ACE Coat of Arms
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Abbreviation | ACE |
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Motto |
Latin: Multa Membra Corpus Unum ("Many Members One Body") |
Formation | 1959 |
Type | Professional College |
Legal status | Company Limited by Guarantee |
Purpose | Education |
Location |
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Membership
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5500 |
President
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The Honourable Bronwyn Pike MACE |
Website | www.austcolled.com.au |
The Australian College of Educators (ACE) is an Australian national professional association for educators. Membership is open to all professional educators working in the early childhood, school, and tertiary education sectors, as well as to education researchers and managers. The College advocates for its members in seeking improvements in the status of the education profession. The present national President is the Honourable Bronwyn Pike, former secondary school teacher and Minister for Education in the Brumby Government in Victoria.
The College was established in 1959 as the Australian College of Education at a conference held at Geelong Grammar School at the instigation of the then-headmaster James Darling. It was renamed as the Australian College of Educators in 2002. Darling was the first National President of the ACE and was knighted for his services to education and broadcasting in 1968. The Buntine Oration, a biennial invited presentation made at the ACE conference and is held alternately with the speech of the outgoing National President, was established in 1960 by the four then-surviving children of Dr Walter Murray Buntine (1866–1953) in his memory.
The College has been based in Victoria for most of its existence; it did move to Canberra in 1988, though it has since returned to Melbourne and is presently based at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. The first Jean Blackburn Oration was held their in 2014, given by David Gonski, author of the Gonski Report which was an important election issue in the 2013 and 2016 federal elections.