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Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Five graduates from The University of Western Australia’s Graduate School of Education are finalists in this year’s WA Education Awards.

Hosted by the Department of Education finalists were nominated by members from the community and school and selected based on their outstanding achievements and contributions to education in Western Australia.

Principals Douglas Cook from Wembley Downs Primary School, Alan Genoni from Canning College and Damian Shuttleworth from Carine Senior High School will be vying for the title “Principal of the Year” while Anita Piccioni from Canning Vale College and Steven New from Roebourne District High School have both been nominated for the "WA Beginning Teacher of the Year" category.

“I am humbled by the recent nomination,” says Mr New.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the help of my teaching colleagues at Roebourne District High School who have been very supportive throughout this whole process.”

“Teaching for me has been centred around building relationships with students and making learning meaningful to them by linking it with their interests. To be able to see students then thrive in the classroom has been extremely rewarding.”

Anita Piccioni completed her Graduate Diploma in Education at UWA in 2013 and is now a teacher at Canning Vale College where she has taught ICT and multimedia to students since 2014.

Teaching has been my greatest challenge with incomparable rewards. I hope to instil my passion for life-long learning within my students, while encouraging them to think and problem solve both creatively and independently. I am quite overwhelmed, and especially humbled to be nominated and continuously supported by my amazing colleagues at Canning Vale College.

Ms Piccioni’s expertise has led her to present at local universities and later this year she will be travelling to Kathmandu University in Nepal, where she and a colleague will present at the first International Conference on Transformative Education Research.

" Research into Transformative Education and Sustainable Development has allowed educators to create innovative and therefore successful learning experiences. My colleague, Sarah Eve and I are inspired by the concepts of S.T.E.A.M Education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics), and personally examine the intersection of Visual Arts and Technology. We aim to engage students with relevant technologies and influence creative thinking, to allow students to examine concepts relevant to our changing world. "

Into its 9th year the WA Education Awards is an annual event that honours and rewards the dedication and passion of staff in public schools  who are committed to providing the best possible education to children and young people across Western Australia.

Award winners will be announced at the WA Education Awards presentation ceremony on Monday 28 November 2016.

For a full list of finalists please visit the Department of Education website

Media references

Siaw Chai         Marketing and Communications Officer         +61 (08) 6488 2382

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