Speech New Zealand began life
in 1964 as the locally-based Wellington Speech Board. By 1966 the breadth of
its aims - to provide indigenous examinations to New Zealanders and to
acknowledge the importance of New Zealand literature in these examinations -
awakened national interest and the examining body became the New Zealand
Speech Board with the motto 'Speech is Life'.
The Board is a "not for profit"
Registered Charitable Trust. It is governed by thirteen voluntary, unpaid
Trustees and administered day-to-day by its Manager, Heather White, and an
administration team based in Wellington. It has twenty examination centres
spread from Northland to Invercargill, each set up as necessary by a local
secretary. Examiners work under contract and are based throughout the
country.
Development has been rapid. By
1967 the original six grades of the Speech and Drama syllabus had been
extended to eight, and diplomas added. From 1970 a Public Speaking and
Communication syllabus, plus others for Oral Communication Assessment for
schools and other community groups, Vocational Speaking and, Oral
Communication in English for Speakers of Other languages, expanded the
syllabus offering to five.
The Board trains and accredits
examiners and assessors. It offers "Know your Syllabus" days throughout New
Zealand to familiarise teachers with syllabuses which are updated regularly.
Responding to increasing
candidate numbers, and the changing education curriculums of the 1990s, the
Board introduced supplementary examining days at some centres and
re-structured senior and diploma practical modules and theory examinations.
The single practical exams can now be taken as three individual modules, and
theory examinations as a range of one-hour papers. Licentiate Diploma
candidates can offer appropriate external qualifications for cross-credit,
or undertake research assignments.
By the year 2000 over 200,000
candidates had been examined since the Board's foundation.
A 'Theatre in Action' syllabus
for group drama has been added in 2003.
A new century and a new
millennium stimulated the Board to adopt a new image and brand - name,
'Speech New Zealand'. The name is supported by our new message -
"Helping our Nation to communicate".
We help our Nation to
communicate through our syllabuses and our "StudentSpeak" and
"Words at Work" programmes. We are ever alert to our clients' needs and
welcome the opportunity to respond very positively to the demands of a
changing marketplace.
TRUSTEES OF SPEECH NEW ZEALAND
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Cecily
Archer
is a trained teacher who has taught at Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
level and run her own Oral Communication and Performance business for over
30 years. She holds Fellowships in both Speech and Drama and Public Speaking
and Communication and is an examiner for Speech New Zealand. Since becoming
a Trustee of the Board she has held the positions of Vice-Chairman, Manager
of Examinations, Manager of Operations and Manager of Marketing. She has
directed Seminars for the Board and continues to prepare written material
for both examiners and teachers. In 2008 she will be focussing
on supporting the Oral Assessment in Schools programme and directing the
2009 Examiners' Accreditation Seminar. She is currently tutoring in
two private schools in the Hutt Valley and gives private tuition weekly in
Waikanae.
Meredith
Caisley
Vice Chairman has been a Trustee since 1994, holding various portfolios in
that decade. She is also an examiner for Speech NZ and has travelled
throughout the country examining in nearly all the spoken disciplines. She
has been Principal Consultant of her own consultancy for over 40 years and
is a lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology, specialising in
Business Communication. Her particular interest is in the training and
preparation of those in the corporate workforce, enabling them to share
their knowledge and expertise both within New Zealand and offshore.
Pauline
Douglas
lives in Dunedin, and is employed by the University of Otago College of
Education, as the ESOL Advisor to schools for the Otago-Southland region.
She has a long standing interest in
ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners, and the development
of their oral language skills. Speech NZ provide a special graded
syllabus for ESOL speakers and Pauline acts as NZ Speech Board
representative for this ESOL Syllabus, which is called Oral Communication
for Speakers of Other Languages (OCESOL). Pauline has a background in
ESOL teaching and in Professional Development for teachers. She
promotes the OCESOL syllabus as an excellent tool to enhance both confidence
and fluency for ESOL speakers, from Beginner ESOL to Advanced ESOL speakers.
She can be contacted at any time on :
Pauline.douglas@otago.ac.nz
Jill
Hagen lives in Lower Hutt where she has a large private speech
studio. She began her career as a design artist and calligrapher, and
inscribed NZSB candidates certificates nation wide for 20 years. She trained
as a primary school teacher and taught in local schools for six years before
specialising in the teaching of Speech and Drama.
She holds a Licentiate in Speech and Drama Teaching and has taught
privately for 25 years. She is a keen supporter of the Hutt Performing Arts
Competition Society. She has been a trustee for two years and is Manager of
the Marketing Division and part of the team on the Examinations Division.
She is also the Editor of the Board's Newsletter "ClipBoard".
