As you will have heard on previous episodes with Sandra Milligan, Yong Zhao, folks from Mastery Transcript Consortium and Rethinking Assessment, standardised tests and assessments are often one of the biggest barriers to change in education as these credentials and school-leaving certificates often hold the key that opens up the next door or higher education for many young people. This week I’m so excited to share an amazing success story of someone who decided that this compromise was just unacceptable for their young people. 

Viv White AM is CEO and co-founder (with John Hogan) of Big Picture Learning Australia (BPLA) - https://www.bigpicture.org.au/ - a non-profit company established in Australia in 2006. Building on the work started by Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor in the US in 1995 (https://www.bigpicture.org/), Big Picture Learning Australia’s design for personalised, student-driven learning is being implemented in over 50 schools around Australia. Viv has also pioneered a new non-ATAR credential known as the International Big Picture Learning Credential (IBPLC) that is warranted by the University of Melbourne, and accepted by 17 universities around Australia.

In 2018 Viv was appointed to the Order of Australia for her services to education and to the reengagement of young people in learning for life. Prior to leading BPLA, Viv was CEO of the Victorian Schools Innovation Commission and CEO of the Australian National Schools Network. She has a thirty-year history of international work in educational reform, research, policy and practice. Viv taught primary and secondary education for 13 years, worked in tertiary research for five years as a research fellow at Macquarie University and Victoria University, and served as an adjunct professor at the University of Western Sydney. Viv is a Fellow of the Australian Council of Education and was admitted, in 2014, to the Australian Businesswomen's Network Hall of Fame. Viv was also named one of The Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence in 2019.

Find out more:

LinkedIn: @viv-white - https://www.linkedin.com/in/viv-white-am-297642142/

Instagram: @bigpicture.edu.au - https://www.instagram.com/bigpicture.edu.au/ 

@bigpiclearning - https://www.instagram.com/bigpiclearning/ (US)

Website: https://www.bigpicture.org.au/