Mr Nigel Howard

Nigel has worked as a teacher, education activist and school leader for two decades and has been primarily concerned with students in poverty and on the edge of schooling and how school’s response to the issues students face can determine if they continue with education or are excluded.

His interest in retention and achievement of secondary students stems from his involvement as a member of the Senior Secondary (2S) Team. Where he was one of the major architects for a suite of subjects that became Community Studies.

His work as an innovative teacher and leader has been documented in an ACE publication Reforming Schools through Innovative Teaching and Making Justice Our Project and in sundry other publications and project reports. He was on the expert’s group for the research project that led to Listen to Me I am Leaving.

As a SSABSA(SACE) Board member he lobbied for the Students at Risk projects that were influential in ensuring the needs of students at risk were considered in the development of the SACE. He was elected to the Board of the Australian Teaching Council and was a long term a member of the AEU Curriculum and Professional Development Committee. He was invited to be part of the generative group for the initial design the SACSA and was a member of the equity working party for the Australian Curriculum. As a Project officer in the Senior Secondary Team for the Department of Education he undertook research and design work that informed the development of the Ministerial enquiry into Senior Secondary Education that led to the New SACE.

He works with Dr. Andrew Bills from Flinders University on a range of research projects on "doing school differently"