About Greg Whitby

Biography

Greg Whitby is a teacher, advocate, administrator and leader. His mission to transform schooling for every child and young person is driven by a strong commitment to justice and equity.

As a Catholic Education leader in the Parramatta and Wollongong Dioceses in NSW, Greg has led significant cultural change with a focus on innovation, collaboration and investment in teachers’ learning. Prior to this, he was a teacher and school leader in government and Catholic schools. He has also lectured in the faculty of business at Western Sydney University.

Greg’s service to education has been recognised through the 2018 Australia Day Honours list with the award of the Australian Medal (AM) and the award of a Papal Knighthood in the Order of St Gregory the Great in 2013. He has received a presidential citation from the Australian Council of Educational Leaders and in 2017, he was awarded the Sir Harold Wyndham Medal for his contribution to the education of young people in NSW.

Greg has written extensively about education including as the author of Educating Gen Wi-Fi. His weekly column on education “Top of the Class” is syndicated across 22 NewsLocal papers in NSW. His contribution to the public debate has led to many media appearances including on Sunrise, The Project, The Drum, The Conversation Hour, Mornings with Wendy Harmer and Richard Glover’s Drive. Greg’s advocacy for change and innovation has also led to many international conference addresses, including the invitation to present to the Congregation for Catholic Education’s first World Congress in Vatican City in 2015.

Greg will continue to challenge accepted thinking about learning and teaching for the change education can bring for all of us.

In addition to bluyonder and Twitter, Greg is the author of Educating Gen Wi-fi, which argues for the need to radically rethink the nature of learning and teaching in a connected world.

35 thoughts on “About Greg Whitby”

  1. It is really quite heartening to hear/read/see school administrators launch into blogging.

    It’s an example of innovation in progress.

    I sincerelyhope that your example will encourage others to do likewise.

    All the best

    Mark Collinson

  2. Congratulations Greg for your recent Bulletin Smart 100 accolade – it was truly deserved. I had the privelege of hearing you speak earlier this year at an ICT Symposium in Brisbane. Many of your ideas about the past, present & future of education resonate with me. I’m inspired by your vision & wish you all the best with your ambitions. Regards, Chad Outten.

  3. Likewise Greg. I’d been keen to meet you and hear you speak for a while and I was pleased to be able to finally get to meet you at the ACE event at St Caths. Was good to hear your perspective, and refreshing to hear someone at “the top” sound like they have a clue about 21st century education. Sadly, it’s all too rare. Loved your comments about the need to engage in ongoing professional learning, and for teachers to see their own ongoing learning as a key factor in being able to pass that on to students.

  5. Greg,

    I tried finding you towards the end of COSN. Sorry I was unsuccessful.

    Hope we can work together in august or September. Email me to plan.

    Gotta catch another plane 😦

    Gary

    Ps: how do I make your blogroll?

  6. Greg,

    congratulations on your Bulletin accolade! I heard a podcast of your interview on the Conversation Hour on Local ABC Radio. Inspiring and timely.

    We are Brisbane based architects/urban designers. We do 2 or 3 ‘pro bono’ jobs each year in line with our commitment to our community.

    At the moment we are involved in a Future Vision/Master Plan for a small Catholic Primary School on the Sunshine Coast (my kids’ school), and are about to start work on a community school aimed at young mothers as part of a health precinct in the SW of Brisbane.

    If possible, we would like to bring you to Brisbane to continue the discussion/learning on the possibilities of these future schools.

    No doubt you are a busy man. Please advise if this might be possible.

    Kind regards

    Phil Smith

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  10. Dear Greg
    I’m sitting here writing the unit my third year education students will take soon. I have Visible Learning (Hattie, 2009) in my hands and stumbled across your blog. It’s been fascinating reading.
    I have taught my students about evidence-based practices for two years now having moved sideways from teaching Special Education to also taking general education studies. I have always referred to Ken Kevale’s work (he usually writes in the area of Special Ed) and Marzano, Pickering and Pollock’s (2001), but neither is as comprehensive as Hattie’s latest offering. It may interest you to know that I was asked at a staff meeting to talk about my work in the unit because students had been questioning some of the strategies discussed by other primary educators. I fear I am now viewed with a degree of suspicion but shall tempt fate and consider setting this as a text for the unit!
    I have bookmarked your blog, thanks for the insightful commentary.

