Lunch with Colleen Harkin and Cheryl Lacey

They are... Your Children: Take the Lead on Their Education

Fri 28 July 2023 12:00 PM - 2:30 PM

Il Gambero, 166 Lygon St, Carlton VIC 3053

Join two dynamic and talented educators as they inform and inspire the way forward in education as well as launching Cheryl Lacey's new book

They are... Your Children: Take the Lead on Their Education

Lunch included, set menu (let us know of any dietary requirements)

Drinks extra - at bar prices.

$30 to attend. Spots are limited.

About the speakers

Colleen Harkin

National Manager, Class Action Program and Research Fellow

Colleen Harkin joined the Institute of Public Affairs as a Research Fellow and as the National Manager of the Class Action research program. She holds a Master degree of Education, a Bachelor of Education, and has undertaken a post graduate course in High Incidence Difficulties and a Diploma of Teaching.

Colleen has been a classroom teacher in both primary and secondary schools, across government and private schools. She has also worked as an education consultant in Australia and in Japan.

Colleen also has experience in the IT sector, in business development and project management, and owned her own small business in the development of award-winning bespoke databases and widgets for a range of international clients.

Most recently worked with Hon Senator Jane Hume MP and returned to the classroom to occasionally engage in relief teaching.

As a teacher and a mother, Colleen is passionate about lifting standards in the Australian education system. Through her work at the IPA Colleen aims to undertake research and build resources that empower educators, parents and students with the knowledge and capability to become independent and proud citizens.

Colleen has served for many years as an executive committee member on a number of school and community sporting clubs and on the fundraising arm for the Royal Children Hospital She continues to organise an annual fundraising event for RCH. She has been politically active throughout her life in both fund raising and policy input. She enjoys a good steak tartare, time at the beach, building and home renovations.

Cheryl Lacey

Cheryl is a mother of two and an educationist.

Since beginning teaching in 1989, she has moved around and beyond classrooms, in Australia and overseas working to understand school education systems and the relationship between families and schools.

What she has observed and experienced first-hand is an absence of the critical distinction between ‘student’ and ‘child’. This belief has been the driving force behind her family life, work and studies.

Your Children: Take the Lead on Their Education is Cheryl’s latest publication. In it, she places parents where she believes they should be: firmly at the centre of all decision making.

Cheryl has a record of active involvement in community service, most notably her longstanding membership of the Rotary Club of Melbourne and her recognition as a Dame of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller.

She has recently completed postgraduate studies in Parental Alienation, as part of the first group of professionals world-wide to complete such a course.

Cheryl continues to write, speak and advise on the relationship between families and schools and how fundamental change begins locally.

About the book

They are... Your Children

Take the Lead on Their Education

Cheryl Lacey

Paperback, 306 pages, $39.95

June 2023 release

ISBN 9781022815590

For your children…
Being students is one part of life.
Schools have value and teachers are important.
Being your children is for all of life.
Your role as parent is supremely valuable and important all of the time.
Not everything that happens at home is the school’s concern.
Everything that happens to your children at school is your concern.
You can be the voice for change; you can make a difference.
They are... Your Children
Take the Lead on Their Education

Cheryl writes with the heart of a mother, the expertise of an educator and the wisdom of experience. It’s a
beautiful and relatable book that will motivate you to take the lead in your child’s education.
—Simon Brown, Dad, Senior Clinical Counsellor and Behavioural Specialist, Melbourne, Australia

Thought-provoking insight from an educationist. An engaging read, cover-to-cover, the book provides relevant, practical and informative content, which empowers parents to see themselves as leaders of their child’s education.
—James McHale, Family Law Specialist and Mediator, Melbourne, Australia

This is an important book for parents, grandparents and carers who need (or don’t know they need) a guide to schools and education. Put your feet up, have a coffee and enjoy an easy read. Then get together with others and start the conversations.
— Maria Tsakalakis-Coate, Principal, Perth, Western Australia

A great resource for parents and leaders of education. I only wish I had access to this information when my children were at school.
—Wendy Marquenie, Mother and Author, Queensland, Australia

Cheryl believes it is parents’ business to know what happens to their children while they are at school.

In a conversational tone, she invites parents to value their role in their child’s school education and gives them an exclusive vantage point from which to view it. Reminiscent of a delightful childhood candy store, the book offers mothers and fathers nuggets of wisdom and sustainable guidance to support their child’s learning. Parents who believe in empowering other parents and want to join educators in fostering mutual trust and honesty must not only read this book but use it as a helpful resource.
— Dr. Deborah M. Vereen, Mother and Family Engagement Educator,