Management Committee 2025

Carley Elliott - President

 

Carley has been an English teacher for over 20 years and a HOD for over 10 years, in Catholic and Independent schools in Central Queensland and now in the Southeast corner. With a Master of Letters in creative writing, Carley has a passion for learning and writing imaginatively in English classrooms. She has presented at numerous ETAQ events, written for Wordsworth and is learning Korean in her spare time.

Julie Arnold - Vice President

 

Julie Arnold is an educator of preservice English teachers at QUT. Her research interests are in accessible assessment practices, currently how formative assessment works differently in English and mathematics. Other research and teaching interests are in English curriculum, especially building teacher linguistic subject knowledge for writing instruction. Before and beyond university, Julie was a Teacher and Head of English. She co-authors Cambridge’s Essential English for Queensland Schools with Rhiannon French, Enoch Byrne, and Lynda Wall. In her role as Vice President of The English Teachers Association of Queensland, Julie takes an active interest in instructional leadership and curriculum development.

June Balfour - Secretary 

 

June has been a teacher, leader and mentor in Queensland State and Independent schools for 30 years and is proud to say she has taught English each and every year.  She is passionate about the well-being of teachers, especially Early Career, and English teachers.  In her spare time she reads voraciously and writes poetry, plays and some prose; and sometimes can be found playing back stage and on-stage at various Community Theatres around Brisbane.  She is excited about this new opportunity to work with ETAQ, an organisation she holds in high esteem.

Candice Green - Treasurer

 

Candice is an English and Drama teacher. She currently works at St. Joseph's, Nudgee College and has been there since 2009. Throughout her 23 years of teaching across rural New South Wales and urban Queensland, she has enjoyed her time in the classroom and held leadership roles, including Head of Faculty (English & Languages), Essential English Coordinator, and managing school-based initiatives such as Literacy Across the Curriculum. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family, exercising, and indulging in a good book, coffee, and wine.

Fiona Laing - Director of Professional Learning

 

Fiona is currently the Director of Professional Learning at ETAQ. She was president of ETAQ from 2014-2022. She has taught English at a range of Brisbane high schools, enjoying taking on debating as well as a range of leadership roles with her schools. She has studied at UQ and then at QUT.  She is currently HOD English at Forest Lake State High School. She has a passion for offering students the chance to grab the most from life's opportunities.  ETAQ has been a very important part of her English journey and has allowed her to contribute in a range of ways to the English professional community. 

Helena Abraham

 

Helena

Ryan Anspach

Garry Collins

 

Starting in 1969, Garry taught English at Gladstone and Ferny Grove State High Schools and was an English department head for over 30 years. He also taught in the US and Canada on year-long exchanges. After retiring from Education Queensland in 2009, he was a part-time teacher educator, first at the Australian Catholic University and then at The University of Queensland. Since becoming surplus to requirements at UQ at the end 0f 2017, he has been busily retired - from paid work that is. Garry's pre-service education was a BA, Dip Ed course at UQ and in the mid 1990s he completed an MEd at QUT. He succeeded Dr Karen Moni as ETAQ President in mid 2005 and served in that role until handing over to Fiona Laing at the 2014 AGM. He served on the council of the national English teacher body, the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE), for 12 years, mostly as the ETAQ delegate but also as the national president in 2014-15. He was made a Life Member of ETAQ in 2017.

Belinda Hampton

 

Belinda has been a teacher in Queensland secondary schools since 1997. She currently works with senior English students and is a Head of Department in a Far North Queensland State School.  Belinda is interested in student writing practices and supporting teachers in fostering effective feedback pedagogies.  She has presented at a range of state and national conferences. Belinda is currently engaged in study at QUT with a focus on the QCAA syllabus suite for English.  Belinda's professional interests are in functional grammar, educational policy, and representations of teachers. Her unprofessional interests are chickens, Harry Styles and long distance running. 

Adam Myers

 

 

 

 

 

Debbie Owens

 

Deb is Head of English at St Ursula’s College Yeppoon. She is the editor of ETAQ’s journal Words’Worth. She currently teaches Literature, General English and Year 10 English. Her career has spanned management roles across the three education sectors including Deputy Principal and Head of Department in both English and Drama disciplines.

Trish Purcell

 

After a career as a Business Education teacher at Wallumbilla Secondary Department, Lockyer District SHS, Noosa District SHS, Pine Rivers District SHS and Head of Department at Hendra SHS (now Aviation High) and Dakabin SHS, interspersed with blocks of time as acting Deputy Principal, Trish was invited to succeed Jim Buckley as Administration Officer when Jim wished to step down. Never one to shirk a challenge, she also took on the position of Treasurer in 2012. She is enjoying meeting and working with so many keen English teachers.

Victoria Snell

 

Victoria 

 

 

 

Cate Wilson

 

Cate  has been teaching in South-East Queensland for 15 years. She is a lover of literature and literacy, a hoarder of texts, and a grammar tragic. Cate loves encountering new pedagogies to enrich the teaching of English in her classroom and sharing learning adventures with her colleagues. She is Head of English at the wonderful Wynnum State High School

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