About 

About Me

Damien is a school principal, teacher, academic, speaker & author. He has been teaching for over 25 years and continues to teach a variety secondary subjects, under-graduate university education students, and post-graduate university business students. He has been a prep to year 12 principal for approximately 10 years across 2 schools, 2 states and several campuses. Damien’s qualifications include a Doctorate in Education, a Master of Business Administration and he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship where he travelled the world to explore and develop rites of passage programs for teenage boys to reduce incidences of domestic violence. Damien is passionate about the teaching profession, the development of strong teachers and school leaders, about educating the whole child, and about creating communities of learners and educators.
He has 4 children, 2 dogs and lives in Ashgrove, Brisbane. He is a fitness junkie, loves 80’s music, Star Wars, coffee, Test cricket and rugby league. Has an unhealthy addiction to home improvement shows although doesn’t know the end of a hammer himself. He also loves karaoke but even the local animals start howling when he gets close to a microphone.

‘I have created By Design Learning Co. because I believe that the work that teachers do every day, is the most important profession. Sitting in front of us, in our classrooms, are the future politicians, world leaders, tradespeople, doctors, engineers, carers, artists, builders, journalists to name but a few. More importantly, sitting in our classrooms are the young minds who we have a responsibility to mould into responsible, thoughtful, empathetic, humble, selfless, hard-working members of our society, workplaces, and families. Therefore, we need to help our teachers and help those people who lead schools and teams of teachers, to be as effective and impactful as possible. The education ecosystem has never been more challenging. The are a myriad of factors that are impacting the work that teachers do. Parenting has also never been harder, especially as we see rising levels of general dysfunction, social media abuse, increased mental health issues, and overall stress within households. Its my hope that I can play a small role to contribute in a positive way to help teachers, school communities, school leaders and parents. I’ve devoted my entire adult life to this and accumulated a great deal of knowledge, resources, and tools which I’d love to share. If it can help one teacher to stay in the profession, one child to achieve their dream, one family to stay together and one young lad to become a wonderful man – then we all win.’

Qualifications:
Doctor of Education (Ed.D)
Master of Business Administration (M.B.A)
Master of Education (M.Ed)
Bachelor of Education (B.Ed)

Fellowships:
Churchill Fellowship – the development of an early intervention program for teenage boys to reduce incidences of domestic violence (Kenya, San Diego, Washington, New York, Cape Town)
Adjunct Research Fellow – Griffith University

University work:
Australian Catholic University – School of Education – Lecturer of under-graduate Primary & Secondary education subjects
Queensland University of Technology – Faculty of Business – Lecturer of post-graduate business, management, leadership & HR subjects

Board & Governance experience
The Sycamore School – supporting students with autism
Friends with Dignity – assisting people with housing to escape domestic violence situations

Author:
The Teaching Game – A handbook for surviving and thriving in the classroom
The Leadership Game – Strategies for success in the school leadership arena
I think my teacher is a werewolf (Children’s fiction)
I think my teacher is a vampire (Children’s fiction) *coming soon