Tony Townsend
Dr Tony Townsend
Dr Tony Townsend is a Professor of Educational Leadership in the College of Education at Florida Atlantic University and has just completed a four year term as Chair of the Department. Previously he was an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University in Australia. From 1988-1997 he was foundation Director of Monash’s South Pacific Centre for School and Community Development. He was the President of the Australian Association for Community Education in 1986 and from 1987 to 1996 was Regional Director of the International Community Education Association's Pacific Region. He has been (1999-2001) President of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI), and President of the Board of Directors (2003-2006) of the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET). From September 2002 until March 2003 he was the Myron and Margaret Winegarden visiting professor at the School of Education and Human Services at the University of Michigan Flint campus. He has also been a visiting professor in South Africa, Canada, Macau and Malaysia. In May 2005 he was the Australian Council for Educational Leaders’ Travelling Scholar, presenting to Educational Leaders in all eight Australian states and territories. In January 2006, Tony was the Chair of the Conference Managing Committee for the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement’s annual conference held in Fort Lauderdale.
Tony has given numerous lectures, workshops, conference papers and presentations in the areas of school effectiveness and improvement, leadership, community education, policy development and school and community administration in over 35 developed, and developing, countries and he has served on the editorial boards of international journals such as School Effectiveness and School Improvement, the South African Journal of Education and Educational Research and Evaluation.
He has worked with Education Departments, school communities and business organizations in all Australian states and many of the United States and has worked with teachers and educational leaders in countries including Canada, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, South Africa, Malaysia, Namibia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, England and Scotland. Much of his work has been in the area of strategic planning and accountability, leadership and community relationships, all focusing on maximizing student attitudes and achievement. In Australia, he was a school reviewer for the Victorian and South Australian Departments of Education.
His research interests include school effectiveness and improvement, school restructuring with a particular emphasis on public education, educational leadership, student engagement, strategic planning, global education and community education and development. He has published extensively in the areas of school effectiveness, school improvement and community education and development, in Australia, Europe and North America. His recent books are:
· Teacher Education in Times of Change: Globalization, Standards and Professionalism (2007), Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands and New York (Edited with Richard Bates)
· The International Handbook of School Effectiveness and Improvement (2007), Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands and New York (Edited)