Wendy Lee Director of the Educational Leadership Project, New Zealand

Wendy Lee is passionate about Early Childhood Education (ECE) in New Zealand and has developed a deep interest in issues related to the curriculum and leadership. She is a strong advocate for Learning Stories and the power of documentation to strengthen learner identity of children. Over the past 50 years, her career has focused on building strong, reflective and robust learning communities through her roles as teacher, unionist, lecturer, community development worker, city councillor, manager, professional development facilitator and researcher. Today, as director of the Educational Leadership Project Ltd she and her team provide training and advice to ECE centres throughout New Zealand and in a wide range of other countries. Over the past 20 years, she has had the privilege of collaborating with Professor Margaret Carr on a number of ECE research projects, including co-directing the National Early Childhood Assessment and Learning Exemplar Project. This produced the Kei Tua o te Pae books on assessment for improving learning in the NZ ECE sector. As the influence of research in the area of Learning Stories and Assessment in New Zealand grows and extends more into ECE practice, Wendy has been increasingly requested to present its influence to a wider international audience including teachers in Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Japan, Belgium, the USA, Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia and China.