Glen is currently working as Area Director of Syllabus Development
and Resources in the Curriculum Standards Division of the Department's
central office.
Glen worked for 10 years as a classroom teacher of Society and Environment,
History, Geography and Economics in country and city schools, before
a further 10 years as Head of Department History and Economics at Merredin
and Lockridge senior high schools.
In 1986, Glen was in the Department’s central office as manager of the Social Studies curriculum team, and since then has been closely involved in the Social Sciences and History as Learning Area Superintendent and Principal Curriculum Officer of Society and Environment. In this role, he chaired the committee that developed the Society and Environment Learning Area Statement in the Curriculum Framework.
Glen has had a long and deep interest in school history studies, and has at various times written History student texts and been TEE examiner for History. As a member of the History Syllabus Committee for 20 years, Glen has been actively involved in school history course development.
Over the last three years, he has been a member of the Government's Anzac Day Taskforce and been involved in planning for both the 2004 and 2005 Anzac Student Tours and travelled on the latter as understudy tour leader..
Val Downing teaches English, Information Technology and Performing Arts at Corrigin District High School.
In recent years she has also taught Society & Environment and French. In 2001 she integrated her teaching of English and Information Technology into a project in which the 51 secondary students of Corrigin DHS researched 135 local war stories, and published a 240-page book The Price of Peace: Corrigin War Memories. The book raised the awareness of Corrigin's heritage among students and community alike. Then WA Governor, Lieutenant-General John Sanderson AC, wrote the book's foreword, and Jack Wong Sue of Z-Special Force launched the book of which 600 copies were sold within a few months.
Val involves her students in extra-curricula activities which have
included Wheatbelt Inter-school Debating (Corrigin is presently the
champion team); the West Australian's Make a Newspaper Competition,
which they won for five consecutive years; and a Canberra camp in 2001.
She also organised and led a camp of 30 students to Ningaloo in 2003.
Val was thrilled to escort students to Greece in 2005 and looks forward
to he additional responsibilities as deputy tour leader on the 2006
ANZAC Tour.
Milton Butcher is currently Principal at Ocean Reef SHS.
He commenced his teaching career with the Department of Education and Training following the completion of an Arts Degree (History and Economics majors) from the University of Western Australia and a Diploma of Education from Secondary Teachers College. He also holds an Honours degree in Education and a Diploma of Computer Science.
As a teacher he worked in both rural and city schools. He was Head of Department of Social Studies at Eastern Goldfields Senior High School and worked in Student Services and VET at Girrawheen SHS. In 1995 he managed the Mayer Key Competencies trial for the Department.
As a Deputy Principal he served in Girrawheen SHS, Carnarvon SHS, Katanning SHS and Ballajura Community College. After acting as Principal of Ballajura CC in 2002, he returned to Katanning SHS as Principal.
His has served as an Army Reserve Officer for a number of years in WAUR, II IRC, 11/28 RWAR and 16 RWAR. Between 2003 and 2005 he was the Commanding Officer of WAUR and now serves as a Staff Officer in the Headquarters of the Royal Military College of Australia.
In WWI his maternal grandfather served with the 10 Light Horse Regiment at Gallipoli and the Middle East and a paternal great uncle served with the 57 and 16 Battalions on the Western Front. In WWII his father and paternal grandfather served with the RAAF.
Mr Butcher is the 2006 ANZAC Student Tour understudy leader.
With a keen interest in military history Mike’s choice of career was a no-brainer. He has been teaching history for over twenty years, working with students who have achieved outstanding results.
In 2005, the culmination of five years effort by Mike saw the planting of a Lone Pine propagule at an official ceremony in Perth’s Kings Park. The Governor officiated and the armed services were well represented with students being key participants in the ceremony.
Mike’s full time career as a teacher is balanced against his involvement in the Army Reserve as a Captain at A Squadron Tenth Light Horse.
Currently Mike is Head of Department Society and Environment HOLA at John Curtin College of the Arts.
Mike will be travelling with the ANZAC tour as a Military Historian
and teacher. He is looking forward to visiting the sites in Belgium
where his forbears fought, and Gallipoli where Tenth Light Horse performed
so heroically.
Louise Secker studied History and Politics achieving a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from UWA. Her dissertation on radical politics in the inter-war years was published in Studies for Western Australian History.
She has taught Ancient and Modern History in a number of schools within the State and in England and is a TEE marker. Louise is presently teaching at Shenton College.
As well as teaching, Louise has been a coordinator of pastoral care,
inter-school debating and Gifted and Talented Education. In these capacities
she has overseen numerous leadership and team-building camps, as well
as taking students to Canberra to view the Federal Parliament and the
Brecon Beacons in Wales.
Louise’s first experience travelling abroad was on a school tour,
as a member of the Perth Modern School’s music tour of China.
Louise’s grandfather, Eric Secker, enlisted with the Royal Flying Corps in the United Kingdom during WWI before immigrating to Australia. In 1936 he enlisted for the militia and as a member of the 8th Battalion Fortress Engineers and Anti Aircraft Corp was posted in Fremantle, Rottnest, Albany and Darwin between 1939 and 1945.
With a Bachelor’s Degree, Honours in History and International Relations, Andy has been working in the media industry for more than 22 years.
He was initially a sports journalist and travelled extensively to all parts of the globe reporting on events such as the Olympic Games, World Cups of soccer, cricket and hockey, Wimbledon, overseas cricket tours etc.
He was a founder journalist with Perth’s Aboriginal Independent Newspaper, and has been working in media-related roles in the Department of Education and Training, WA for the past eight years where is currently Senior Media Officer in the Department’s Corporate Communication and Marketing Branch.
Andy will be travelling on the 2006 ANZAC tour as a communications and media consultant, just as he did for the 2005 ANZAC tour to Greece.
Following the 2005 ANZAC tour, he was sent as a communications and media consultant to the Ministry of Education in Fiji, as part of the AusAid funded Fiji Education Special Project.