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Bronwyn Hinz

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Director of Research and Development, Pivot Professional Learning; and Honorary Fellow, The University of Melbourne

I am an academic with fourteen years of professional experience spanning universities, think tanks, federal parliamentary offices, the private sector, community advocacy groups and other non-government organisations. I've recently joined Pivot Professional Learning as Director of Research and Development. I'm really excited by their work with schools and systems using student and peer perception data to provide insights and enhancements to teaching and learning. I'm also an Honorary Fellow at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, where I lecture on education policy and politics, and provide supervisory support. Prior to my current position, I spent four years as a Policy Fellow with the Mitchell Institute.

My career is driven by a passion and belief that deeper knowledge, student voice, coherent collaboration and intelligent resource allocation are keys to setting up all students, teachers and schools and services to excel.

My research covers education policy (early childhood, schooling and tertiary), federalism, Australian politics, comparative public policy, governance, interest groups, networks, reform processes and multiculturalism. My work has won multiple national and international awards and my analysis frequently appears in print and broadcast media. I'm on the Executive Committee for Australia's Policy Studies Research Group.

My PhD examined how federalism shapes policy reform, using State and Commonwealth school funding reforms as case studies. This was an interdisciplinary study located in in the School of Social and Political Sciences – where I have taught Public Policy Making and Australian Politics - and the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. My first book, Many Hopes, One Dream: The History of the Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria, was published by Australian Scholarly Publishing in 2009 and launched by former prime minister Malcolm Fraser and the current Victorian education minister (then responsible for multicultural affairs) James Merlino. More recently, I wrote the chapter on education policies for Social Policy in Australia, published by Oxford University Press, a commissioned report for Melbourne School of Government evaluating federalism white paper taskforce's proposals for reforming roles and responsibilities in Australian schooling, a book chapter on education in Australia for the Forum of Federations, a speech for UNESCO, and co-authored a major report on early education in Australia.

I live and breathe education policy and am passionate about enabling all children access to top quality education from their toddler years to tertiary years. Between 2014 and 2016 I was the Vice President of a public, parent-run preschool in Melbourne's outer suburbs where I was responsible for policy, processes, educator support, and the implementation and observation of the National Quality Framework, and oversaw the expansion and upgrade of the service.

Experience

  • 2018–present
    Director of Research and Development, Pivot Professional Learning
  • 2018–present
    Honorary Fellow, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne
  • 2014–2018
    Policy Fellow, Mitchell Institute, Victorian University
  • 2006–2015
    Researcher, University of Melbourne (various schools, projects and roles)
  • 2007–2011
    Tutor (Australian Politics, Public Policymaking), School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne
  • 2008–2010
    Research Consultant, Foundation for Young Australians / Education Foundation
  • 2010–2010
    Visiting Scholar, Columbia University, Teachers College. National Centre for the Study of Privatization in Education
  • 2007–2008
    Historian, Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria
  • 2006–2008
    Research Analyst & Project Officer, Contemporary Europe Research Centre, University of Melbourne
  • 2005–2006
    Researcher, Electorate Officer, Office of Senator Kim Carr
  • 2004–2006
    Speech Writer & Adviser , Office of Maria Vamvakinou MP

Education

  • 2016 
    University of Melbourne, PhD, Political Science & Education
  • 2007 
    University of Melbourne, Honours, Political Science & French
  • 2005 
    l'Institute des Sciences Politiques, Degree of the International Program: Public Policy and International Relations
  • 2005 
    University of Melbourne, Bachelor of Arts

Professional Memberships

  • Australian Association for Research in Education
  • Australian Political Studies Association
  • Comparative and International Education Society

Research Areas

  • Australian Government And Politics (160601)
  • Political Science (1606)
  • Comparative Government And Politics (160603)
  • Public Policy (160510)
  • Education (13)
  • Political Theory And Political Philosophy (160609)