Dr John Mitchell is Managing Director, John Mitchell & Associates, a research, evaluation and consultancy company established in 1992. John is a prominent evaluator, analyst and strategist, with twenty years’ experience managing his practice. He specialises in workforce development and strategic and change management in education, and works regularly in the health and public service sectors, particularly as an evaluator.

Current position

Managing Director, John Mitchell & Associates

Qualifications, professional membership and board positions

BA (Hons), Adelaide University, 1970-73

Dip Ed, Adelaide University, 1974

M Ed Admin, Deakin University, 1987-1990

MBA, Charles Sturt University, 1997-2000

EdD 1997-2004, Deakin University. Thesis on ‘The management of flexible learning in vocational education and training’.

Member of professional societies: Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA); Australasian Evaluation Society (AES)

Member of Academic Board of Think:Colleges, 2009-present

Member of Academic Programs Committee of Open Universities Australia, 2011-present

Career snapshot

Dr John Mitchell has split his career in half. In the first 18 years he mainly worked in TAFE in South Australia, rising from lecturer to various senior management positions including his final appointment as Manager Open Learning, TAFE SA 1990-92.

In the second 20 years of his career he has managed his own research and consultancy firm specialising in vocational education and training (VET) and in the health sector, based in Sydney since 1999. This split career gives him unique insights into TAFE, VET and education in general.

Career highlights: research

John is in the unique position of having researched and then written the reports for the Commonwealth Government on telemedicine and telehealth as well as e-education. As a result, he has an international reputation in both the health and education sectors.

He is a prolific author of reports from fields such as organisational innovation, professional practice, management and leadership development, workforce development and technology implementation.

Career highlights: evaluation

John has evaluated a vast range of programs, including:

• • in the health sector programs in telepsychiatry, telerenal, telenursing and teleradiology; and programs on caseworker development, caseworker IT skills, and leadership and management programs

<li>in the education sector programs related to strategic management, change management, networking, leadership development, communities of practice, organisational, program and product innovation.

Career highlights: planning and consulting

John has provided business, marketing and stragic planning and consulting advice to 15 Australian universities, most TAFE Institutes in Australia, multiple hospitals and health services, industry bodies and corporations, and a range of Commonwealth departments and most state and territory governments.

Internationally, he has provided advice to organisations ranging from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, to the BBC and the Learning Skills Improvement Service in London and the Scottish Further Education Unit in Stirling, Scotland; and he has presented at numerous international conferences, including in Los Angeles, London, Stirling (Scotland), Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hamilton NZ.