Prior to his retirement Dr Bill Perrett, BA Melb, DipEd, PhD La T, was a Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research.

From 1988-2006 he was a teacher of English and English as a Second Language in secondary schools. Bill has wide experience in teaching a range of students and programmes, from Phase One ESL through mainstream English and Literature (including at VCE level) to tertiary humanities.

From 1993 to 1995 at the (then) Northern Territory University (now Charles Darwin University) Bill was the support lecturer, in the Centre for Aboriginal and Islander Studies, for Indigenous students enrolled in the Arts and Law faculties, providing academic support and liaising with mainstream faculty teachers. From 1995 to 1998 he co-ordinated and lectured in the Bachelor of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (BATSIS), in Indigenous Cultural and Media Studies, and was appointed Associate Dean, Research and Postgraduate Studies for the faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (FATSIS). In 1998 he joined the Centre for Indigenous Natural and Cultural Resource Management (CINCRM) as Deputy Director until 1999. Bill returned to Melbourne and secondary teaching in 2002.

At ACER Bill was involved in test development, including the direction of the General Achievement Test (GAT) administered to 70 000 Victorian VCE students each year. During this time he also undertook work as a Study Specialist Vetter in English Literature for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in which he reviewed the accuracy of the theoretical and technical content of the exam. The position required considerable expertise in the study being examined and an excellent knowledge of all content of the examination.

As part of ACER's Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation program he prepared a literature review and interviewed stakeholders for ACER’s 2012 review of the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators Report (OID Report). In 2013 he directed and prepared the literature review and mapping exercise Impact of Technologies on Access to Education and Training for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students for Education Queensland, Department of Education, Training and Employment. In 2013 he also directed a project to develop an Accountability Framework for Monitoring the Success of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Programs for the Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, and in 2014 co-wrote the literature review for the Class Size and Student Outcomes report for Northern Territory Department of Education. Between 2012 and 2013 Bill was involved in the research and wrote the final evaluation report for the national Closing the Gap: Expansion of Intensive Literacy and Numeracy Programs for Indigenous Students program for DEEWR. He has been involved in directing an evaluation of a World Vision Early Childhood project in four Warlpiri communities in Central Australia, and directing and writing a report evaluating a Koorie Scholarship program for the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.