Pam
Logan Manager, Examinations Division,
has a specialist interest in acting and directing. Since becoming a Trustee
she has had responsibility for syllabus development. In addition to
examining for the Board she is an experienced director and qualified
adjudicator of plays and competitions. Pam is a past National President of
the New Zealand Theatre Federation. She was a founding member, actor,
administrator and assistant director for Kempe's Jig Theatre Collective,
which toured Shakespeare to schools from 1991-4. For the last 30 years Pam
has lived in Blenheim and has taught voice, speech, drama, acting and
directing at all levels, including tertiary.
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Claire
Marsh
became Chairman of Speech NZ in 2003. She brought to this position
many years' experience as a Trustee of SNZ including that of being Manager
of Examinations' Division. Her passion for creativity is at the heart
of all her work. She works across New Zealand and in London as
teacher, business trainer, voice coach, director and both examiner and
adjudicator in speech and drama.. She has specialist expertise in
theatre, oratory and public speaking, poetry, communication and creativity.
She is an accredited adjudicator for both the Association
of New Zealand Drama Adjudicators and Speech Communication Association.
Claire is Voice Coach and tutor in Communication at the Holy Cross Catholic
Seminary and the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary Inter-provincial
Novitiate in Ponsonby, Auckland.
She specializes
in facilitating training workshops in Presentation Skills for District
Council personnel and in the Business Community.
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Dr
Margriet Theron,
Manager, Operations and Finance was invited to join the Board of Speech NZ
for her governance, marketing and planning skills. She has lived in Rotorua
for 30 years and has been planning manager at the NZ Forest Research
Institute, Science
Review Manager at the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, and Dean
of Forestry at Waiariki Institute of Technology.
She is the immediate Past President of the
Rotorua Chamber of Commerce and of the Rotary Club of
Rotorua, and Chair of
Waiariki's Business Advisory Committee. She is project manager for the
fundraising and building of the Turangi
Community Heath Centre, Deputy Chair of the Geyser Community Foundation, and
a member of the Rotorua District Council's
BrightEconomy Advisory Board and the Bay of
Plenty Conservation Board.
Gabrielle
Thurston is a teacher of Speech and Drama holding Fellowship status
FTCL with Trinity College Guildhall London. LSB (Public Speaking) and
ASB (Speech and Drama) with Speech New Zealand.
Gabrielle holds a Teaching Diploma
and is currently HOD Drama and mentor for Scholarship students at John Paul
College (Years 7 - 13) in Rotorua where she has taught for many years.
Instrumental in establishing their nationally recognised Drama Department in
1996 she currently teaches Drama NCEA Levels 2, 3 and Scholarship and has
marked NCEA Drama. Outside of John Paul College she operates a large
private speech communication studio Catch a
Rising Start Ltd , in Rotorua.
A member of the board of Speech New Zealand and Speech New
Zealand examiner Gabrielle is a theatre director, adjudicator and examiner
of Speech and Drama Festivals, Eisteddfods and Competitions throughout New
Zealand. She has compiled and moderated theory papers for Speech New
Zealand where she is currently Director of Trainee Examiners for Speech New
Zealand
In 2003 Gabrielle was co-leader of the New Zealand
Secondary Schools' Shakespeare Team that toured England and performed at the
Globe in London
Barbara
Laurenson
was invited to rejoin the Board because of the breadth of her experience.
She is both an actress and a teacher.
In 1963 she was awarded a New Zealand Government Bursary and trained
as an actress at LAMDA, where she was awarded the prize for Best Performance
by a Leaving Student. She worked
in repertory theatre and television in Britain
and on her return to New
Zealand
in the 1980s she continued to work as a professional actress.
As Barbara Slevin she returned to classroom teaching, specialising in
ESOL, Literacy and Special Needs provision.
In 2001/2002 she was appointed Change Manager for a schools
improvement programme in Literacy.
In the 1990s she served the Board as trustee with responsibility for
OCESOL Development, and also as an examiner and teacher of the Speech New
Zealand syllabus, both privately and in the classroom.
She currently lives and works in Wellington.
Ashleigh
van den Akker – is a second year student at the University of Canterbury
where she is part way through a Bachelor of Arts majoring in both English
and Theatre. She is currently working towards her ASB in Speech and Drama
with the hope of becoming a teacher and examiner of speech and drama for
Speech New Zealand.
Ashleigh went to school at John Paul
College in Rotorua where, under the guidance of Gabrielle Thurston, she
completed all levels of NCEA Drama and took part in numerous competitions
including the Shelia Winn Shakespeare festival and the Russell McVeigh
Debating competition.
She also performed in Les Miserables
under the direction of Robert Young in 2007 playing the part of Madame
Thenardier.
Karen
Fisher is
a former Radio New Zealand political editor
who has worked with a range of government and other organisations, helping
them to communicate well, particularly within the political system and with
the news media. As
well as reporting on politics, Karen has worked inside the political system
as a ministerial press secretary in the area of Treaty of Waitangi
negotiations and Crown Law.
In more recent years, she has worked with a number of
organisations and agencies, dealing with internal and external
communications and advising on media training requirements. A mother of two
daughters, she is based in Blenheim.
