The Principal

Jan Clewett joined Oakey State High School secondary education and Vocational Education all on the same day in 2006. She has been on an incredibly steep learning curve dealing with adolescents, a new way of teaching and a new set of skills to relate with students and her colleagues.

Jan has taken our Business Studies Department and has raised the effectiveness of leaving in the following three subjects from low level to a very high standard:

• 9/10 Business Principles
• 11 Business Information and Communication Technology
• 12 Business and Computer Studies (2006)

She is the first teacher in Queensland to successfully integrate Certificate II in Business and Certificate II in Information Technology.

Her work with students has made the mundane go to interesting and challenging. She has used technology as the magical tool to make learning, "just in time" relevant, self-paced and rewarding for students who have a wide range of abilities and technology skills and interests.

Jan has successfully put into practice:

• competency based learning and teaching
• new standards of monitoring and student feedback
• unprecedented engagement in learning, hands on practical learning in business and information technology.

Jan's planning, teaching and classroom management strategies support school policies and effectively cater for:

• individual student learning
• the range of student ability
• particularly students with learning difficulties
• the diversity of cultural background of our students.

Jan has a dream about on-line learning which embraces quality, flexibility and relevance for all students. She has undertaken e-learning and the maintenance of competency based assessment to new practices in this school and the business studies area to a new level of effectiveness. Her work has brought the skill levels of our business graduates to new standards and will bring great results for the school and those students when they move into the work force.

She has also undertaken with enthusiasm a coaching and mentoring role within the school amongst her colleagues. She has developed very positive relationships with other staff in Vocatioal Education and has supported other staff in implementing these reforms. Jan has built a strong, professional network in the school and this networking and communication has helped her make such great progress in her area of the school.

I believe Jan Clewett is a great asset to our professional community. I fully endorse the quality and professionalism of her application.

CG McNally
Principal Oakey State High School
(Information compiled from the following two letters of support)
Read more»2006 2007