President's Message

Dear Colleagues

As Term 1 draws to a close I hope the I hope that you and your communities have had a wonderful start to the year and enjoyed the Easter celebrations and break.

Recently CaSPA has been in a number of consultations with the Federal Department for Education, AITSL and ACARA. In addition, the CaSPA Board has had discussions with David de Carvalho and Dr Renee Kohler-Ryan from the University of Notre Dame, as well as Robert Tonkli, Laura Avery and Anna Howard from the National Catholic Education Commission on the Numeracy resources that are available through OCRE Education and the Year 12 Exit Survey.

In mid-March it was a great opportunity to meet in person with CaSPA Directors to discuss a range of educational matters. In particular, the Board discussed the National School Reform Agreement, the CaSPA Strategic Plan Priorities for 2024 and was excited to hear the updates from the CaSPA Conference Committee. I hope you have been able to make plans for you and your Leadership Team to attend the Conference in Perth in July. The guest speakers have been locked in and the concurrent sessions are being finalised in what shapes to be an excellent gathering that spans the Faith, Learning and Wellbeing dimensions of education.

On 22 March the Australian Catholic University (ACU) released its 2023 Australian Principals Occupational, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey Report. The Report has a wealth of information for all Principals and senior leaders in schools and reflects trends that span the whole teacher workforce. The report outlines some key findings in relation to the wellbeing of Principals compared to the general population. What really stood out for me was the statistic that 56.04% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement 'I often seriously consider leaving my current job'. This is then broken down by State and Territory. If this were to be realised our education system would be in peril. CaSPA has been asked by a variety of media sources for comment on the survey. Please see the link to the document in this Newsletter. I am sure these findings will be of key interest to your local associations’ meetings and during  salary & conditions negotiations.

Recently, I have been asked by some media sources to comment on the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill and how Aspiring Leaders can be best supported in their leadership development. As we all know there are crossovers with these issues in terms of the requirements to be a faith and educational leader in Australian Catholic Schools. The CaSPA Board had a lengthy discussion about the future needs of Catholic School Leadership.

I hope you and your school communities had a wonderful Easter and enjoy your Term 1 break in the coming weeks.

Dr Stephen Kennaugh
CaSPA President