The daughter of unskilled English migrants, Carol is grateful that she received a scholarship to attend Sydney University in the ‘70s to study teaching.
“My mother reports that the first day I went to school I came home and said I wanted to be a teacher. I’ve never wavered from that.”
When she started teaching in 1976 the profession didn’t disappoint. So 12 years later when she was offered a full-time position at the Board of Studies, it was a difficult decision to leave teaching behind.
“I could see there was an opportunity to make a difference on a larger scale,” Carol said.
“I found the Board’s tremendous focus on kids and teachers and what is best for them aligned closely with my values.”
Initially employed to develop the English test in the School Certificate, Carol’s role evolved until she was responsible for 3000 markers at HSC marking centres.
“I have always called myself a teacher and put teachers’ needs first. With marking I could understand the power of the professional learning that marking provides.”
Carol concedes that the move to external onscreen marking has pros and cons.
“I can understand that teachers regret the loss of the camaraderie and collegiality of the marking hall.
“However, onscreen marking gives rural and regional teachers the opportunity to get involved.
“It removes the stress of having to rush from school through traffic to get to the marking centre, and it allows carers of young children who can’t give up weekends and evenings to mark.”
Her expanding role awakened a passion for assessment and testing that the English teacher had no idea she possessed, and she went on to do a masters degree in educational measurement and psychometric testing.
“I did not realise how knowledgeable you have to be to create good testing that is fair and deeply engaged with the curriculum.”
She became the head of HSC assessment and eventually the Chief Executive of the Board of Studies, which was recently merged with the Institute of Teachers to become the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards (BOSTES).
Carol is proud of the fact that the Board has always been a collaborative organisation under her leadership.
“One of the great strengths of this organisation is its relationship with all of the people who contribute to education and certainly in my five years as Chief Executive it has been my focus to create strong partnerships based on mutual respect and understanding.
“It’s been a privilege to work with so many groups including the IEU. People like Sandra White, John Quessy, Mark Northam and and Larry Grumley have been an absolute delight.
“They’ve got aims and agendas and sometime we might be at odds but there’s never been an issue we haven’t been able to thrash out across the table.
In the later part of her career, Carol worked on the development of the State Government’s education blueprint, Great Teaching, Inspired Learning, which she says has teaching standards, teacher accreditation and registration at its heart.
“Getting agreed standards is important for the profession. When I was a young teacher I was treated with respect by the community and teaching was seen as an important and valued role.
“I believe the status of teachers is often under threat.
“Both BOSTES and teachers themselves benefit and welcome comments from parents, be that formal or informally. Concerns need to be raised but I do get distressed at the way some parents now treat teachers. They would not speak like that or expect such immediate access to their lawyer, doctor, dentist or accountant, so teachers should be treated the same way as other professionals.
“If there’s a standard that says ‘I’m a professional’ and sets teachers apart for the highly skilled work that they do then I’m for it.
“Accreditation standards have to be developed carefully and collegially, and BOSTES has a reputation for working with people to gain the best results we can.
“I’m confident BOSTES will continue to operate that way in the future.”
While Carol will continue to work on an independent committee overseeing the HSC, she is looking forward to visiting family in the UK, her daughter in France and spending time with her 18-month-old granddaughter.
“I’m still passionate about education and I’ll look for ways to continue to contribute.”