Michele Denise Bruniges (born 1 June 1957) is an Australian teacher and education administrator. In April 2016 she began her role as

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

of the Australian Government Department of Education and Training. Bruniges has a Doctorate of Philosophy in Educational Measurement, a master's degree in Education from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, a Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies and a Diploma in Teaching from the

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

College of Advanced Education.

Career

Bruniges began her teaching career in 1980 at

Leppington Leppington is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Leppington is located 38 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Liverpool and Camden Counci ...

Public School prior to becoming a high school teacher of Mathematics and Computing at

St Johns Park High School St Johns Park High School (abbreviated as SJPHS) is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school, located on Mimosa Road in , a south-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1978, the s ...

and Ingleburn High School. She also taught in TAFE NSW and the Adult Migrant Education Service. From 2005 to 2008 Bruniges was Chief Executive of the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

ACT Department of Education and Training. She held various Federal positions with the

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations The Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) was a department of the Government of Australia. It was formed in 2007 and absorbed the former departments of Education, Science and Training, and Employment and ...

(DEEWR), including Deputy Secretary for the Office of Early Childhood Education and Child Care; Deputy Secretary, Schools and Associate Secretary, Schools and Youth. She was appointed as

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

of the NSW Department of Education and Training in July 2011 and commenced on 7 September 2011. From 2012 to 2015 Bruniges was also an Honorary Adjunct Professor of Education in the

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

at the

. In March 2016, Prime Minister

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...

announced Bruniges' appointment as the Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Education and Training. The department is now known as

Department of Education, Skills and Employment The Australian Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) was a Government department, department of the Government of Australia, existing between 1 February 2020 to 1 July 2022 from a merger of the Department of Education (Australia) ...

since February 2020.

Honours

*Member of the Order of Australia (AM), 26 January 2012. :For service to public administration through executive roles, and as a contributor to reform in the education sector at state and national levels. *Presidential Citation, Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL), 2011. :For high level leadership of public education. *Fellow of the Australian College of Educators (FACE), 2009. :For a distinguished career in educational leadership and management and in particular valued and well respected contributions to school education sustained over many years. *

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

, 2000. :To investigate ways to monitor, analyse and report progress in student achievement in the US and The Netherlands.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruniges, Michele 1957 births Living people Australian schoolteachers Computer science educators Mathematics educators University of New South Wales alumni Members of the Order of Australia Secretaries of the Australian Government Education Department