Tony is an educator with a wide range of experiences in the Education field. He has taught in secondary schools in Victoria for 30 years, teaching all maths subjects from year 7 to year 12. During this time he held a wide range of roles in Schools, including Maths PLT leader, Curriculum coordinator, VCE coordinator, Professional learning coordinator, among others.
Tony has worked closely with groups of Primary and Secondary teachers to develop their skills as Maths teachers and their PLT leadership skills for the past three years. While in England he worked on several projects that gave him a perspective on what effective classroom practice looks like and the power of reflective thinking by teachers. In particular he worked as a presenter in the Teacher Effectiveness Enhancement Program and visited classrooms to evaluate maths curriculum materials being developed as part of the Bowland Maths project.
In his work as the Latrobe Valley and West Gippsland Numeracy Project officer, he has provided ongoing support for National Partnerships Maths Specialists, leading professional learning forums, coordinating work with other schools and arranging and facilitating full day workshops. He participated in the State funded Maths Specialist program Cohort 1 with the Gippsland La Trobe Valley participants, facilitating fortnightly learning forums centred on Numeracy content and pedagogical knowledge and leadership skills as well as providing individualised support at needed. As lead coach in the La Trobe Valley, he also supported all numeracy coaches appointed in the area.
Over his career he has always believed that mathematics should be accessible to all students, and not just a few talented students. The challenge is to find ways to engage the thinking of all students. He believes that it is a school’s responsibility to assist as many people as possible to become proficient at Maths, not just with skills, but with the capacity to solve problems and apply Maths to everyday thinking. His work with teachers over the last few years has this belief as an underlying assumption.