  11. Lorraine, be not afraid! We know what works and what doesn’t work and we have an excellent theory base. All we need are the courageous educators like you to back your professional judgement.
    People like Hattie have done the hard yards for us, let’s not let them down

    1. Greg, I was speaking at a conference recently and showing off my array of effect size stats from various contributors as an argument for evidence based practice. I’d worked my way down to the lower effect sizes and was on the slide that featured some of the neglible, negative and downright dodgy practices when a lone voice called out from the audience in an accusatory tone. “But we only do Brain Gym for 20 mins a day…and the kids really love it”. I responded gently by saying that perhaps that was 20 mins in the morning better spent doing something with a stronger research base. The conference attendee was unperturbed calling out. “There is so research and people like you just don’t understand it”. The other 299 people in the room sat in awkward silence. I said nothing and moved to the next slide. It was a quote from a well known Amercian Actor stating that Scientology had ‘cured’ his dyslexia. I drew attention to the influence of strongly held beliefs. The next slide outlined all the reasons schools eschew evidence based practice.
      I am waiting for a nasty email!

  12. Gregg,

    I’m really interested in the work you are doing. I am a Director of Learning at a 4-16 Academy in the N East of England. I want to create a compelling, imaginative, collaborative vision for developing languages. It would be great to hear your and other friends’ thoughts on how web 2.0 and other developments can help us better serve our young people.
    Please add your ideas to:
    http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/MFLvision

    best wishes,

    Gerry O’Hanlon

  13. Hello Greg
    Likewise I am also interested in the work you are doing! It’s brilliant stuff and yes we have to push the boundaries. I wanted to pick your brains please to see if you can help with your network/ get involved in what I am doing over here in West London, UK. About a year ago I created a simple homework calendar tool for teachers, students and parents called for my Show My Homework.

    The motto is simple: teachers can post homework questions online. They can also attach worksheets, web links, and video resources. This makes their homework questions engaging and interactive. Students and parents can see these homework questions on their school homework calendar without having to log in.

    During the course of a single school day, teachers have several responsibilities and decisions to make. This makes them hesitant towards investing their time learning a new technology. That is what motivated me to create something utterly simple and user friendly for them.

    Recently, Helen Doyle at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic School in Aberdeen, New South Wales, Australia contacted me about adding her school to Show My Homework. It made me happy to see interest from Australian teachers. To add to that, after Helen signed up, she loved it so much, she recommended it to her daughter’s school, Tibooburra Outback School of the Air.

    The response from Tunas Muda International in Jakarta, Indonesia, has also been overwhelming. They have even added the “Show My Homework” button on their school website: http://www.sekolahtunasmuda.com/stm2/

    Its early days, but the overall feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I’m especially excited about the prospect of Show My Homework being used in Australia.

    Would love to get your feedback and see if there is something we can do together? Hope to hear from you soon,

    Thank you for reading.
    With Kind Regards,
    Naimish
    @showmyhomework

  14. Hi Greg,
    My name is Katy and I am an Aussie currently teaching 5th grade in NYC. I am looking for a school who might be interested in connecting with my class through Edmodo. Edmodo is a social networking site that is a ‘walled garden’ so only those with appropriate codes can gain access to groups the students are in. I used Edmodo last year with a friend’s class in Sydney. Within Edmodo you can upload files, post assignments, run polls and many other things. It is a bit like a cross between twitter and facebook, but with safety levels built in.
    If you know of any teachers in your schools who might be interested, please send them my email address and I’d look forward to hearing from them.
    Thanks,
    Katy

    1. Lovely to hear from an Aussie teacher in NYC. We’ll put you in touch with one of our primary schools.

  16. I am not too sure what to think of Greg Whitby as I have heard he is more for the business side of education.

    1. I think if you read the blog and seen its threads over time you’ll see no proof of what you’ve heard. why not participate in the discussion. Th eissue is is not a business side of education. It is about how young people learn in the contemporary world the challenges this presents, the opportunities to support this learning and teaching and most importantly how we build teacher capacity and their capabilities to ensure they are excellent in the critical work they do

