Our Board

The ACARA Board was announced in May 2009 and held its first meeting on 21–22 May 2009. The ACARA Board has a Chair, Deputy Chair and 11 other members, nominated by the Australian Government and all education streams (independent, government and Catholic) across states and territories. 

 ACARA Board 

Derek Scott is the CEO | Principal of Haileybury with schools in Melbourne and Darwin and programs in China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Derek is one of Australia’s most highly regarded education leaders. He is on the Federal Government’s International Education Council, the Victorian Government’s International Education Expert Advisory Group and is the Chair of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria. He was also one of four members on the panel conducting a review of Initial Teacher Education in Australia in 2021. He has an extensive background in curriculum development and prior to joining the teaching profession had a career as a journalist.

Mr Scott was awarded the Australian Principal of Year at the 2019 Australian Education Awards.

Mr Hart is former president of the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA), appointed to APPA in January 2011. He began his teaching career on Palm Island, Queensland, in 1975 and was appointed as a primary school principal in 1978. Over a thirty-year period, Mr Hart led small one-teacher schools through to large schools with over 700 students. He has also held the positions of the president of the Queensland Association of State School Principals and the Australian Government Primary Principals Association. Until his retirement on 31 December 2014 as APPA president, Mr Hart represented principals in government, Catholic and independent primary schools across Australia.