Georgie Wynne General Manager Western Australia
B.Ed (Physical Education), Grad Cert (Behaviour), M.Ed (Special Education), M.Ed (Educational Leadership), Prof. Cert (Instructional Leadership)
As part of MultiLit’s commitment to expand state-based support for schools and students across Australia, we are excited to welcome Georgie Wynne to the team. As General Manager Western Australia (WA), a new role for MultiLit, Georgie will bring almost 30 years of experience to lead our Perth-based office in providing expert, localised support to our many schools across the vast state.
MultiLit has based product development and school partnerships staff in Perth since 2019, and is looking forward to broadening our support for the region as it continues to embrace an evidence-based approach to literacy.
Get to know Georgie below.
What inspired you to get into education?
I always had a keen interest in sports, science and working with young people, so I initially trained and worked as a physical education teacher in secondary schools. Sport is such a great environment for students’ holistic development. I loved being able to see students increase not only their physical skills and fitness but also their cognitive skills through strategic game play, their interpersonal and communication skills with teamwork, and so much more. It’s an environment where they can test themselves and take on leadership roles and responsibilities, and they take these benefits and learnings with them well beyond school.
I love how the ‘game of life’ is often represented in the field of sports play – the way people interact with one another, how they perform under pressure, utilise critical thinking, decision making and moral reasoning. Sport is a powerful tool for learning life lessons and developing life skills.
As a Phys Ed teacher you can develop a level of rapport with students, especially in secondary school, and have the opportunity to influence their development which impacts on their whole life and into the future.
How did you go from being a Phys Ed teacher to where you are today?
My career hasn’t followed a traditional trajectory within the education sector, as I have pursued my evolving interests and expertise over time. From my initial love of sport and health, I developed and followed my interests in classroom behaviour management and supporting students with learning difficulties and disabilities; I spent 12 years in schools in NSW and WA, in both the public and Catholic systems, moving from classroom teacher roles to school leadership.
As I became more interested in curriculum development and assessment, supporting early career teachers, leadership development, school improvement and strategic planning, I shifted into system-level leadership roles at the Northern Territory Catholic Education Office, WA School Curriculum and Standards Authority, and Catholic Education WA, over the course of 11 years.
Prior to joining MultiLit, I was the Director of the EDvance School Improvement Program at the Fogarty Foundation, working to improve school leadership and evidence-based practice across WA.
What drew you to work at MultiLit?
Working in the school improvement space, I saw first-hand the positive impact school leaders can have by selecting and embedding well-researched, evidence-based practices and programs.
I noticed the schools who were using MultiLit programs were getting great results in their literacy data. I was impressed to see the programs in practice, with more confident and capable teaching resulting in high levels of student engagement and learning.
By joining the MultiLit team, it gives me the opportunity to further support school leaders to make informed decisions to embed high-quality evidence-based programs which can improve student outcomes.
I also love that MultiLit is an Australian company, developing Australian products for Australian teachers and students.
What are some of the key responsibilities of your role?
My role is to lead a WA-based multi-disciplinary team to coordinate and promote MultiLit across WA schools. We’ll be providing localised tuition, training and school partnership support, and building teacher and school leaders’ knowledge, skills and capacity in embedding and delivering MultiLit programs.
We also plan to open a MultiLit Literacy Centre in WA, to provide support to children who need more targeted intervention to improve their reading ability.
What do you hope to achieve in your time at MultiLit?
I want to see improved teaching across WA schools which leads to better student outcomes, and a noticeable positive shift in the state average!