November 2024 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

As term 4 commences  we see another cohort complete their senior schooling and take the opportunity to celebrate this. On the national scene education is in the spotlight with quite divergent cases being put forward especially regarding funding. At these times it is critical for Principals to engage with politicians at all levels to present the accurate and compelling reasons to support Catholic Education. We have distributed to the State and Territorial Directors a presentation that explains the current funding arrangements and how this disadvantages our Catholic schools and all non government schools as our communities are subject to a 'capacity to contribute' deduction that government schools are not. This can decrease a community's funding up to eighty percent. These funds then need to be made up with fees from parents and other sources. At present the national Catholic Education Commission is developing some resources for distribution surrounding funding as well as each political parties stance on education for our communities to disseminate. It is most important that we understand and advocate for our fair share of the funding pool.

Catholic Education Leaders gathering

The NCEC  hosted its annual Catholic Education Leaders gathering from 10-12 September in Canberra with a Parliamentary Reception and Forum.

The event included around 80 leaders including NCEC Commissioners, chairs and directors of State and Territory Catholic education authorities and Catholic diocesan systems, representatives of Religious Institute & Ministerial Public Juridic Person school authorities; Catholic School Parents Australia and Catholic School Primary Principals and Secondary Principals Associations.

The forum was an opportunity for Catholic education leaders to focus on the progress of NCEC national priorities - Faith, Excellence and Access. We welcomed the Minister for Education Jason Clare MP, the Shadow Minister for Education Senator Sarah Henderson, Dr Jordana Hunter Education Program Director from the Grattan Institute, Adj Professor Susan Pascoe, Fabian Harding from the Federal Department of Education, Dr Nicholas Marosszeky Senior Data Analyst NCEC, as well as a range of speakers and presenters. 

This was an important opportunity to engage with our Catholic colleagues across the country and to showcase the value and contribution of Catholic education with politicians and policy makers and the first time we have been invited to the forum. 

I hope that this one is another  fruitful term of learning.

Best wishes

Dr Stephen Kennaugh GAICD

CaSPA President

• • CaSPA Board met via Zoom on 19 September to discuss AERO Research priorities for 2025.
  • Also on the agenda was preparation for our joint meeting with ACPPA coming up in October. The is a great deal of common ground for joint advocacy with our primary colleagues at the moment.
  • Update of comparative data from ACU regarding the 2023 Principal Wellbeing Report. The presentation compared CaSPA Data with the data for all school leaders in Australia. Top 4 concerns for CaSPA Principals were: Sheer Quantity of work, Staff Wellbeing, Teacher shortage and Student wellbeing.
  • ACU Survey to continue in 2024 and looking for more acceptance of the data and recommendations from some sections of education in Australia.
  • The October board meeting has just been held in Adelaide and included the joint meeting with our Primary Principal Colleagues from ACPPA and working on a joint strategy to advance the principal wellbeing agenda in all jurisdictions
  • Stephen Kennaugh and Michael Lee reported back on the International Confederation of Principals (ICP)  Kenya Conference https://icponline.org/  and General Meeting  https://icponline.org/magazine-new/
  • Following on from our previous meeting the CaSPA board endorsed the following recommendations to the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO ) for research topics for 2025
  • Leadership development and succession planning: what are the conditions for success, including autonomy and remuneration?
  •   Student wellbeing: relationship between resilience and wellbeing
  • Principal wellbeing 
  • Numeracy, particularly the transition from primary to secondary
  • As well as an extra topic of looking at what do successful schools look like, what are the common characteristics?
  • The Board also spent some time finalising it’s strategic priorities for 2025

• Combined Meeting of CaSPA and ACPPA Boards

Profiles of all the CaSPA Board are available on the CaSPA Website: https://caspa.schoolzineplus.com/current-and-past-board-members

• Dr Stephen Kennaugh (CaSPA President) attended the Catholic Education Leaders Gathering in Canberra, hosted by NCEC and attended by political leaders from both major parties.
• Dr Stephen Kennaugh and Mick Egan met with researchers from ACU putting the finishing touches to the empowering women project, the report will be released soon.
• Sept 16 CaSPA Sydney Conference Committee meeting 1.
• Sept 18 Catholic Secondary Principals Australia 2026 National Conference meeting with BCC Event Management
• Sept 23-27 EO attended AICD Company Directors course in Sydney
• Oct 7, meeting with Johnno White, potential Conference presenter
• Oct 14, meeting with NCEC, ACPPA and CaSPA re Wellbeing
• Oct 16 met ACARA in Sydney 
• Oct 25 attended PAVCSS Strategic Plan 2025-30 Launch
• Oct 27-29 CaSPA Board Meeting in Adelaide, joint meeting with ACPAA, Annual General Meeting
• Oct 31 CaSPA Sydney Conference Committee meeting

CaSPA Director SA, Maria Urbano; SA CaSPA Life Member Phil Lewis, APCSS Chair Corey Tavella and CaSPA President Stephen Kennaugh

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It is with pleasure that the CaSPA Board bestow Life Membership to Phil Lewis former CaSPA President, Director and Executive Officer.

