Katrina Reynen
Location: Australia
Areas of educational interest:I have a passion for gifted education/students and how to truly engage the brightest (and potentially most misunderstood) minds in our schools so as to get the very best outcomes for themselves and our broader society. Of late I have become increasingly interested in the impact of globalisation on our students, and how we prepare them for adult responsibilities and leadership in a world that is seems to become more bewildering and complex, the more we all learn.
Why I’m involved in Education Fast Forward: I highly value my participation in EFF as a forum to hear new ideas, and debate controversial emerging ideas with other leaders in their field, in a respectful and challenging environment. Just as we ask students to carefully select their sources of information and influence, and remember to listen before they talk, I am honoured to be part of this interactive global group who can combine strategy, policy and practice in a sophisticated way.
About Me:
Katrina is a highly respected and dynamic senior executive with a strong background in general management, strategic planning and leadership development. She has experience at a senior level in all three sectors – government, not-for-profit and corporate.
She is currently the Industry Lead, Education at Optus/SingTel where she is responsible for developing the vision for education in Optus Australia and bringing the online teaching and learning capability of the globally powerful SingTel Group to the Australian education market.
Katrina is also a Director on the Board of the Skyline Education Foundation Australia which provides scholarships and a wealth of personal and career support to disadvantaged, gifted VCE students. As an active Fellow of the Williamson Community Leadership Program, she works with Leadership Victoria on a variety of NFP activities.
Katrina’s career has largely focused on education management and ICT enabled improvement of teaching and learning. She spent 17 years in the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in strategic planning policy and program design, in areas as diverse as gifted education, women in leadership, executive development and coaching, innovation in classroom design and eLearning. Her final role in the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in Victoria was the General Manager of Innovation.
She left this to take on the role of Director, Global Education for the Asia Pacific for Cisco in 2011 where she was a Director on the global project atc21s, to define and assess twenty first century skills for global citizens.
Katrina is a sought after keynote speaker and writer of challenging thought Leadership papers. She has a BSc, an MEd and an MBA so understands the value of constantly learning.
EFF provides a forum for a focused, global debate that sparks new ideas and challenges traditional thinking about education. I have been amazed at the way side issues have become increasingly important over time, and how the context and perspectives of people from other countries and cultures has forced me to re-think my own, unexamined, prejudices.