Welcome to another edition of the Education Enclave podcast, where it is my job to unpack excellence in education.

In this issue I’m joined by Keay Cobbin who has had a massive influence on me both personally and professionally.

After teaching in Victoria for a number of years, Keay and her partner Steve Willy headed over to New York to work as consultants for a decade. On their return to Victoria, they have led the literacy agenda across the state via a suite of courses offered through the Victorian Academy of Teaching & Learning, and before that the Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership.

The mother ship course within this suite is Leading Literacy. Between 2010 and 2017 Leading Literacy had year in, year out consistently high evaluations from participants. This led to discussions on how the positive impact of Leading Literacy could be expanded to further impact the system. The outcome was to train some ‘Master Trainers’ who could facilitate an entry point course called Literacy Local Leaders. This course is offered in all areas across the state of Victoria. See below for the link to the intakes beginning in term 3, 2023.

https://www.academy.vic.gov.au/professional-learning/literacy-local-leaders

We kept our discussion quite broad in this catch up, but we did delve into Study Groups, sustaining school improvement, and Keay’s thoughts on system leadership.

I’m hoping to have Keay on the podcast regularly given her breadth of knowledge. Let me know if there is a particular aspect of literacy that you would like us to discuss in a future episode.

Enjoy!