Network of Expertise

   The New Zealand Association of Psychology Teachers has a Ministry of Education contract under the 'Networks of Expertise' initiative. Networks of Expertise are designed to provide subject specific professional development support for teachers. The focus of the Network set up by NZAPT includes strengthening existing supports such as our annual professional development workshop as well as developing new initiatives to provide resources, peer support and networks for new and experienced teachers of psychology in new Zealand.
 

Network of Expertise Committee 2021

Sally Jackson
Sally graduated from the University of Auckland in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science  ( double majoring in Psychology and Sport and Exercise Science). In 2011 she did her Post graduate diploma in secondary teaching - specialising in Physical Education and Health. In 2012she secured her first Psychology teaching job at Avondale College where she taught for four years before moving to England to teach Psychology. In 2018 she returned home and has been teaching at Tawa college ever since. Psychology gives students the skills to understand themselves and others and helps students to become empathetic and collaborative citizens. Sally loves planning practical and hands on activities in all psychology areas to help students to learn! Her favourite movie is ‘Mindhunter’which looks at the development of the top down offender profiling method which is good for Forensic Psychology and her favourite book is ‘Elephants on acid and other bizarre experiments’ by Alex Boese. It is really good for the teaching of Ethics. 

Sarah Norman
Sarah graduated from Massey University with a BEd Dip Tchng PE/Health and History in 2005 and started a PE teaching position at Feilding High School. In 2009 she took on the role of Head of Girl’s Boarding at L J Wild House (Feilding High School). She went on to complete a Diploma in Child and Adolescent Psychology in 2016. Her favourite Psychology topic to teach is Level 3 Approaches where we explore the theoretical perspectives of gender development as it is such a relevant and interesting topic given the current social climate. Unthinkable – An Extraordinary Journey Through the World’s Strangest Brains is a book that provides a fascinating insight into the capability of the human brain. Sarah has worked at Feilding High School since 2005 – teaching Senior Sport Science and Psychology.

Megan Liddy
Megan graduated from Victoria University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in History, Geography and Art History. She then started teaching at Cambridge High School in 2013 and was pulled to the dark side of Psychology, with Sarah Monkley. After moving to Feilding High School in 2017, Megan saw there was a need for a psychology program and established this at Level 2 and 3. Her favorite topic to teach is Level Two Ethics as there are so many cool things to talk about. Megan's favorite psychology movie is Inside Out - which we link to an Emotions and Stress topic at Level 2. Megan has taught at Feilding High School since 2017, teaching Junior Social Studies and Psychology. 

Sarah Monkley
She graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Psychology in 1992 and then completed a Diploma of Teaching in 1993.
She introduced Psychology to Cambridge High School and has led the teaching programme there for many years. The popularity of Psychology as a subject has seen student numbers grow significantly and we now have a team of four teachers in the Psychology Department.
She has been a member of the NZAPT/Network of Expertise Committee since 2016.
Her favourite topic is Approaches. The chance to examine our behaviour from differing perspectives is always eye opening for the students. It also presents lots of opportunities to run practical, hands on tests and experiments to support the learning and understanding.
Her favourite psychology related film is Girl Interrupted as it portrays so many difference variants of abnormal behavior and is engaging and interesting to the students.

Craig Dyason
Taking a slightly different route into teaching Craig graduated from The University of Auckland with a BEd Dip Tchg (Prim) in 1998. He then went to set up the Highway to Your Future programme at Studylink and on to student recruitment for the University of Auckland, and Senior Liaison at Lincoln University. Craig completed his MEd (Hons) 2010 looking at transition of students from secondary - tertiary education. Craig is Chairperson of the Auckland Careers and Transition Educators network and sits on a number of national advisory boards with his Careers hat on.
Craig has been at Albany Senior High School since 2010 introducing Social Anthropology to his school in 2014 to increase citizenship across the school. He has taken on the role of Lead Teacher of Psychology since 2017 and continues to champion social sciences at ASHS.
Craig is an unashamed geek with a passion for helping students to realise their goals. His dad jokes and pop culture references continue to inspire in class and this year was appointed by his Year 13's as 'Fixer of Everything'.

Sarah Douglas
She graduated Waikato University with a Bachelor of Social Science and then did a Grad Dip in Secondary Teaching - initially thinking she would teach Social Sciences, History and Geography. However, she discovered her love for teaching Psychology when given the chance at Cambridge High School and has never looked back. I have now been teaching Psychology at Cambridge for 6 years and teach full programs at both Year 12 and Year 13. My favourite thing about teaching Psychology is the hands on activities and experiments that the students don’t experience anywhere else. Approaches is her favourite topic because she makes it really relatable to the students and she gets to see the “lightbulb” moment when they click with ideas in their own behavior. This also connects with her favourite psychology movie “The Breakfast Club”, an oldie but a goodie.