A Biography
Jeannette Kavanagh has taught at every level in our educational system from Prep to VCE, TAFE and at University. In the 1990s she was deputy director of policy and planning at Box Hill Institute of TAFE, and in that role, she initiated the first ever credit transfer agreement between a TAFE college and a University - Box Hill and Deakin.
Jeannette had long held the view that the postsecondary part of our education system was a badly run monopoly where people had to repeat at University the skills and knowledge they'd already gained at work, or in a TAFE course. Now all Universities and TAFE providers have information about credit pathways and how one's prior skills can be recognised. Another great social and educational interest for Jeannette is boys' education. Although men are still running the world, boys are falling behind girls at all levels in our education system. Making schools more boy-friendly is something Jeannette has researched and worked in for decades. Apart from that, perhaps Jeannette's greatest passion is communication and particularly visual communication. She's been involved in the art world since her study of Fine Art in the late 1970s and she's worked as an art writer and tour guide for a number of exhibitions. Any spare money she has goes into supporting the work of Australia's practising artists, so now she needs a bigger house.
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Reading the Text
This presentation is so interactive that without the full participation of everyone in the audience, it doesn't work. No?. It's one of those events where you're put on the spot or in the spotlight. Everyone, so far, has judged it to be lots of fun - and don't we all need more of that. Audiences have also commented on how very informative, surprising and enlightening they found the presentation. OK. I know I shouldn't use three adjectives to describe anything but I like to break some of the grammatical rules, sometimes. Through this presentation they/we learn about how we read people and how we interpret visual cues as well as written texts.
Portrait of the Artist as a young Woman
(500 Years of Women's Painting)
Most, if not all, people recognise the image of La Giaconda or the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo Da Vinci (April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519). They're less likely to recognise any of the works of Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532 - November 16, 1625) one of the most sought after painters of the Renaissance. Sofonisba commanded great respect, in Italy and later in the Spanish Court but until fairly recently she was unknown. This talk explores the work of ten women painters from 1450 to the 20th century. Through the images of their works, we can appreciate their contribution to art practice despite their lack of fame and recognition.
Boys' Education
From Grade 3 onwards, boys around Australia are falling behind girls academically. Not surprisingly, the participation rate at University is higher for young women than young men. In TAFE, the figures are of course skewed by the fact that some apprenticeships and traineeships are in industry areas that traditionally attract a bigger number of males than females - automotive, building, electronics etc. Even so, women do better in their TAFE studies and are less likely to drop out before they complete their courses. The implications for our society are quite profound and in need of urgent reform.
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