Leading Collaborative Teams

COLIN SLOPER

Colin Sloper is an Associate Director for Grift Education. Colin works with systems, schools, leaders and educators to transform them into a high-performing professional learning community and to build their capabilities to operate as members of highly effective collaborative teams.

Colin’s skills as an educational leader, speaker and coach alongside of his practical advice and knowledge, as someone who has transformed schools, are highly sought after by educational organisations across all sectors. He is co-author of numerous books including, Transformative Collaboration: Five Commitments for Leading a Professional Learning Community, Collaborative Systems of Support: Learning for All, Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work® (Australian Edition) and Professional Learning Communities – Voices from the Field for Hawker Brownlow Education. Colin has previously served as a Principal and Director in both schools and business, including Hawker Brownlow Education and Solution Tree Australia.

SONYA MACKENZIE

Sonya is passionate about building the collective and individual capacity of educators to optimise learning for the students and communities they serve. She has extensive experience in leading learning and works alongside educators and system leaders to plan, implement and measure the impact of sustainable, high level learning. Sonya has over 25 years working in the field of education in school, corporate and university contexts. Her recent senior executive roles include: General Manager, Hawker Brownlow Education; Director of Professional Learning, Solution Tree Australia; Director of Professional Standards, Charles Darwin University.

Sonya holds a Master of Education International, a Bachelor of Education Further Education and Training and a Graduate Diploma in Psychology. In addition, she holds various other professional qualifications including Training Associate: Cognitive Coaching, Executive Coach: Growth Coaching International, certified facilitator for EQ-I 2.0 and EQ 360 (Emotional Intelligence Assessment). Sonya is also a certified training associate for Grift Education in Transformative Collaboration: 5 Commitments for Leading a PLC. Sonya has authored the chapter Economic Productivity and Global Education: A Critique, in Challenges in Global Learning: international contexts and cross-disciplinary responses. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017. She was the recipient of the Thinking Collaborative Master Thesis Research Award 2017 for her paper ‘Swimming in Education Reform Policy Currents: Cognitive Coaching Identities in Australian School Contexts.

DR. JANELLE WILLS, PH.D.

Dr. Janelle Wills, Ph.D., is a highly regarded presenter who works extensively with schools, regions, and systems throughout Australia. She has authored and co-authored numerous books, and articles including Thinking Protocols for Learning (2020), Transformative Collaboration (2016), and Assessment for Understanding (in Assessment into Practice, 2017).

With over 30 years of teaching and leadership experience, Dr. Wills maintains a strong commitment to continued learning that enables her to remain both informed and innovative in her approach. Throughout her career, she has been adept at linking theory with practice, resulting in the development of significant initiatives both within schools and at a sector level. Dr. Wills firmly believes in the importance of teaching as a profession and fervently promotes the need for teachers to actively engage with research through action research and reflective practice. Dr. Wills’s Ph.D. thesis focused on self-efficacy and contributed to multiple fields of knowledge, including special education, gifted education, assessment, and feedback.

GAVIN GRIFT

Gavin Grift is the Founder and CEO of Grift Education. Gavin’s passion, commitment, humour and highly engaging style have made him one of Australia’s most in-demand presenters. Through his keynotes, seminars, and coaching services, Gavin connects with national and international audiences on how to cultivate authentic collaboration, build success in others and genuinely commit to reflective practice. His belief in the development of defined professional autonomy for educators both challenge and connect the head and heart of his audiences.

Having taught in schools and coached educators for over 25 years, Gavin understands the specific challenges teachers face. He is one of Thinking Collaborative’s most in demand Cognitive Coaching Trainers, having delivered the Cognitive Coaching Seminar® for the past 10 years, working across three continents. He has used his passion and belief in what educational leaders do, collaborating with Jane Danvers and Heather DeBlasio to design the Five Ways of Being leadership program, focusing on leaders who feel ill-prepared, overwhelmed, and sometimes lack confidence in the impact they’re making. As a leading Hawker Brownlow Education author he has combined his beliefs, research and experiences on the importance of collaboration and coaching to co-author numerous books including 5 Ways of Being, Teachers as Architects of Learning, Transformative Talk, and Transformative Collaboration.