QELi Employee Directory

Neil McDonald has over 25 years of school and educational leadership experience, as a Queensland state school teacher, principal, and Assistant Regional Director. Before commencing as Chief Executive Officer at QELi, Neil was Executive Director, Organisational Transformation and Capability, Department of Education and was instrumental in leading th... e Department of Educations Teaching and School Leadership program. As acting CEO of the Queensland Studies Authority (QSA), Neil transitioned QSA to the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA), and was a key leader in the development of Queenslands Curriculum Into the Classroom (C2C). Professor Donna Pendergast is Dean and Head of the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University. She has an international profile in the field of teacher education with a particular focus on the middle years. Her work includes teacher and school leadership for middle years reform, along with developing capabilities to enhance teacher efficacy in both initial teacher education and in professional learning. Her journey has included leading and developing the first dedicated teacher education program in Australia in middle years education; influencing state and national policy directions; conducting state and national evaluations; developing a reform model which is currently employed by several Australian states to guide the reform of teaching and learning in early and in middle years; leadership of competitive research tenders commissioned by state and federal authorities; leadership of the Leading Change Program responsible for preparing 258 school leaders to be ready for the shift of Year 7 to secondary schools and the implementation of Junior Secondary; development and delivery of the Junior Secondary online learning modules for 1000 teachers; and more than 100 published publications. In 2016 Donna was awarded the Griffith University Vice-Chancellors Award for Higher Degree Research Supervision for her outstanding leadership and supervision of ...Read More