Specialist Appointed To Diocesan Board

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 24, 2009

Leading Education Specialist Appointed To Diocesan Board Of Governors

Dr John Langley, a leading educationalist who was made an Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit in January for his services to education, has been appointed to the Board of Governors at Diocesan School for Girls.

Dr Langley, a former principal of the Auckland College of Education and Dean of Education at the University of Auckland, is the chief executive of Cognition Education Limited, New Zealand’s largest education consulting Company, which operates nationally and internationally.

“John’s specialist educational background will make him an invaluable addition to the school’s Board of Governors who provide an excellent range of expertise across other areas,” said board chair, Hilary Poole

“John’s impressive background gives him wide experience and knowledge of educational policy and practices which we will benefit from,” she said.

Dr Langley, who joined the board this month, said he was looking forward to working with the school’s Board of Governors to support good teaching and learning at the all-girls’ independent Anglican school.

“Strong independent schools play a critical role in New Zealand education. I have always been a great believer in the state system but also that independent schools are an integral and valuable part of our education system and will continue to be so,” said Dr Langley.

“I also believe there is room for the relationship between independent and state schools to be more creative and be seen as complementary and not diverse ends of a spectrum.”

Dr Langley said he felt one of his strengths was understanding what good teaching looked like and what it could produce.

“You can have the best facilities in the world, but if you have poor teachers, that counts for nothing. Teachers are there to cause learning. First and foremost it is the teachers who make the difference.”

Before being appointed as principal of the Auckland College of Education in 2001, Dr Langley was a chair of the New Zealand Teacher Registration Board and, before that, was a school principal.

His academic background is in educational philosophy. He has a Bachelor of Education, a Masters of Education with distinction and was made a Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Canterbury in 1997.

Ends

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