About Libby Foley

Elizabeth (Libby) Foley is a primary school teacher who first started as a Learning Support Teacher at Centenary State High School in 2008. She has supported student learning from Prep to Year 9 and has taught on class from Year 2 to 7. From 2009 until the present, Libby has taught between Northern Peninsula Area State College (Bamaga and Injinoo Campuses) at the tip of Cape York, and Chevallum State School, on the Sunshine Coast. Libby has always had a keen interest in the learning experiences and outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. This was one of the key motivations for Libby in becoming a teacher.

In her teaching, Libby is passionate about Mathematics and Science education. She is one of the reSolve Maths by inquiry champions and was the teacher keynote speaker at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers Biennial Conference in July 2019. She has shared teaching ideas through workshops at the Queensland Association of Mathematics Teachers’ Early Years Conference, and at the AAMT Biennial Conference. In 2018 Libby was a successful recipient of an Advance Queensland Engaging Science grant and organised STEM-related learning experiences for students at Injinoo Junior Campus in far north Queensland. The main aim of the initiative was to raise the profile of Science and the other interrelated disciplines in the remote context and create a community of learning. Virtual incursions and a teacher PD workshop from Ben Newsome of Fizzics Education inspired and excited teachers and students. The College had visits from A/Prof Hilary Whitehouse and Dr Cliff Jackson from JCU Cairns, who shared their love of science education through hands-on investigations. A mixed kit of digital technologies resources from the CSER Lending Library also enhanced STEM learning.

Libby believes it is vital, that as teachers of tomorrow’s leaders, we encourage students to notice, question, analyse, evaluate, and become fascinated by the world around us. She hopes that, with a solid foundation on mathematical understanding and skills and a keen aptitude for scientific inquiry, an initial spark of curiosity in students will grow into questioning, exploration and then discovery of a love of STEM learning.