Vocational Graduate Certificate in Education and Training Sustainability Lecturers

Dr Caroline Smith

Caroline has recently joined the NCS as a teacher in the new Vocational Graduate Certificate in Education and Training for Sustainability, where she feels she can integrate her experience in education for sustainability, futures education and learning. She is very excited about this new course and to be working with like-minded people who are passionate about sustainability and EfS.

Caroline has 35 years' experience in the education sector, including secondary science teaching and teacher education. She has also worked as a plant pathologist and is involved with teacher professional development and plant protection training in Solomon Islands.

She has worked on many committees concerned with education for sustainability, and has published widely. Caroline lives on an organic farm, and is involved locally with permaculture, the Transition network and local food production.

Dr Sue Lewis

Sue has recently joined the National Centre for Sustainability on a secondment from Higher Education to research, develop and fund education for sustainability projects as well as industry and government partnerships for skilling the green collar workforce.

Sue is excited to be working in education for sustainability projects at the NCS where she feels she can integrate the environmental, educational and organisational change threads of her career.

Sue has worked on many industry, government and educational committees over the years and currently is a member of the CERES Board and the inaugural Committee of Management for the Green Institute planned as a green policy think tank.

Trevor Plumridge

Trevor has been involved with NCS since 2005 when he developed the training resources and piloted the first Business Sustainability Advocates program. This program focuses on engaging with business to identify opportunities to improve sustainability performance. It focuses on aligning the passions of the business owner with sustainable outcomes.

His background includes youth and community work with a later interest in sustainable building. Trevor coordinated the Sustainable Living Foundation’s Green Building Focus Group for 2 years after its inception.

Other involvements include teaching in the Renewable Energy course at Swinburne and coordinating the development of a new Certificate IV in sustainable energy and resource efficiency. He particularly enjoying providing a learning environment where participants ‘wrestle’ with the issues surrounding sustainability, which after all, is a ‘work in progress’.

Gitanjali Bedi

Gitanjali oversees the Capacity Building in Sustainability for Educators program. Gitanjali also facilitates Global Reporting Initiative training. Her experience covers; corporate sustainability and reporting, climate change and behaviour change, sustainability leadership, systems thinking, education for sustainability, stakeholder engagement, organisational capacity development and gender.

Previously, Gitanjali was based in the UK (Lead International) working with leading thinkers, researchers and partner organisations on leadership and sustainability training (eg United Nations Development Program in Asia, Latin America and Central Asia, Forum for the Future, Imperial College London, Sustainability Institute, Balaton Group, Newmont, HSBC). Her background is in international aid and development in Asia / Pacific.

In 2009, she completed the first stage of IRCA certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioner training (AA1000) with Two Tomorrows (UK) and was a recipient of an ISS Institute Fellowship. In her spare time, she teaches yoga and meditation (Art of Living).

Lisa Hoggard

She has recently joined NCS as a teacher in the VGC in ETfS. She brings to the course a solid understanding of the VET sector and the challenges in implementing EfS across a range of industry contexts and client groups – plus a passion for EfS and working to make it accessible and organisationally valued.
Lisa runs the consultancy, LH Learning Partners, specialising in facilitation, professional & team development and workbased learning and assessment, and sustainability in learning, which has been in operation for 12 years.

Her work includes facilitation, strategic planning, management and team development, professional development program & mentoring design – with a strong Skills for Sustainability focus, workbased learning and assessment advice, research and evaluation and workforce development, including training and implementation of sustainable practice.

Ruth Walker

Ruth is a VET consultant contracted to various organisations, in the last 12 months she has worked on various projects including:

• internal auditing and compliance
• teaching TAE40110
• developing course ware for a Cert IV in Sustainable work practices
• developing a Sustainable College Kit for Community Colleges
• developing Good Practice Guides in Internal Auditing and Providing Pathways for Diverse Learners
• researching a quality teaching and learning framework for Community Colleges
• facilitating professional development in workplace LLN skills for trainers
• facilitating a  community of practice for LLN and VET Trainers
• facilitating professional development in quality AVETMISS reporting for RTO admin staff

In the research field, she has published the occasional paper with the NCVER. Ruth is planning to complete her PhD in the near future.