At the Heart of the Matter:
School and Classroom Leadership

This is the joint 2010 national conference of the Australian Special Education Principals’ Association (ASEPA) and the Australian Association of Special Education (AASE). As such, it is focussed on the education of students with special needs.

We would like to invite you to the 2010 AASE/ASEPA conference to be held at the Darwin Convention Centre on 17th and 18th June 2010.

Darwin is a vibrant city with the most youthful population in Australia. The weather is always warm with a year round average of 32◦C – and June is in the drier part of the year. To allow you to enjoy one of the best features of Darwin, the conference program is being structured around giving you the opportunity to visit the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets which has a multitude of stalls offering international cuisine, arts, crafts and entertainment. It’s a must do!

The Darwin Convention Centre was opened last year and is a world class venue offering great spaces and facilities, plus a site overlooking Darwin Harbour and the Arafura Sea.

In line with the theme of The Heart of the Matter: School and Classroom Leadership, there shall be five strands to the
conference program:

• Instructional Leadership
• Curriculum Assessment and Reporting
• Information and Communication Technology
• Teams and Partnerships
• Behaviour Support

While the programming is still in the early stages, we have already arranged for two excellent key note speakers:

• Dr Jean Crockett, Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Florida with teaching assignments in the departments of Special Education, and Educational Administration and Policy.
• Professor Barry McGaw who is half-time Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the
  University of Melbourne where he is Executive Director of the Cisco-Intel-Microsoft Assessment and
  Teaching of 21st Century Skills project. He is Chair of the National Curriculum Board.

As well as plenary sessions featuring the key note speakers, the call for papers is expected to bring forth a variety of interesting and engaging workshops covering the five strands.

We hope you will join us in Darwin next year.

Fiona Forbes
ASEPA President

Lynne James
AASE National President