Tellus Consultants Ltd.
Renato Ramsay
Renato Ramsay is a leader of Australian community participation in environmental research. As developer and manager of the Sydney Water Corporation's Streamwatch Programme, he oversaw a highly popular, multi-million dollar a year public action project.
Academic History
1955-64 Trinity Grammar School Leaving Certificate
1965-67 Hawkesbury Agricultural College Diploma in Agriculture
1972 Hawkesbury Agricultural College Diploma in Applied Science
1973 Sydney Teachers College Diploma in Education
1988-90 University of Western Sydney Master of Science (Hons)
Employment History
January 1968 - July 1969 Amalgamated Chemicals Limited
I joined this company as a research officer. My achievements were chemical research and development leading to the registration of several new products.
July 1969 - December 1971 Overseas travel in Africa, Europe and Asia.
January 1972 - December 1973 Full-time study for Diploma of Applied Science and Diploma in Education.
January 1974 - December 1979 Camden High School
This was my first teaching job, during which time I taught all levels of science and agriculture from year 7 to year 12 and supervised the teaching and development of agriculture at the school. I was elected to the then Board of Senior School Studies agriculture syllabus committee. I provided series advice for several ABC radio and television projects during this time.
January 1980 - December 1984 Leumeah High School
I was appointed here to teach science but was soon encouraged to introduce agriculture to the school as well. This was a multicultural community and I developed different approaches for adapting traditional methods. I increased my involvement in curriculum development and started running professional development workshops through my professional teacher's association. I also ran a State conference for this organisation and joined the executive of State and regional associations.
January 1985 - December 1988 Department of Education
This was a promotion to work as a curriculum consultant. My major achievement here was the development of an implementation strategy for the new curriculum I had been developing for some years. I worked on several inter-departmental committees to assist in their educational programs. These included local government, Soil Conservation and Agriculture. I also wrote new distance education courses for TAFE and Charles Sturt University.
Another achievement at this time was writing the HSC examination for agriculture and supervising the marking of this subject each year. My work involved liaison with departmental and ministerial staff in the development of policy.
January 1989 - November 1990 Elizabeth Macarthur High School
This was an appointment as faculty head for science and mathematics. My achievements included supervising the teaching of these subjects as well as computing and agriculture; across-school responsibility for staff professional development, student welfare and curriculum. I continued my responsibilities for state curriculum and HSC examination setting and marking.
HSC Skills Courses - I managed these week-long courses at various centres in Western Sydney for the Tertiary Awareness Program. Teachers experienced in HSC examination marking spent a day with a group of students in their own subject area. The objectives of the course were to de-mystify the examination process and to train the students in examination skills. A major outcome of the workshops was improvement in students' confidence levels and in their self esteem.
The Masters Project - I was awarded the E A Southee Memorial Scholarship in 1988 and joined the masters program at the University of Western Sydney. My research involved the development of methodology appropriate to implementing change in social contexts. This research linked systems thinking, action research and learning theory.
November 1990 - current. Managing Director of the Sydney Water Board's Streamwatch Programme.
I established and managed Streamwatch for seven years. The management methodology for the program grew from my research into social action programs and has maintained commitment to action research principles.