Judith Ketchell

2012 College Recipient, College of Arts, Society and Education

Mrs Judith Ketchell is Executive Principal at Tagai State College, which has 17 school campuses and TAFE facilities across 15 islands in the Torres Strait. She enrolled at JCU as a special entry student with the Aboriginal and Islander Teacher Education Program and graduated in 1982. She completed her Bachelor of Education in 1995 and has worked in remote, rural and urban school communities across Queensland.

Judith works at the local, regional and national level to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, knowledge and protocols are embedded into the Australian curriculum and recently led the development of the "Tagai State College Yumi Education for Life Frame".

In 2008 Taiga was the Queensland Showcase winner for Senior Schooling for its implementation of the Service Guarantee - a  model ensuring every Year 12 student is employed, enrolled at university or in a training program within six months of graduating.

As a result, 97 percent of school students are finishing Year 12 and 97 percent of students are completing a VET qualification. Last year Judith was a Queensland finalist in the Australian Government Minister's Award for Excellence in Leadership in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students as part of the Close the Gap campaign.

She is also a member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group for the Australian Curriculum, executive member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Principals Association and a member of the National Project Reference Group "More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers" initiative.

She co-authored the popular Footprints: To Country Kin and Cultures in 1997.

Updated 2012