Bachelor of Education (Special Education), 2nd class Honours, 2001
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Award
Growing up on the northern beaches of Sydney, Dave Hobson always felt disconnected from school. His teachers described him as having unfilled potential which only made him feel more disillusioned. After leaving school, he worked at a petrol station for a couple of years then went back to do his HSC at Bradfield College – a pilot school in NSW. It was this experience of seeing education done differently that inspired him to become a teacher.
During his time as a student at UTS, Dave’s lecturers role modelled a strengths-based approach to teaching that he still uses today. But when he first started studying, he wasn’t particularly drawn to special education. In his second year of his primary education degree, he started to think teaching wasn’t the right path for him. It was a conversation with one of his lecturers that made him see that special education might be a good fit and he switched, thinking it would give him the skills to help students with additional needs in his classes.
Now, Dave is the principal of Cook School – a government school that educates students from kindergarten to year 12 with emotional disturbance and behavioural disorders. Since he started the role, Cook School has more than doubled its enrolment capacity, and implemented a number of innovative programs to meet the needs of students with complex emotional, behavioural and mental health issues.
Thanks to the work of Dave and his incredible team, Cook School was recognised as the Special Education School of the Year at the 2023 Australian Education Awards. It then went on to win Australian School of the Year, chosen from winners across all categories.
Over the years, Dave has been consistently recognised for his leadership and impact on the field of special and inclusive education including a World Teachers Day Award for Outstanding Contribution to Educational Initiatives from the Australian College of Educators in 2019. That year he was also awarded the Outstanding Educational Initiative – Director’s Award, Metropolitan South Operational Directorate from the NSW Department of Education.
More recently, Dave was part of a significant research project in partnership with UTS and two other schools to demonstrate the power of a transdisciplinary approach to allied health support in schools. This million-dollar project was funded by Toyota through SchoolsPlus Australia.
I’m really proud of all our successes as a team. But for me, the biggest successes are when kids with complex trauma, mental health, neurodivergence or disability re-engage with education and we see the outcomes.