Tony Townsend

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Submitted by Tony Townsend on May 29, 2010 - 21:19
Australia

Professor Tony Townsend has worked all over the world, in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North and Latin America and the Pacific. He has visited 65 countries in all with diversity ranging from Belarus to the Czech Republic, Macau, Mongolia, Oman and the Cook Islands. He has been a professor at Monash University in Australia, Florida Atlantic University in the USA and the University of Glasgow in the UK and has been a visiting professor in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Currently he works part time at two universities; the University of Tasmania and Griffith University in Queensland in Australia. He has been President of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI), and President of the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET) and is a life member of both. He was the Australian Council for Educational Leaders’ Travelling Scholar in 2005, has managed 5 major international conferences, and presented or consulted for Ministries and Departments of Education, for UNESCO, the British Council and the Commonwealth Education Trust. He has published 11 books and numerous articles, chapters, and papers, in the areas of school effectiveness, school improvement, leadership, teacher education, and community education and development, in Australia, Europe and North America.

Interests/Expertise: 

Tony's research interests focus on issues associated with leadership in public organisations and include school effectiveness and improvement, school restructuring with a particular emphasis on public education, student engagement, strategic planning, global education and community education and development. Recent research includes:

T. Townsend, G. Johnson, N. Dempster, A. Bayetto (2014) Principals as Leaders of Literacy: Case Studies in Five Tasmanian Schools and Four Victorian Schools, (Sponsored by the Tasmanian Department of Education and the Victorian Principals Association). Currently, Tony and his team are preparing an application for the Australian Research Council to study Strategic Leadership in Semi-Autonomous Public Schools in Queensland.

Recent research/consultancy: 

Tony is frequently asked to give keynote addresses, the following being amongst his most recent:

  • Townsend, T. (2015, May 29) ‘Victorian Case Study Research into PALL’. A presentation at a state wide conference of School Leaders arranged by the Victorian Principals Association, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Townsend, T. (2015, April 25-26) ‘Leadership for Improving School Effectiveness’ A workshop for principals Villa College, Malé, the Maldives
  • Townsend, Tony (2010, November 26) ‘The Triple Bottom Line: Towards Sustainable CPD’.  A keynote at the International Professional Development Association (IPDA) Conference, Birmingham, England.
  • Townsend, Tony (2010, November 12) ‘Thinking and Acting Locally and Globally: Teacher Education for a Changing Environment’.  A keynote at the Universities’ Council on Education for Teaching (UCET) Conference, Hinkley, England.
  • Townsend, Tony (2010, April 27) ‘Organisational Leadership in the 21st Century: From Competence to Capability’. A keynote at Majan University College, Muscat, Oman.
  • Townsend, Tony (2010, March 28) ‘Evaluating and Developing Teacher Performance: An International Perspective’. A keynote at the Educational Supervision Symposium: Challenges of the Role and Effectiveness of the Practice, Muscat, Oman.
  • Townsend, Tony (2010, February 26) ‘Thinking and Acting both Locally and Globally: The next big leap in School Effectiveness and School Improvement ’. A keynote at the ESRC conference on Challenging the boundaries of School Effectiveness and School Improvement, Cardiff, Wales.
  • Townsend, Tony (2010, January 5) ‘Thinking and Acting both Locally and Globally: From Sustainability to Regenerative Leadership’. A keynote at the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  • Townsend, Tony (2009, December 16) ‘Thinking and Acting both Locally and Globally: Changing Perspectives of the Role of Teacher Education’ A keynote the International Council for the Education of Teaching (ICET) Conference, Muscat, Oman.
Recognitions, positions, memberships: 

Tony has been the President of the Australian Association for Community Education (AACE) and Regional Director of the International Community Education Association's (ICEA) Pacific Region. He has been President of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI), and President of the Board of Directors of the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET). In January 2011 he was awarded life membership for service to the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement.

Selected publications: 

Tony has published extensively in the areas of school effectiveness, school improvement, teacher education and community education and development, in Australia, Europe and North America. He has authored or edited ten books and over 50 journal articles or chapters and has delivered more than 75 keynote addresses internationally. His recent publications include:

Books:

  • International Perspectives on Teacher Education (2013), Routledge, London (Edited)
  • The International Handbook of Leadership for Learning (2011), Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands and New York (Edited with John McBeath)
  • The International Handbook of School Effectiveness and Improvement (2009), Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands and New York
  • The Elusive What and the Problematic How: The Essential Leadership Questions for School Leaders and Educational Researchers, (2008), Sense Publishers, Rotterdam and Taiwan (Edited with Ira Bogotch)

 

Chapters/journal articles:

  • Townsend, T., Dempster, N., Johnson, G., Wilkinson, J. & Bayetto, A. (in press) Principals as Literacy Leaders: Case Studies of Leadership with a Purpose. In Grzegorz Mazurkiewicz (Ed) How to build a good school. Potential and barriers of evaluation, Krakow, Poland: Publishing house of the Jagiellonian University
  • David Reynolds, Pam Sammons, Bieke De Fraine, Jan Van Damme, Tony Townsend, Charles Teddlie & Sam Stringfield (2014) Educational effectiveness research (EER): a state-of-the-art review, School Effectiveness and School Improvement: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, 25:2, 197-230
  • Townsend, T. (2014). School Improvement and School Leadership: Key Factors for Sustaining Learning. The Impact of Change on Education. In: H.G. Holtappels (Ed.), Schulentwicklung und Schulwirksamkeit als Forschungsfeld Munster and New York, Waxman, pp 99-122.
  • Townsend, T., Pisapia, J., & Razzaq, J., (2013) Fostering Interdisciplinary Research in Universities: A Case study of Leadership, Alignment and Support Journal of  Studies in Higher Education, p 1-19 (DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2013.842218)
  • Razzaq, J., Townsend, T., & Pisapia, J., (2013) Towards an understanding of interdisciplinarity: The case of a British university Issues in Interdiscipinary Studies 31, p 149-173.
  • Townsend, T. (2013) ‘Searching High and Searching Low, Searching East and Searching West: Looking for Trust in Teacher Education’ in Townsend, T., International Perspectives on Teacher Education, London, Routledge, pp. 111-127.
  • Townsend, T., Ivory, G., Acker-Hocevar, M., Ballenger, J., & Place, A.W. (2013) School Leadership Challenges Under No Child Left Behind: Lessons from UCEA’s Project, “Voices from the Field: Phase 3” in Barnett, Soho, & Bowers School and District Leadership in an Era of Accountability IAP International Research on School Leadership Book Series – Volume 4. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishers
  • Townsend, T. (2013) Nauczyciele jako „przewodnicy w uczeniu się” (Teachers as leaders of learning) in G. Mazurkiewicza (Ed) Jakość edukacji: Różnorodne perspektywy (Quality Education: Diverse Perspectives) Krakow, Poland: Jagiellonian University, pp 113-125.
  • Townsend, T., Acker-Hocevar, M., Ballenger, J., Place, A.W. & Ivory, G., (2013) Voices from the Field: What We Have Learned about Instructional Leadership? Leadership and Policy in Schools, 12:1, 60-88

 

Research Reports

  • T. Townsend, J. Wilkinson and E. Stevens (2015) Leadership with a Purpose: A Report on Four Case Studies of Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) Schools (Victoria), Brisbane: Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University. 92 p.
  • T. Townsend, Dempster, N., Johnson, G., Bayetto, A. and E. Stevens (2015) Leadership with a Purpose: A Report on Five Case Studies of Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) Schools (Tasmania). Brisbane: Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University. 126p.

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