years as principal educator.
Now in her 19th year teaching with Northern Lights and third year as assistant principal, Alyson became a leader in teacher professional growth during our High School Success Project as a lead teacher in the peer coaching process. She began modeling non-evaluative peer feedback for teachers to improve formative assessment practices, and now that she is an administrator, Alyson continues to use generative dialogue to promote teacher growth and school-wide improvement.
David is a leading driver of Generative Dialogue in New South Wales, Australia. He is currently principal of Alstonville High School. From 2014 to 2016 he was Principal of School Leadership in New South Wales and prior to that he was on the National Principal Advisory Council. He received the 2015 North Coast Region Secondary Principal Council Excellence in Service Award and the 2015 NSW Secondary Principal Council Distinguished Service Award. He was oo the 2015 Southern Cross University Dean’s Honour list for Master of Education and was 2016 Southern Cross University Alumni of the Year. David is Chair Southern Cross University School of Education Advisory Committee and a National Partnerships Coach.
Janeen Silcock is in her 36th year of teaching. She has taught primary, secondary, internationally, remote indigenous communities and through distance education. Janeen was principal of one of the largest schools in NSW with over 450 staff, covering 220000 km2 . She took on the challenge to redesign pedagogy and the building of a new school that opens its doors in 2019. Generative Dialogue has created opportunities to challenge practices and cultures in and across schools and communities. The conversations continue to drive growth for our students, staff and community.
Dr. Smith was a practicing teacher for over twenty years, mostly in Secondary schools, but also with experience in Primary as well as Technical education and in administration. This experience has been in regional areas of Australia, where Robert helped to establish a regional professional association for English teachers. As a professor at Southern Cross University, Australia, Robert has taken leadership in English, and in university-wide academic accreditation. A 2014 study tour to Alberta made him a strong advocate for generative dialogue, and he continues to be astounded at its positive impact on school leaders.
Joshua Symonds has been with FFCA since the 2005/06 school year. He has taught ELA/Social Studies/Leadership and Physical Education. He spent 4 years as athletic director before joining the administration team at the high school. He has since spent 6 years as the associate principal at FFCA high school,
Born in Australia, David moved to Canada in 1967. He worked as a classroom teacher, vice principal, principal, deputy superintendent, consultant and researcher before joining the faculty of education at the University of Lethbridge in 1985. David credits years of involvement in research and development efforts in schools, especially the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI), with helping to refine the collaborative inquiry-generative dialogue approach that is at the centre of most school improvement activities with which he is connected.