Australian College of Educators
The Australian College of Educators is an Australian national professional association for educators. Membership is open to all professional educators working in the early childhood, school, and tertiary education sectors, as well as to education researchers and managers. The college advocates for its members in seeking improvements in the status of the education profession.
History
The college was established in 1959 as the Australian College of Education at a conference held at Geelong Grammar School at the instigation of the then-headmaster James Darling. It was renamed as the Australian College of Educators in 2002. Darling was the first National President of the ACE and was knighted for his services to education and broadcasting in 1968. The Buntine Oration, a biennial invited presentation made at the ACE conference, was established in 1960 by the four then-surviving children of Walter Murray Buntine in his memory. The inaugural Buntine Oration was presented by Professor Peter Karmel, and was entitled Some Aspects of the Economics of Education.The college has been based in Victoria for most of its existence; it did move to Canberra in 1988, though it has since returned to Melbourne was based at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, and then became part of the Australian Council for Educational Research in 2019. The first Jean Blackburn Oration was held in 2014, given by David Gonski, author of the Gonski Report which was an important election issue in the 2013 and 2016 federal elections.
Buntine oration
Walter Buntine had a significant role in the development of education in Victoria from his position as headmaster of Caulfield Grammar School and his descendants have continued to be actively involved in education. His son, M. Arnold Buntine, earned a PhD in education from the University of Edinburgh and was headmaster of Camberwell Grammar School in Victoria and later the Hale School in Western Australia prior to World War II after the war as headmaster of Geelong College. Arnold was married to Gladys (Jim) Buntine, who was an educator in her role as Chief Commissioner of the Australian Girl Guides and their son, Robert Buntine had leadership roles at The [King's School, Parramatta|The King's School] and Newington College in Sydney. Professor Mark Buntine of Curtin University of Technology is the most current of the Buntine family of educators.The inaugural oration was given by Peter Karmel in 1962 at the third annual ACE conference. The oration has been given by a series of high-profile people, including Sir Paul Hasluck, Sir Zelman Cowan, Sir Michael Somare, Peter Doherty, Michael Kirby and Robert French. Inaugural ACE National President Sir James Darling gave the 1972 oration of responsibility; Barry McGaw is the only other National President to have been so honoured.