Dr Lesley Payne's first career was as a Librarian in Public Libraries, before becoming involved in teaching. She taught in state schools for five years, then, upon learning about Montessori at Teachers College, first studied it by correspondence and then went to London to do a full-time course. Returning to Perth she took a position at her daughter's Montessori school. She was there for seventeen years, teaching all age levels and eventually Principal of the school for 13 years. Lesley has also been Vice-Chairperson of the Montessori Association of Australia (1995-1998), Chairperson of the Montessori Teachers' Association of W.A. (1989-1998), Chairperson of the Montessori Society of W.A. (1992-1998) and most recently, Chairman of the Montessori Australia Foundation's Quality Assurance Council and Programme (2007-2019). Eventually Lesley turned to her own research interests in school governance and small independent schools, earning a doctorate. She have lectured at Murdoch in several different units and supervised students’ professional experience (2004-2016). She was also a government consultant and reviewer for Non-government and Independent Public Schools (2007-2018). Lesley's main role now is as Educational Director for the Montessori Institute.
