LDA Awards for 2009

Mona Tobias Award, 2009

The recipient of the LDA Mona Tobias Award for 2009 is the late Dr Ken Rowe.

Following his tragic death in the Marysville fire on 7 February this year, Dr Ken Rowe’s contribution to education and educational research was widely acknowledged by his academic colleagues both nationally and internationally. Recognised as an outstanding leader in education and a prolific researcher, his research covered a range of educational issues including learning difficulties, auditory perception, boys’ education, effective teachers, and evidence-based practice.  He was particularly known for his advocacy for teaching practices to be based on the evidence of rigorous evidence-based research, and as Chair of the 2005 National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy he took a strong stand on the adoption of more effective approaches to the teaching of initial reading.
 
Ken Rowe had an impact on education not only through his research, but also through his ability to communicate the findings of research, and their implications for policy and practice, to the public through the media, and also to politicians and policy makers.  He was widely sought out by the media for his opinion on a range of educational issues, and also consulted by politicians and policy makers, as noted by Dr Brendan Nelson.
 
Ken Rowe was the Research Director of the Learning Processes and Contexts research area at ACER until his retirement in May 2008.  Prior to this he had worked in the Victorian Department of Education and at the University of Melbourne in the Centre for Applied Educational Research.  His particular contribution to the field of learning difficulties lay in his research in the area of auditory perception, and his advocacy of the adoption of effective teaching practices based on evidence-based research, particularly in the area of the teaching of initial reading.  While Ken Rowe was not the first researcher in Australia to advocate effective teaching of reading, it is probably true to say that he was the most effective in terms of getting this message across to the media and hence to the politicians and policy makers.  When Ken spoke, people listened.  Others may have spoken, but the message was not getting through.
 
The Mona Tobias Award will be accepted by Dr Kathy Rowe, on behalf of her late husband, at the Awards Presentation following the LDA AGM on 7 November, at the Hawthorn Campus of the University of Melbourne, 442 Auburn Road, Hawthorn.

 

Bruce Wicking Award, 2009

The recipient of the LDA Bruce Wicking Award for 2008 is Ms Lyn Henshall.

Lyn Henshall is the Director of Student Wellbeing at St Catherine’s School in Melbourne, and prior to this was at Tintern Anglican Girls’ Grammar School, where she pioneered the first Language/Learning Disability Unit within a mainstream private school.  She has continued this work at St Catherine’s School where her programs cater for and involve young people with learning difficulties and their families.

Throughout her career Lyn Henshall, psychologist and teacher, has been an outstanding and inspiring leader who translated her vision for children with learning disabilities into practice. She worked tirelessly to develop an understanding in others of the impact of learning disabilities on education and social emotional development, and worked with families to help them understand and work with and for their child with a learning disability.  She recognized the need for curriculum development to ensure differentiation for all students, but particularly those students with a learning disability, and provided staff and leadership team training to ensure the development of effective programs and the establishment of a cohesive and sequential pathway for students with a learning disability.

The Bruce Wicking Award presentation will be made at an Awards Presentation following the LDA AGM on 7 November, at the Hawthorn Campus of the University of Melbourne, 442 Auburn Road, Hawthorn.

Tertiary Student Award, 2009

The recipient of the LDA Tertiary Student Award for 2009 is Dr Saskia Kohnen, a Speech Pathologist who has recently completed her PhD focusing on the remediation of spelling disorders in children.

Dr Kohnen’s research for her PhD focused on the treatment of spelling impairments in children and the evaluation of theories of spelling through the results of treatment. This work took a single case study approach which allowed detailed investigation of the nature of the treatment effects and their mechanisms. The research had a particular focus on what predicts whether generalisation will occur, and was the first investigation of these effects for both ‘sight’ (irregularly spelled) words and decoding (spelling rules). The research has both theoretical and practical implications and application. Since the completion of her thesis Dr Kohnen has already published one article based on her PhD study with another in press.  Dr Kohnen has also presented her work at conferences in Australia and overseas.The Tertiary Student Award presentation will be made at an Awards Presentation following the LDA AGM on 7 November, at the Hawthorn Campus of the University of Melbourne, 442 Auburn Road, Hawthorn.

Afternoon tea will be served following the presentation of the Awards.