Our Team

Impetus for formation

We are a diverse and large collection of parents, educators and other professionals from around New Zealand who have been on our own learning journeys - some over the past 30 years - seeking to help our own children or the children we teach and support learn to read and write.

We are a grassroots organisation 100% run by volunteers - mostly mums! We don’t receive any funding other than through the sale of our digital toolkits or donations from the public.

We are 100% apolitical and non-partisan.

The impetus for the formation of this advocacy group sprung from the coalescing of voices amongst a support group for parents of Dyslexic children - Deb - that now has over 9,300 members on Facebook.

However, we recognise that the struggles to learn to read and write are sadly not confined to only dyslexic children. Approaches to literacy instruction based on the Science of Reading best support all learners to learn with the most efficacy.

We do not have a legal form at the moment (eg trust or incorporated society). We are a collection of passionate people who want to make a difference for our kids and grandchildren. Our activities are totally self-funded through our steering group members and other supporters donating their time and energy. We cover the costs of running our website through the sale of our digital toolkits. If you are interested in helping out, please get in touch.

Steering Group Members

The Steering Group sets the overall strategic direction for LLA and spearheads the research, policy analysis and advocacy efforts (correspondence and meetings with MPs, Ministers, Officials and other stakeholders). The Steering Group also oversees our social media and media engagement.

Alice Wilson, Chairperson

Former Policy Manager and Playcentre President.

Alice is a public policy professional with a BA (Sociology) and postgraduate qualifications in Applied Science and Policy. She has worked as an advisor to Jeanette Fitzsimons when she was an MP and Chair of the Environment and Local Government Select Committee. Alice has worked in several senior roles at the Ministry for the Environment and has worked on many frontline policy issues working to Ministers across the political spectrum and with stakeholders from a range of sectors. This work has included: strategy, work programme development, governance, and legislative change. She established and grew the Auckland and then Urban Policy team and was part of the cross-government Leadership Team that established and grew the Government’s Auckland Policy Office reporting to the cross-government department CEO’s Board. Alice has also worked in business management and now owns and runs her own small businesses. Throughout her life Alice has dedicated significant time into environment, community, advocacy and change projects. More recently these have been in the education sector with the Co-Governance Board of Playcentre Aotearoa and the formation of Lifting Literacy Aotearoa where she is still currently the Chair. She is neurodiverse (dyslexia and ADHD) and parents a neurodiverse child so knows firsthand the struggles that come with being neurodiverse in an education system and government system that is set up for neuro-typical learners.

Bronwyn Bayne, Policy Lead

Former Policy Manager and regulatory and strategy professional.

Bronwyn is a public policy professional with 20 years’ experience advising governments in New Zealand and the UK on a range of public policy and regulatory issues. She has a BA in Italian and a BCom (Hons) in Economics from the University of Auckland. She has worked as a policy analyst at the New Zealand Treasury, and as Head of Strategy at the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority. Most recently she was employed as a Principal Advisor at the New Zealand Productivity Commission. Since 2016 she has taken a strong interest in child development, education, parenting and social justice issues. She reads widely on these topics and has attended numerous professional development conferences on these topics over recent years. She was involved in setting up and running an ‘alternative’ primary school, Ako Space, in Auckland in 2018. She has previously been involved in advocacy with Play Aotearoa, the Child Poverty Action Group and the Childrens’ Rights Alliance Aotearoa. In 2020 she was part of the team who started Lifting Literacy Aotearoa and is currently on the Steering Committee.

Dr Jennie Watts, Media and Communications Lead

Senior Lecturer in Communication, AUT.

Paula Short, Social Media Lead

Veterinarian and Dyslexia Advocate.

Supporters along the way

Amanda Drumm

Amanda initiated a petition that was delivered to Parliament in June 2020 calling for all NE and Y1 teachers to be trained in Structured Literacy. Petition amassed 1,171 signatures. The petition and advocacy efforts of Amanda were a key driver in the formation of Lifting Literacy Aotearoa and she was involved in the early stages of setting up the group.

Sharon Scurr

Sharon is a MSL Trained homeschooling mum and founder of Dyslexia NZ Evidence Based Facebook Group that now has over 9,300 members. Sharon was involved in the early stages of setting up LLA and continues to offer support in the background.

Conflict of Interest Statement:

None of our current Steering Group members are owners of, shareholders of, or on the boards of businesses or other enterprises that are connected in any way to teacher training or literacy intervention.