Page 4268 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 November 2005
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fellowships on the recommendation of its national awards committee and as such is recognition by education professionals of their peers.
Mr Curry came to the ACT from New South Wales in 2001 to take up the position of Director, Southside Schools and Student Services. He was appointed Executive Director of Education in 2003. Mr Curry was nominated for outstanding contribution to school education in Australia, especially in relation to advancing professional reflection and learning about inclusive education by promoting the quality of education of children with special needs.
He has exemplified a commitment to the social justice and equity considerations of this important work through providing determined, professional leadership. As such, Mr Curry has helped to focus school and systems shared vision for special education both in New South Wales and the ACT. As part of this commitment, he has made a strong contribution to the development of national standards for the education of students with disabilities, under the national disability discrimination legislation. He was particularly influential in the direction of those standards, opening up opportunities for students with disabilities, and in collaborating with key government and non-government stakeholders. This has resulted in positive professional dialogue and improved educational strategies for improved student outcomes.
In the ACT, Mr Curry was directly responsible for the implementation of a student-centred process to identify the resources required to support students with disabilities in all educational settings. He co-authored a discussion paper for ACT school communities called The inclusivity challenge, aimed at raising social justice and ethical issues within schools and, importantly to the government and the ACT, he has demonstrated outstanding educational leadership with his commitment to effective school planning and continuous improvement using the school development processes.
Mr Curry was a strong contributor to a number of significant initiatives in the ACT, including school excellence and improvement, review of counselling services and development of a multidisciplinary model, and the introduction of student pathways planning for secondary students. He has strong commitments to the benefits of tailoring education to meet the needs of the individual—personalised learning, as it is now known.
In addition, Mr Curry has delivered papers at education conferences, positively represented the ACT at major national meetings and, as executive director of education, provides positive, strategic educational leadership for public education in Canberra. The awarding of this fellowship acknowledges that leadership.
On a personal note, I have worked with Craig for the past three years and I enjoy working with him very much. I respect him enormously as an educator and as a person with a great passion for quality public education for Australian children and young people. I would like to publicly congratulate Mr Curry on this recognition by his peers and to thank him for his educational leadership and contribution to ACT education.
Industrial relations
A figure of speech book launch
MS MacDONALD (Brindabella) (6.20): I rise this evening to talk about two events that
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