Council and Life Members
The ETAWA council consists of four executive and 10 council members. All members on council are volunteers.
ETAWA Council Executive
Claire Burton
President
About Claire
Claire Burton is a senior school English Teacher at Shenton College. Claire has experience developing, resourcing, teaching and assessing English programs and has been the coordinator for the Year 11 and Year 12 ATAR English courses. Her role at Shenton has diversified to include Year Leader, supporting the social, emotional and academic needs of a cohort, and Academic Programs Coordinator for Gifted and Talented Education. Currently, Claire’s role as the Academic Partnerships Coordinator involves working with tertiary institutions and other community groups to offer academic and extra-curricular opportunities for Shenton College students. Claire has been a member of the ETAWA council since 2016 and has coordinated and delivered numerous ETAWA Professional Learning opportunities.
Melanie Hindley
Vice-President
About Melanie
Melanie is a highly experienced educator who has taught English in regional and metropolitan Western Australia in both government and independent sectors.
She holds a PHD based on research into curriculum leadership.
Melanie is currently teaching and coordinating English programmes at Hale School, writes for educational publications and regularly presents at state and national conferences to share and grow her expertise in the teaching of English to young people.
Rod Quin
Secretary
About Rod
Rod Quin was a secondary English teacher for over thirty years. He also worked as a curriculum writer and policy officer for the Department of Education, as well as education policy adviser to two Ministers for Education. He was Supervising Examiner of the WACE English examination for six years, a WACE examination marker for thirty years and lecturer or tutor in education at all four public universities in Western Australia. He is author or co-author of twenty books for teachers and students of English. Now retired, he continues to be active in the English teaching community.
Hugh Rayner
Treasurer
About Hugh
Hugh has been involved in English teaching for the last 40 years or so. In that time, he has taught in the public, private (briefly) and tertiary sectors. He has contributed to a number of text books, been a member of the English CAC, Vice President and Life Member of the ETAWA, and an ATAR exam marker for more than 20 years with a decade as Chief Marker. Hugh has now retired to his bush block and is looking forward to getting chooks.
Council Members
Mai Barnes
About Mai
Brittany Carson
About Brittany
Annika Demosthenous
About Annika
Tony Hughes-d’Aeth
About Tony
Tony Hughes-d’Aeth is Professor of English and Literary Studies at the University of Western Australia. He lectures in contemporary literature, film and television, along with Australian literature and has a particular interest in the relationship between literature and the natural environment. He is the author of Like Nothing on this Earth: A Literary History of the Wheatbelt (UWA Publishing, 2017). He has been a member of the ETAWA council since 2018 and is passionate about the subject of English and its teaching at all levels of the educational system.
Rachel James
About Rachel
Rachel is a secondary English and Literature teacher who has taught in a number of WA schools across both the private and public sectors. She has an honours degree in English and Cultural studies from UWA and enjoys fostering a love of literature in her classroom. Rachel is passionate about her subject, curriculum and programming, and collaborating with colleagues. She is keen to extend these passions beyond the school setting as an ETAWA council member (2021).
Claire Jones
Executive Officer
About Claire
Claire qualified as a secondary English and History teacher in 2001. In more recent years, Claire has been teaching in the tertiary sector, having taught Literary and Cultural Studies courses at Curtin University and now specialising in Literary Studies and Creative Writing at The University of Western Australia. She has also been a WACE and ATAR examiner of the English and Literature courses and has served as Chief Marker for both of these courses. Claire is also the Chief Investigator on The Big Picture Project: Subject English across Secondary and Tertiary Education in WA, a joint project between UWA and ETAWA.
Sophie Monisse
About Sophie
Karen Stuart
About Karen
Karen is currently Head of English at Kalamunda Senior High School where she has taught for the past nine years since migrating to Australia. She originally began her teaching career in Scotland where she qualified in 2006 and since then has held various positions teaching English and Literature accross the non-profit and public sectors. She has also been an external marker for the Scottish Qualifications Authority and SCSA. Throughout her career, Karen has worked extensively with students at educational risk and is curious about ways in which we can increase accessibility, equity, and engagement for students of English and Literature from all contexts.
Josefine Wang
PD Officer
About Josefine
Josefine Wang is a research officer at UWA and the Professional Development Officer for the English Teachers Association of WA. She is currently working on the Big Picture Project at UWA investigating the connections between secondary and tertiary English and Literature, as well as creative writing pedagogies. Prior to this she worked in the secondary education sector as an English teacher, focusing particularly on ATAR English and student engagement. Even though she does not work in the secondary context anymore, Josie is still an active member of the education community and continues to coordinate and deliver professional development for secondary English teachers across WA.
Jane Ward
About Jane
Jane began her teaching career in the UK before migrating to Perth twenty years ago. She holds an Honours degree in Literature and a Master of Education in Evidence-based teaching. Jane teaches across the curriculum, including specialist learning support classes and Literature. Jane has a teacher mentoring role in her school with the aim to improve teacher effectiveness and embedding literacy across the curriculum. Jane is a former Head of English, she has produced two editions of Good Answers for Lit, has been a WACE marker, an exam writer for the ETA, and presented at ETA conferences. She returns to Council after a short break to take up the Early Career Teacher portfolio.
Administrative Secretariat Contacts
CASM (Centre for Association Management) are our Administrative Secretariat and are responsible for administration of the Association.
Ron Adams
About Ron
Ron is the person to contact for information regarding events and publications. He manages bookings for ETAWA professional learning events, including conferences. Ron is also the contact person for the Good Answers guides and examinations papers.
Life Members
ETAWA has a small group of life members, all of whom were granted life membership as a result of their significant contribution to the teaching of English in Western Australia, and their involvement in the English Teachers Association of Western Australia.
Bob Biggins
Eric Carlin
Peter Gunning
Marnie O’Neill
Peter Forrestal
Brian Wolfenden
Gavin Morris
Rod Quin
Karren Philp
Warren Grellier
Wendy Cody
Terry Hogan
Hugh Rayner
Susan Lazenby
Past Presidents
1979: Marnie O’Neill
1980 – 1984: Peter Forrestal
1985 – 1989: Chris Jeffrey
1990: Rod Quin
1991 – 1992: Brian Wolfenden
1994 – 1997: Christine Cook
1998: Penny McLoughlin
1999 – 2004: Karren Philp
2005: Kelly Klymiuk and David Price
2006 – 2015: Wendy Cody
2016 – 2022: Claire Jones
2022 – Present: Claire Burton
Become a member today
The English Teachers Association of WA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. Country has, for thousands of years, been a place of learning. We at the English Teachers Association of WA are proud to share in this long tradition.
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