2003• Education Award

DENESE BELCHETZ

Denese began her career in education teaching students with special needs.

Since then, she has worked in a diverse variety of learning environments in the classroom, the school, the school board and on assignments for the Ministry of Education across Ontario and internationally. Currently, she is a Coordinating Superintendent with the York Region District School Board.

As an educator who firmly believes that a true democracy must be founded on a strong public education system, Denese has been committed to improving the learning opportunities for all students throughout her career. She has come to recognize the importance of the significant individuals – in and out of school – in the lives of those students and their learning. In our complex and fast changing world environment, Denese appreciates that it truly does ‘take a village to raise a child’.

Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Denese graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in sociology and psychology. Upon immigrating to Canada, Denese obtained a Bachelor of Education and entered the education system as a teacher.

She was challenged by those students who were not meeting their potential and who were at risk of not being successful in school.

 

Supported by her school board, she successfully implemented a program designed to meet their specific learning needs. After completing a master’s degree and her principal’s qualifications, Denese spent four years as an administrator in elementary and secondary schools.

Building on her interest in the complicated nature of the school system as a learning organization, Denese obtained her Supervisory Officer qualifications and took a position with the Ministry of Education where she worked with school boards across the province and inspected private secondary schools.

At the ministry, she was extensively involved in policy clarification and facilitated the provision of leadership training for staff. Together with key education partners, she developed an implementation model for reform initiatives and co-ordinated the preparation of training packages to support the implementation of these policies.

She was involved in the refinement and validation of the Ministry’s curriculum assessment policy and implementation of elementary and secondary curriculum including the preparation of implementation training materials to support teachers in the field.