A Geography teacher by training, Dr Stephen Codrington served for 25 years as the Head of five schools in four countries – St Paul’s Grammar School (Sydney, Australia), Kristin School (Auckland, New Zealand), Prince Alfred College (Adelaide, Australia), Li Po Chun United World College (Hong Kong, China) and The Awty International School (Houston, Texas, USA). During all of that time, he continued teaching in the classroom, maintaining his keen interest in Geography, Theory of Knowledge, Asian Studies, Religious Education, History and Economics. He has authored or co-authored 70 books, mainly on the subject of Geography.

Stephen is currently the Founder and President of Optimal School Governance, a specialist consultancy he established that works in areas such as school board governance, strategic planning, board appraisals, senior management performance reviews, mentoring, change leadership, policy formulation, restructuring and crisis amelioration. Through Optimal School Governance, he is spearheading a project to raise the quality of teacher training across Sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with several local education providers.

Stephen is also Chair of the Board at Djarragun College, a non-denominational independent college near Cairns, Queensland, that specialises in providing an excellent learning environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander students from Prep to Year 12, both day and boarding.

Stephen has received several significant honours, including being elected as a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators (ACE), he is a former Chairman of the Heads of Independent Co-educational Schools (HICES), former Vice-President of the Association of Executives of Christian Schools (AECS) and a former President of several academic and teaching associations, including the Geography Teachers Association of NSW and the Geographical Society of NSW. 

Stephen’s wider experience in education includes many years of service as a senior IB (International Baccalaureate) examiner, including five years as an IB Deputy Chief Examiner. From 2018 to 2022 he served as the first Director of School Governance and Leadership Development at Alphacrucis College, a Christian tertiary institution in Sydney, a role which also included extensive undergraduate and postgraduate lecturing in such diverse areas as Critical Thinking, Educational Policy Development, Indigenous and Multicultural Education, Geography, History and Religious Education.

He is the author of 70 books, including Planet Geography, the first text written specifically to support IB Diploma Geography which is now in its 9th edition as a set of ten books. In 2014, he was appointed an IB Ambassador in recognition of his high standing in international education and in 2018 he was made a Life Member of the Geographical Society of NSW.

Stephen has spoken widely at various conferences and venues on themes such as change management, best practice in education, internationalism and building international links in education. His work has taken him to 168 countries and some of Stephen’s most popular presentations include his own personal educational experiences in such diverse locations as China, Cambodia, Uganda, the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, and North Korea, which he has visited nine times.

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