Karen Spencer
Ko Tarikākā te maunga te rū nei tōku ngākau. Ko te Kaiwharawhara te awa e mahea nei ōku māharahara. Nō Yorkshire o Ingarani ōku tupuna. He tauiwi ahau. Ko Enid Langley rāua ko Bill Spencer ōku mātua. Ko Neil tōku tane. Ko Evie rāua ko Flo ōku tāmariki. Kei Te Whanganui-a-Tara ahau e noho ana. Ko Karen Spencer tōku ingoa.
Karen Spencer is a nationally recognised education leader and consultant, based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, with over 30 years’ experience across school leadership, curriculum design, and professional learning.
Karen is approved to deliver Ministry of Education PLD in Assessment.
She is an accredited facilitator in
Leading by Learning
Collaborative Complex Problem-Solving (CCPS)
Karen’s educational philosophy is reflected in “Ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa - the young person at the heart”. Their voices matter, as do those of their whānau, communities, and teachers. She is deeply invested in asking how we deliberately design equitable and inclusive leadership and learning to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to serve learners’ strengths and needs, reducing disparity.
Karen currently leads the Leading Edge programme, supporting middle and senior leaders to drive curriculum change through data-informed inquiry and culturally responsive practice. Her facilitation of programmes such as Leading by Learning and the Queensland Aspiring Principals’ Programme reflects her strength in building student-centred leadership capability across diverse contexts. In Karen’s previous role as Chief Advisor at Te Poutāhū, her focus was effective curriculum and implementation design for equity and inclusion.
She also has expertise in assessment for learning, moderation, and strategic use of data to accelerate student progress. Her facilitation experience spans over two decades, including leading PLD in Assessment for Learning, developing content for Assessment Online (TKI), and facilitating moderation workshops. As co-lead writer of the Ministry’s resource Accelerating progress – Leadership guidance, Karen integrated formative assessment principles with cognitive science to support responsive, evidence-informed instruction. Her work with schools has consistently focused on embedding sustainable assessment practices that empower both teachers and learners, with a strong emphasis on metacognition, feedback, and student agency.
Karen holds a Master of Education (with Distinction), with a focus on how hybrid communities of practice can strengthen teachers’ practice and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Secondary) from the University of Leicester. She has also received the inaugural ICET Asia-Pacific Senior e-Fellow award, and the John Avery Scholarship from the University of Waikato.
To keep life in balance, she enjoys cycling, trail running in the beautiful Wellington hills (with the occasional ultramarathon), travel to enrich the soul, watching live music and spending time with her whānau.