Michael Smith | Deputy Principal
Marsden State High School

Michael Smith is a nationally and internationally award-winning senior leader in the fields of Education and HR. In 2019, Michael was awarded the prestigous Commonwealth Bank/Australian Schools Plus National Teaching Award. He has also won national awards for being the Most Innovative and Most Influential Educator in Australia, and in 2023, he was recognised among the top HR leaders in Australia through the HRD's Top HR Leaders 2023 awards. In 2024 Michael was recognised for his contribution to the teaching profession with the Queensland College of Teachers award for Contribution to the Teaching Profession. Michael is a leader in recruiting, onboarding, partnerships, retention of staff, reward and recognition programs and building comprehensive staff development and performance programs. Michael's programs were in 2021 recognised as the Best Graduate Development Program in Australia regardless of Industry and in 2022 as the Best Learning and Development Programs in Australia regardless of Industry through the Australian HR Awards and for three consecutive years (2020-2022) as the Best Professional Learning Program in Education in Australia throught the Australian Education Awards. Notably, Michael has demonstrated a proven track record in Leading, Inspiring, Engaging and Retaining Millennials and Gen Z's in the workforce with a 95% retention rate within the Education profession of Graduate Teachers against a national retention rate of 60%. Michael also has extensive experience in compliance with government regulation and standards being an experience panelist and panel chair for the accreditation of Initial Teacher Education Courses across Australia; he has a sat-on panels for the state regulation boards in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Michael also has long-established reputation at the University level having established extensive partnerships with a range of Australian Universities including involvement at the decision-making level through roles, including Chair, of university faculty advisory groups and boards.