Director of Australian Centre for Educational Leadership wins Nganakarrawa Award

Oct 30, 2006

The Director of UOW's Centre for Educational Leadership, Associate Professor Narottam Bhindi, has been honoured by the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) with its Nganakarrawa Award.

The award was conferred at the Council's national conference in Canberra.

It is presented to those whose general excellence in educational administration and whose learning, experience and contribution to the Council have earned lasting respect and gratitude.

The name of the award was selected and given to the Council by Aboriginal literacy workers from the Ndjebbana bilingual education program at Maningrida Community Education Centre, Maningrida, central Arnhemland in the Northern Territory of Australia. The term Nganakarrawa (pronounced nana-ga-raa-wa) refers to those who move about, all seeing, all knowing, knowledgeable and well regarded.

The Dean of the Faculty of Education, Professor Barry Harper, noted the importance of the award highlighting how Professor Bhindi maintained a very active program of collaborative research and was a regular attendee and supporter of ACEL conferences and activities.

"He has made an outstanding contribution to educational leadership at the University and nationally," Professor Harper said.

Part of Professor Bhindi's award notation read:

"Associate Professor Narottam Bhindi has over many years made significant and highly effective contributions to both the theory and practice of educational leadership in regional, state and national levels within Australia, and to the practice of educational leadership internationally.

"Associate Professor Narottam Bhindi has been a person of great significance and influence in the Queensland and New South Wales branches of the Australian Council for Educational Administration (ACEA) and the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL), and has provided committed and dedicated leadership within the Brisbane, Armidale and Illawarra groups in particular.

"He has an outstanding record as an academic in this field, and has been the head of the educational leadership programs at previously the University of New England, and currently at the University of Wollongong.

"In his current position as Director of the Australian Centre for Educational Leadership, Associate Professor Narottam Bhindi has now run significant international standard conferences in educational leadership each year. These conferences are attracting very significant international and state attendance as well as strong regional support. He has forged international alliances with Asia, and was instrumental in gaining a partnership arrangement in aspects of educational leadership between the Australian Catholic University and the University of Wollongong. He is highly regarded by the region's practitioners and has forged strong and effective partnerships with the State, Catholic and Independent Schools in the Illawarra region."