  17. Hi Greg
    Recently attended the Apple Leadership Education Summit Singapore a truly fascinating conference. At OLMC we have almost completed a $7.2m BER project. Our enrolment is just over 800 students.We are the 1st school to have an ALC NOT ale (Apple Learning Community Centre) Debbie Heckenberg is the Principal & I am Teacher Educator, we would love for you to visit & have a face to face discussion/dialogue with yourself . The K-2 is Early Learning Based Open and with a focus on Heppell’s Rule of 3. All open Spaces with approx 120 students in each space we have visited Micheal Hopley’s Nth Parra School ( He is a personal friend of mine & I hear he is enjoying the challenges of OLQP Greystanes lately. I think the likes of Hattie, & Heppell & visionaries such as yourself are guiding a path for all CEO schools to attempt to validate our reason for teaching or Co Learning as I prefer to term it. John

    1. John glad to hear what you are doing at OLMC. Sorry to have missed Singapore , I too heard it was good. I’m happy to come and visit so let me know what suits you. It is great to hear about innovation from schools and see you have leaders who’ll support you as you address the challenges of contemporary learning and teaching. We need a diversity of models. You hit on a good point about networks and the links with St Monicas, these help sustain and support each community

  18. Greg We will be in touch very soon. As you are a director Debbie said it would be good if you could gives us a date/s we can perhaps more easily fit in with you . You are spot on Networking is the only way to go. John

  19. Hi Greg
    I love reading your blog. The points you make are always clearly articulated and well considered.
    We would like your permission or approval to include a ‘bluyonder link’ on our web site.
    makebook is our attempt at saving the literacy skills of our students.
    I hope to meet you one day and share ideas.
    Best
    Mark Stanley

  20. Hi Greg,

    I’m sure you don’t remember, but you helped me out a couple of years back filling out a quick survey for a dissertation I was writing on the use of ICTs for teaching and learning. I’m now helping to start up a UK-style TeachMeet series here in Sydney with a few colleagues. If you could advertise it for us in Parramatta Diocese that’d be great! We’re open to primary and secondary teachers – anyone who has an idea they are willing to share or is willing to be part of an audience!

    We’re hoping to establish a regular series of TeachMeets in Sydney organised by and for teachers.

    The website is http://tfcsydney.wikispaces.com/ and if teachers can join up and sign up for the meetings that’d be great!

    I also have a poster I can send to you if you could let me know the best email to send it to.

    Cheers,

    Matt Esterman

    Brigidine College, St Ives

  21. Hi Matt
    I like yourself teach i Sydney. I teach at OLMC Mount Pritchard a very large Primary School in Syney’s South West. We are part of the CEO Southern Region currently our Regional office is running its first teach meet same model as the UK. Can I suggest you contact either Simon Crook Secondary ICT Adviser or Juliette Pantaleo Primary ICT ADviser I am sure they would be interested in promoting your Teacher meet And offering you an invite to be part of the CEOSSR meet. For your info at OLMC we are currently hosting An Apple Learning Community for the next 12months this is a first for Apple in Australia. It involves our school have on loan approx $100 000.00 worth of hardware plus 2 Professional; Educators giving PD to staff, students and parents plus the CEO schools. If you are intersted and think that you or some colleagues may be interested in some PD or visiting please contact me. The email address for Simon is simon.crook@ceosyd.catholic.edu.au
    juliette.pantaleo@ceosyd.catholic.edu.au
    Cheers John

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  23. Thanks Greg- there is an incredible breadth and depth to your ‘thinking out loud’ here…it’s going to take me a bit of time to process it all. Thanks for opening your mind to us all!

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  25. A couple of years ago I happened upon your blog and found it quite fascinating. One of the documents that I read involved a paper you wrote for a presentation (I believe it was in Ireland, but I’m not sure) and the basic idea was why Christian education had a unique responsibility to utilize 21st century pedagogy and develop Christian 21st century citizens. There isn’t much written on that topic, unfortunately. I work for a Christian tertiary institution and I am working on a project right now that will involve us developing some initiatives for not only surviving the dynamics of globalization, but also (hopefully) developing a more robust and relevant mission while staying true to our underlying fundamental vision. I would really like to reread that paper, but when I revisited your blog I could no longer find it. I see some presentations, but this was an actual paper or script to a presentation, perhaps. If you could tell me how to find it, I would be grateful.
    Karlene

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