Margaret has been a secondary teacher for 39 years and has taught in various schools in Sydney, Australia and New Zealand. She was Principal at Sydney Girls High School from 1992-2008. She worked for the Board of Studies for 2 years as a Regional Field Officer mainly in Assessment and Reporting and was Supervisor of Higher School Certificate Biology marking for 9 years. She was the Coordinator of the Office of Educational Leadership in the School of Education UNSW from 2009 until 2014.
Margaret’s doctoral thesis was “The relationships between School Culture and Student
Outcomes in New South Wales Selective schools”’ and Margaret has a great interest in the role of school culture in improving student outcomes.
Margaret has been on various committees and working parties over her career covering girls’ education, gifted students as well as on syllabus and exam committees.
Margaret was awarded an AO in the Australia Day Honours in 2005, the Wyndham Medal in 2008, selected as one of the top 100 principals across the world (Beijing 2006) and one of the most influential educators in Sydney (2007 SMH). She is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators(FACE) and a Fellow of the Australian College of Educational Leaders (FACEL) and was a ministerial appointment on the University of Sydney Senate (2002-2009) and the Centennial Parklands Trust (2002-2010).
She has been a NSW Australia Day Ambassador. In 2013 she was highly commended for the Community Engagement Award at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). She was a member of the UNSW Global Advisory Committee in 2013 and 2014 and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at the UNSW in 2015.
She is currently running her own consultancy in Developing Educational Leaders and is the Head of Education at the Institute of Digital Education Africa(IDEA). In this role, she is working on initiatives to improve teaching and learning programs in Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa as well as Middle East counties.
Margaret is certified as a Leadership Circle Consultant in the Leadership Circle Profile, the Manager Edition and the Leadership Culture Survey.
This involves the development of short-term and long-term career plans.
This covers the construction of a curriculum vitae, responses to specific criteria and the role of referees.
This covers preparation for an interview and the interview process.
Building Leadership Capacity in individual School Leaders
Building Leadership Capacity of Middle Leaders in schools
Developing a 'culture of leadership and achievement' in school teams
Executive Coaching
Empowering Gifted students
Coaching/Mentoring School Leaders
Personalising Learning
Leadership for Learning
Women in Leadership
Career Planning
The Interview
Building Team Leadership
Good Schooling
School Improvement and Performance