About Us
Our Principles
Effective critical thinking and communication are essential for the personal development of young people. These skills are also valued across most professions. Supporting students to master these essential aspects of their learning underpins our educational philosophy.
We continually evaluate our pedagogy to improve the resources and programs we create, seeking to engage and challenge students. We believe fun is the friend of effective learning. We are passionate about providing opportunities that extend a student’s understanding of the world, their sense of self, and their ability to contribute positively to their community.
To realise these goals, the Consensus Education Foundation funds access to a range of programs for students and schools in need. Addressing educational disadvantage is a core goal of our charity.
Contact Details
Have a question? Our details are below — or you can send us a message now.
EMAIL: info@consensuseducation.org.au
PHONE: 0422 530 846
Our Mission
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Providing opportunities for the development of critical thinking and communication skills for school students aged 9—18
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Offering continuous professional development for teachers in communication and critical thinking skills.
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Fostering engagement with, and raising the profile of, higher order thinking and speaking skills within Australia.
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Providing students and schools facing disadvantage with sponsored programs in an effort to advance educational equity.
Our Sponsors
We greatly appreciate the generous support for Consensus from across the Australian community.
Our Charity’s work is made possible by time donated by our staff and volunteers, by individual donations from the families of our students and from the public, by funding from our paid courses and services, and through large grants from the following organisations:
Braidwood and Bungendore
Community Bank
Our founding sponsor — funding tuition for ThinkTank and in-person workshops for the Southern Tablelands in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
The Federal and State Governments through the Office for Regional Youth
Funding in-person workshops and an online course for the South-East of NSW in 2023.
The Queanbeyan Palerang
Regional Council
Funding an in-person workshop for the Southern Tablelands in 2023.
Mary MacKillop Today
Funding in-person workshops across regional
NSW in 2024.
Julian Davies and James Smith, our founding staff, have both worked closely with schools over the last fifteen years using a combination of explicit teaching and guided dialogue to run classes and workshops in critical thinking, debating, public speaking and media studies. The understanding gained through this work, and our many discussions with teachers and school leaders, has helped us appreciate the clear need for broader and deeper education in creative critical thinking and communication skills.
The development and maintenance of very high standards of instruction are key to the Foundation being able to effectively reach and assist as many students as possible. Continuing to train a squad of tutors in the pedagogic skills and techniques that equip them for high-level teaching is an essential aspect of our work.
We value interacting with professional educators, and have worked with many schools, as well as with peak educational bodies such as the NSW Department of Education, Australian Independent Schools, the Catholic Education Office, the ACT Teacher Quality Institute, and the NSW Educational Standards Authority.
Our Team
Senior Staff
Julian Davies | Executive Officer
Julian has worked both professionally and as a volunteer in schools for more than 15 years, teaching public speaking, debating, media studies—all with a particular focus on critical thinking. Between 2018 and 2020 he planned and taught what may well be the first dedicated critical thinking course to be run in an Australian school. He has achieved consistent success in mentoring students from regional schools through to state finals in public speaking and debating. For the Primary Schools State Debating Championships state finals in 2023, he coached the Illawarra South-East Primary State Debating Squad who went on to become state champions. Away from teaching, Julian is the author of seven novels and co-author of two non-fiction books. He is also the publisher at Finlay Lloyd, an independent, non-profit press.
James Smith | Education Officer
James is the one of the most experienced school debating, public speaking and critical thinking educators in Australia and has run programs and workshops in these skills for the last 17 years. Teams he has coached have won every division of the Premiers Debating Challenge multiple times. He has served as the Chief Adjudicator for the Greater Public Schools Debating Competition, the Schools Debating Network, and as a NSW Combined High Schools selector. James has adjudicated multiple state finals for debating and public speaking and is the current coordinator for the Plain English Speaking Award in the ACT. He is the current selector for the Northern Sydney Regional Junior State Debating Squad and the coach of the Hunter Central Coast Primary State Debating Squad, who were undefeated at the State Championships in 2022.
At Consensus, we take our duty of care seriously.
We believe that all steps should be taken to ensure that students learn in a safe and supportive environment. Download our Duty of Care Policy here.
Our Board
Dr Bidda Jones AM
Dr Bidda Jones AM GAICD is the cofounder and Director of Strategy and Research at the Australian Alliance for Animals. Previous to that, she was the Chief Scientist and Strategy Officer at RSPCA Australia for twenty-five years. She is an Honorary Associate at the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney. Bidda has a long-term interest in public education and is the partner of Consensus Executive Officer, Julian Davies.
Dr Joel Armstrong
Joel Armstrong is a doctor based in the Riverina region of NSW. He was a recipient of the Rural Doctors Network Cadet Scholarship. Since 2015 Joel has also worked for the NSW Department of Education in the speaking competitions office and has adjudicated competitions across metropolitan and rural NSW. He also volunteers teaching medical students at the University of NSW Wagga Wagga campus.
Dr Meredith McKinney
Dr Meredith McKinney is currently an Honorary Associate Professor at the Australian National University. She lived and taught in Japan for 20 years, and since returning to Australia has published numerous translations of classical and modern Japanese literature. She volunteers tutoring school-age students.