Speakers

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

Keynote Speaker | Australia

Michael is one of Australia’s highest profile psychologists working in all forms of media. A successful author, speaker, broadcaster and mental health advocate, Michael works in private practice in Melbourne.

Michael has been the recipient of a number of awards including the Australian Jaycees Outstanding Young Australian of the Year, the New Zealand Commemoration Medal for Services to the Community, and named Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International in recognition of his work in the prevention of youth suicide.

Michael works in private practice in Melbourne and is a Master trainer for Mental Health First Aid Australia, a Patron of Read the Play, and a columnist for a number of publications. Michael was the resident psychologist for the top-rating Morning Show with Neil Mitchell on Radio 3AW for 12 years.

Michael’s main interests lie in the area of parent information and Grand Parenting. Michael also provides Youth Mental Health First Aid training and Teen Mental Health First Aid for schools and organisations nationally and internationally, as well as webinars to help school students, staff and parents manage the uncertain times that we live in.

More on Michael here:
https://michaelcarrgregg.com/

Dr Ann Milne

Keynote Speaker | Aotearoa

Dr Ann Milne has championed innovative approaches to education for the past 45 years. She is a leader in educational innovation for Māori and Pasifika students and is the founder of Ann Milne Education. Her pedagogical method highlights the need to develop a critical, culturally sustaining learning approach centred on students’ identities. She was the Principal of Kia Aroha College in South Auckland for 22 years, after 20 years as a teacher. At Kia Aroha, she implemented a bilingual learning model based on a secure cultural identity and stable positive relationships. Dr Milne was a Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards judge and has presented widely on her research and methods. ‘I grew up in a tiny, coastal, Māori community in New Zealand where my family was one of the very few Pākehā (White) families in the district, and at the one-teacher rural school. With hindsight, I realised that my family had status in that community that we didn’t understand. At Māori community celebrations and events we were treated as honoured guests, but I never questioned this or thought about why. I absorbed the richness of a Māori community from a position of unearned privilege. At the age of 16, I left the security of home and the beach, to be thrown into the world of study and teacher training in Auckland, and where again, no one ever challenged me to think about inequity or injustice. That conscientisation did not happen for another two decades, when my own children, who identify as Māori through their father’s heritage, began secondary school. I am honoured to have been inextricably linked to the counter story of Kia Aroha College for the last 33 years, on a professional level as a teacher and principal, a writer, speaker, and researcher, as well as on a personal level as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother of Māori children, whose own experiences in our education system opened my eyes, and forever changed my own teaching practice and the lens I looked through. I am enormously proud of the achievements of Kia Aroha College. After 22 years in the principal’s role I felt it was time to move on, to pass on the experience and the knowledge I have been given in this journey, to support other educators, school leaders, and communities in their similar pathways. In New Zealand my work is with Māori and Pasifika children and communities and I am now thoroughly enjoying engaging with those who want to make real change for Indigenous and minoritised learners in your classes and schools.’ More on Ann here: https://www.annmilne.co.nz/

Tara Elie

Keynote Speaker | UK

Tara is passionate about teacher well-being and uses the theories of Positive Psychology to inform her work with clients. She is thrilled to have been accepted on the Positive Psychology Masters at the University of East London. Tara is currently lecturing at the University of East London in Education and she is enjoying the renaissance of her company Star Performance which delivers training, confidence coaching and fitness training. Tara appreciates and celebrates the individual, their differing backgrounds, cultures, experiences, perceptions and values. Moreover, it is her genuine excitement about education and well-being that stimulates the experience in her sessions. Tara is a trainer, leader, lecturer and educator. Tara is renowned for her engaging training delivery both face-to-face and virtually. Her performance background alongside her passion for supporting individuals and organisations to flourish and thrive characterise her delivery style. Tara has 20 years of teaching experience working with a wide range of students from inner-city to international private schools. During that time she has led thriving departments as a Head of Department and Head of Faculty. Whilst teaching Tara created programmes to improve boy’s achievement and support successful transitions from primary to secondary school. She has led on Behaviour teams and Teaching and Learning teams. As well as mainstream achievements Tara has worked closely with Pupil Referral Units to develop student-centred Behaviour Management Strategies. Tara uses her diverse experience to drive her empathetic and dynamic training style. She looks at the whole school approach and works with all adults involved in a learner’s educational experience, from support staff to management. Tara is renowned for her engaging INSET. Her performance background and passion for student-centred education characterise her delivery style. More on Tara here: https://whentheadultschange.com/our-people/training-team/

Prof Katie Fitzpatrick

Keynote Speaker | Aotearoa

Professor Katie Fitzpatrick is Head of Te Kura o Te Marautanga me te Ako School of Curriculum and Pedagogy in the Faculty of Education and Social Work. Her research and teaching are focused on health and wellbeing education, physical education, sexuality education, mental health education, critical pedagogy, policy, poetic research methods, and critical ethnography.

Katie has a background teaching health and physical education in high schools and universities, and has led the writing of key national curriculum policy documents for the Ministry of Education. She was the lead writer of Relationships and Sexuality education: A guide for teachers, leaders and boards of trustees (2015, 2020a, 2020b) and co-led (with Prof Melinda Webber) the Ministry of Education policy Mental health education: A guide for teachers, leaders and school boards (2022), and the resource Mental health education and Hauora: teaching interpersonal skills, resilience and wellbeing (NZCER, 2018).

Prof Melinda Webber

Keynote Speaker | Aotearoa

Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Kahu, and Ngāti Whakaue

Melinda teaches and researches at the Faculty of Education and Social Work at The University of Auckland. She leads a number of research projects focused on better understanding the effects of Māori student motivation and academic engagement, culturally sustaining teaching, localised curricula, and enduring school-family-community partnerships for learning.

Toby Stokes

Workshop Speaker

Toby has been a principal in the Wellington region for over 12 years and has worked in education since graduating from the Dunedin College of Education and Otago University (sometime around the dawn of time.) He is passionate about making authentic connections with students that are mutually beneficial and prides himself in seeing the positives in people.

Karl Emson

Workshop Speaker

Karl has been a Deputy Principal for the past 4 years, after teaching in Intermediate Schools since graduating with a Post Graduate Diploma in Primary Teaching from Victoria University of Wellington. He is a passionate supporter of Intermediate School education and values the broad range of opportunities that can be provided to students. Creating strong positive relationships for learning, valuing the students’ culture and experience, supports learning in classrooms.