2020 Osmotherly Award Winner
It is with great pleasure that the Ausdance Educators Queensland (AEQ) committee, alongside Ausdance QLD, announce Shona Press as the recipient of the 2020 Osmotherly Award.
ABOUT SHONA
In her 32 year career, Shona’s passion and dedication to dance has made a significant impact on the lives of the many young people she has taught, as well as the educators that she has worked with. “Dance can change lives. It can make us happier people—better people. It’s a privilege as an educator to help others see that.”
While Shona has taught in both Bundaberg and Logan, the bulk of her career has been spent at Marymount College on the Gold Coast. The school’s Dance program reflects her commitment and energy to developing courses that respond to the needs of her students. This is no more evident than in the development of both core curriculum and extension Dance programs to cater for a range of student abilities and interests. Her foresight saw Marymount become one of the first schools on the Gold Coast to introduce a Certificate III in Dance, providing students with an affordable option of completing this VET qualification while remaining in full time study at school.
Throughout her teaching career, Shona has focussed on providing students with a range of extracurricular opportunities, allowing them to build their knowledge and experience in a range of contexts while facilitating their love of dance and the arts. She has spent countless hours as a choreographer, director, producer and costume designer for many dance troupes over the years as well as for productions such as musicals and dance showcases. She has coordinated student excursions to Brisbane for live dance performances out of school hours, to Melbourne during the school holidays for workshops with national and international dance artists and, in 2018, facilitated her senior students’ involvement in the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony.
Always keen to be involved in and support the dance community, Shona has been a member of the Gold Coast Arts Centre Education Liaison Committee. She was chosen by the Queensland Ballet to be a Teacher Ambassador, and is the president of Danc’eD in the Spotlight, a not-for-profit annual event featuring performances by over 800 Gold Coast students to celebrate the role of dance in education.
Shona has always had a keen interest in curriculum and pedagogy. To this end, she was a district, then state panellist for the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) for over 15 years and has been involved in the development of numerous syllabuses in both a writing and advisory capacity. With the introduction of the new Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE), Shona has successfully applied to be involved in the QCAA’s endorsement and confirmation processes, using her wealth of experience to support the assessment processes in the new system. This, and her involvement as a leader in Brisbane Catholic Education Arts Expert Teacher Group, demonstrates her ongoing commitment to her own professional learning journey and her willingness to facilitate that for others.
In 2018, Shona’s work was publicly acknowledged when she became a finalist in the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award and Brisbane Catholic Education’s Excellence Award. AEQ further acknowledges her outstanding work as a leader in dance education in Queensland and congratulates her as the very worthy recipient of the 2020 Osmotherly Award.