Wollongong academic to receive Sir Harold Wyndham Medal

Aug 04, 2005

*Embargoed: Friday 5 August 2005

The peak award from the Australian College of Educators, the Sir Harold Wyndham Medal, is to be presented to a University of Wollongong educator in Sydney on Friday August 5.

Professor Stephen Dinham, a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators who has also served as NSW President and on the National Council of the College, will be only the 12th recipient of this award.

The Australian College of Educators praised Professor Dinham for his outstanding contribution to the education of children and young people through his work as a teacher and teacher educator, and through a body of research that defines and gives fresh insights into teachers' professional lives.

Professor Dinham began his teaching career as a teacher of Social Sciences in the NSW Department of Education, working predominantly in schools in country areas between 1975 and 1988. During this phase he developed interests in student retention and teacher satisfaction, pursuing these research interests in studies that culminated in his doctoral thesis investigating teacher resignation.

These interests in students' learning, and teachers' work, work culture and professional learning, became the major focus of Professor Dinham's subsequent work in academia at the University of Western Sydney, the University of New England and, more recently, at the University of Wollongong. His research continues to investigate a wide range of themes including quality teaching, successful teaching in the post-compulsory school years, teacher motivation and satisfaction, educational leadership and change and teacher education.

From 1998-2000, Professor Dinham was the Chair of the NSW Branch of the College. Following the College's international conference, Priorities for the New Millennium, Professor Dinham was invited by the NSW Minister for Education and Training to chair a steering committee to establish the NSW Quality Teaching Awards. The awards were to recognise and celebrate the work of outstanding teachers and to learn from what they do.

His subsequent work in leading the Quality Teaching Awards steering committee has established the awards as the most credible and rigorous in Australia. The citation for the medal stated that Professor Dinham's related research with Dr Catherine Scott and colleagues at UWS and UNE and educational systems has provided new insights into outstanding classroom practice.

Invitations have been extended to Professor Dinham to contribute to a wide diversity of groups in education including work at the Commonwealth level providing advice on teaching and teacher education, and to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on teacher recruitment and retention. At the state level Professor Dinham has contributed substantially to the formative work of the NSW Institute of Teachers, and to the work of the NSW Teacher Education Council.

Professor Dinham was invited to Fellowship of the Australian College of Educators for his contributions to educational research into teachers' lives and work, the status of teachers and teacher professionalism. His contributions to education continue to be recognised nationally and internationally. He is a Fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders and of the Australian Institute of Management.

For further information contact Professor Stephen Dinham at the University of Wollongong's Australian Centre for Educational Leadership on (02) 4221 5626.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128