Maria Urban, SA CaSPA Director, Phil Lewis and partner Jill, Stephen Kennaugh, CaSPA President as Phil is made the second CaSPA Life Member

Phil has served with distinction in Catholic education throughout South Australia and has held many leadership positions across schools within the State. Most notably Phil has served as Principal of Gleeson College from 2004-2013 and Principal Nazareth College 2014-2019, was South Australian Director to CaSPA from 2011-2017, served as President from 2013-2017, and held the position of Executive Officer CaSPA from 2019-2024.

Phil has overseen the increase in profile of CaSPA as an organisation as well as working tirelessly to build relationships with education stakeholders while enhancing the sponsorship and financial capacity of the organisation.

The CaSPA Board is proud to announce Phil Lewis as our second Life Member. Congratulations Phil.

Rationale

CaSPA will provide the opportunity for a member or an affiliated State / Territory Catholic Principals’ Association to be involved in Social Action. It is hoped that through involvement in this program the member or association will have the opportunity to engage in prosocial Action that may otherwise not take place. The Social Action gives witness to the tenant of the Catholic Church by supporting those who are in need or marginalised. 

Pope Francis has asked many times during his Papacy to support and work with those at the margins: “Go forth and reach out to all people at the margins of society! Go there and be the Church, with the strength of the Holy Spirit.”

The rationale for the Social Action is that CaSPA and its Corporate Partners are aware of the difficulties individuals or groups face due to ethnicity, remoteness, financial hardship or gender. The project will enhance the Church’s social teaching and provide an opportunity for members who are in need.

Examples of possible projects are: support of Aboriginal education opportunities in remote Australia, support of schools or educational institutions in the South Pacific, support and development of teacher education in Papua New Guinea. The preference is for Australian needs or our near neighbours. 

Criteria

The application for the Social Action Funding needs to address the following guiding principles:

Linked to educational and / or leadership professional learning.

Established Financial Need.

Established Social Need.

Timeframe needed (up to 3 years).

Needs to show benefit to school / community / students.

Cost details ($5K limit).

Preference for local region in or around Australia.

At the conclusion of the Social Action Project, the recipient will provide a detailed written summary to the CaSPA Board. In addition, the recipient will be required to present learnings at the following CaSPA Conference.

Applications need to be made to the local State or Territory Catholic Principal association, which will decide on one proposal to be submitted to the CaSPA Board. A decision will then be made to award one recipient with the CaSPA Social Action Funding. 

The closing date for applications: 16 May 2025

Funding for the Social Action will be funded through the funds provided by the generous CaSPA Partners.

At the July Conference a number of Principals generously agreed to be filmed to give us a snapshot of profiles across the nation. In the coming newsletters we will share links to these.

The next profile is of our President Dr Stephen Kennaugh.

Rationale

CaSPA will provide the opportunity for a member of an affiliated State or Territory Association with an opportunity to be involved in Professional Learning. It is hoped that through involvement in this program the Association member will have the opportunity to engage in professional learning that may otherwise not take place. This Scholarship gives witness to the social teachings of the Catholic Church by supporting those who are in need.

The rationale for the Professional Learning Scholarship is that CaSPA and its Corporate Partners are aware of the difficulties individual Principals can face particularly in rural, remote and low socio-economic contexts. 

Application Form is on the CaSPA website under “Awards”.

Criteria

The application for the Professional Learning Scholarship needs to address the following guiding principles:

Linked to educational and / or leadership professional learning.

Established Financial need.

Timeframe needed 

Needs to show benefit to school / community / students.

Cost details.

At the conclusion of the Professional Learning, the recipient will be required to provide a detailed written summary to the CaSPA Board. In addition, the recipient may possibly be required to present learnings at the following CaSPA Conference.

Applications need to be made to the local association, which will decide on the applications to be submitted to the CaSPA Executive Officer and Board. A decision will then be made to award one recipient with the CaSPA Professional Learning Scholarship. 

The closing date for applications: 16 May 2025

Funding for the Professional Learning Scholarship will be funded through the funds provided by the generous CaSPA Partners.

The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) has published an explainer titled ‘Developing maths proficiency.’ This explainer unpacks and describes the interrelated strands of maths proficiency, and how evidence based teaching practices can support their development.  This maths explainer complements AERO’s model of learning and teaching, which identifies the most effective and efficient teaching practices aligned with how students learn.

Engaged classrooms

To support school leaders to lead a whole-school approach to student behaviour and classroom management, here are some recently released professional learning resources (slide decks with preparation and facilitator notes).  These will support the development of shared staff understanding of the evidence-based approaches to classroom management and the schools’ specific approaches.  AERO are happy to provide briefing sessions for CaSPA, newsletter articles or further information for your members.

AERO is developing two more classroom management professional learning resources to be released in early 2025 to support school leaders to lead reflection and refinement activities with their staff, along with video examples of classroom management practices, guidance on supporting colleagues to refine their practice with accompanying observation tools, and guidance on supporting students’ diverse needs.  We are engaging with school leaders, teachers and experts to ensure these resources are most useful to support classroom management in schools. Our main advisory group includes Angela Falkenberg but please let me know if you would like to hear more on this project.