Lodi Pertovt

Counselling, Student Support & Curriculum Specialist

My Story…

My journey in education began as a 1:1 teacher's aide at Brooklands Junior School in North London, supporting students with complex needs and diagnoses. Surrounded by passionate educators who took me under their wing, I learned as much from my students as I did from my colleagues. To this day, whenever I plan a lesson or assessment, I think back to those students and ask whether my teaching would have reached them too—and if not, what I need to do differently.

Driven by this newfound purpose, I returned to Australia to complete a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education, building on my background in Film and Television. After an encouraging practicum at Cleveland District State High School, I returned there as a full-time Creative Arts, English, and Humanities teacher, carrying that same commitment to accessible, inclusive learning into every classroom. At Millmerran P–10 School, I served as Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) Team Lead, coordinating weekly data reviews to implement Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and leading Functional Behaviour Assessments (FBAs) for individual student intervention. As an inaugural staff member at Dar Essalam American School in Morocco, I led school-wide professional development, oversaw English Language Arts curriculum mapping for Common Core and IB Pathways, and completed my counselling practicum—delivering 1:1 K–12 student support, co-designing a Grade 9 advisory program, and drafting a whole-school Career Development proposal which, along with MTSS resources developed in Millmerran, is available here.

It was also whilst living in Morocco that I picked up photography as a hobby, where I immediately fell in love with telling stories of faith and unique cultural experiences. Working primarily with environmental portraiture and long-form visual storytelling, my photography work prioritizes trust, ethical engagement, and quiet observation to honor the dignity of my subjects. I am both very proud and very humbled to say my work has been recognized both nationally and internationally, including being named Australian People Photographer of the Year (2025) and runner-up for Australian Travel Photographer of the Year (2024), winning both the People's Vote and Silver Prize at the reFocus Awards, as well as various awards and honorable mentions from the Fine Art Photography Awards, Chromatic Photography Awards, LensCulture, and more.

At present, I am employed at the American School Foundation of Guadalajara, where I helped implement Tier 1 positive behavior support systems while actively contributing to campus life through initiatives on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Assessment for Learning, and Standards-Based Grading and academic consistency - much of which, alongside my inaugural curriculum work at Dar Essalam, can be downloaded here. Outside of work, I am beginning to develop subject-matter expertise in digital pathways and adolescent mental health issues through continued collaboration and co-authorship with Dr. Daniel Couch, senior lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland. Our current projects are interrogating the manosphere and the digital, algorithmic pathways that lead to misogyny and harm.