Dr Barry McGaw AO is Director for Education in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Honorary Professor of Education at Monash University. He began his career as a science teacher in Queensland government schools. From 1976 to 1984, he was Professor of Education at Murdoch University and, from 1985 to 1998, Executive Director of the Australian Council for Educational Research.

The OECD Directorate for Education's current program is organised under six strategic objectives: 1) Promoting lifelong learning and improving its linkages with other socioeconomic policies; 2) Evaluating and improving outcomes of education; 3) Promoting quality teaching; 4) Rethinking tertiary education in a global economy; 5) Building social cohesion through education; and 6) Building new futures for education.

Dr McGaw is an Officer in the Order of Australia and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Psychological Society and the Australian College of Educators. He has been President of the Australian Association for Research in Education, the Australian Psychological Society, the Australian College of Educators and the International Association for Educational Assessment. In 2003, he was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal.