Professor Sandra Milligan honoured for her national contribution to education
The Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne figures large in the prestigious Annual Awards from Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL).
Most notably, Professor Sandra Milligan, Executive Director of Melbourne Assessment, was awarded the ACEL Gold Medal award recognising her outstanding Contribution to the study and practice of educational administration and leadership.
Other Faculty of Education award recipients include Professor John Hattie, who was awarded the ACEL Presidential Citation, for his outstanding endeavours in the field of education and exceptional contribution in furthering the Objects of the Council.
Debbie Dunwoody, who is principal of Camberwell Girls Grammar School, a partner school of the Faculty of Education's New Metrics Research Partnership program at Melbourne Assessment, was also awarded an ACEL Fellowship for her outstanding contribution to the improvement of student and organisational outcomes.
Prof. Milligan, who has notably wide engagement with the education industry and in educational research, says she is thrilled to be the recipient of the 2023 Gold Medal.
"I regard it as recognition of the enterprising research of the Melbourne Assessment team I lead at Melbourne University in the Faculty of Education, and the school leaders who work in partnership with us. Together, we are working on what it takes to ensure that every learner leaves school with the skills, knowledge, attitudes and values needed to thrive in an uncertain, AI world. It is energising work."
Prof. Milligan is the Executive Director of Melbourne Assessment, which is a social purpose initiative within the Faculty of Education. Its work is based on partnerships with industry that have been designed to research, develop and bring-to-scale trusted, innovative, useful products and services for schools and education institutions and industry bodies. She co-leads New Metrics, a collaborative research venture between the University and selected forward-thinking schools to work in partnership to address the meta-problems faced by Australian schools. She also is the Convenor of a Melbourne University MOOC targeting professional learning for teachers in the area of assessment and teaching of 21C skills, which to date, has enrolled over 30,000 teachers worldwide.
It is notable that over the years, ten of the thirty awards of the ACEL Gold Medal Awards have been associated with the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne. They include: Hedley Beare (1991), Brian Caldwell (1994), Kwong Chiu Lee Dow (2005), Tony Mackay (2010), John Hattie (2011), Barry McGaw (2012), David Gurr (2014), Jim Watterston (2016) and Richard Teese (2017).