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Zandile Kunene Mbeje

Ms. Zandile Kunene is currently the Executive Director of the Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance (MGSLG), an agency of the Gauteng Department of Education.  She is also a nominated member of the Board of Directors of Link Community Development, an international not-for-profit organization working in the education sector.  She is the past president of the Education Management Association of South Africa (EMASA)

She has been nominated as one of SA’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government by her peers. These awards recognize the profound and exceptional contributions women have made in their sectors and she has been identified as a woman who has made a difference in the lives of women across South Africa, whether directly or indirectly, as well as positive difference in the competitive world comprising the public and private sectors.  She was also nominated and a finalist for the 2006 Outstanding Women in the Public Sector and State Owned Enterprises Awards; best service delivery category.

Ms. Kunene holds the following qualifications: a Bachelors of Arts, a Higher Diploma in Education and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Natal.  She is currently registered with the Institute of Education, University of London for an MBA in School Leadership.

Ms. Kunene has extensive experience in education and development work.  She started her teaching career in the mid-80s in KwaZulu Natal Province.  She moved to Mpumalanga and worked at Elijah Manjo College of Education as a teacher trainer.

She worked at the University of Natal in the Curriculum Development Unit whilst pursuing a Masters degree.  She worked briefly for the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) before joining Oxford University Press and later the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) as a trainer and materials developer.

Her last employment before joining MGSLG was with the Management of Schools Training Programme (MSTP) as Deputy National Director. In this capacity she managed a USAID-funded project in the Limpopo Province in the fields of governance, management, curriculum and district capacity building.

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)

Professor Andy Hargreaves

Andy Hargreaves is the Thomas More Brennan Chair of Education in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. Before this he was the founder and co-director of the International Centre for Educational Change at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto). Until he moved to North America in 1987, Andy taught primary school and lectured in several English universities, including Oxford. Andy has held visiting professorships and fellowships in England, Australia, Sweden, Spain, the United States, Hong Kong and Japan. He is holder of the Canadian Education Association/Whitworth 2000 Award for outstanding contributions to educational research in Canada. His book, Changing Teachers, Changing Times received the 1995 Outstanding Writing Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. His other recent book, Teaching In The Knowledge Society: Education In The Age Of Insecurity won the 2004 Choice Outstanding Book Award from the American Libraries Association. Andy was the invited editor of the 1997 ASCD Yearbook, he initiated and coordinated the editing of the International Handbook of Educational Change (Kluwer 1998) and he is founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Educational Change (published by Kluwer). Andy Hargreaves’ work has been translated extensively into more than a dozen languages. Professor Hargreaves’ current research interests include the emotions of teaching and leading and the sustainability of educational change and leadership. His most recent book is Sustainable Leadership, which he co-authored with Dean Fink, a former superintendent and an independent consultant. Andy is married with two adult children. He is an avid hiker and inveterate supporter of Burnley Football Club in the UK.