President's Message

Dear Colleagues,

I hope Term 2 has started well for all of you. From an advocacy perspective we have continued to be sounded out from a variety of educational and non-educational groups in a variety of educational, health and political areas. Of late we have continued the dialogue with the Australian Medical Association surrounding Vaping in schooling and society, as well as representation from Ann Rebgetz with Equality Australia in Canberra. Our continued dialogue with the Federal Education Department and the Federal Education Minister has us locked in to speak with The Hon Jason Clare surrounding a variety of issues as a peak body representing Catholic Secondary Principals. All peak representative bodies have been invited to this meeting. On 31 May Minister Clare will lead the discussion on the National School Reform Agreement, he will provide an update on the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, lead a discussion on Principal and school leader wellbeing, and hear ideas relating to ongoing school and system reform. Both myself and Peter Cutrona (ACPPA President) met with Jacinta Collins to ensure we represent a national perspective on these issues.

Our Biennial Conference in Perth, Western Australia from July 14-16 at the Crown is shaping to be a real opportunity to celebrate our distinguished and long serving leaders as well as learn from a group of esteemed educators. For all communications please refer to our CaSPA Website or communicate with your State/Territory Director.

We recently received our partner report from ACU relating to the Principal and Leader Wellbeing Survey outcomes conducted in 2023. It disseminates data comparing our Catholic system data with all school leaders (ASL) and the general population. While the data in most part is positive for our sector the offensive behaviours experienced by our Catholic Secondary Principals in the areas of Cyber Bullying and Conflicts and Quarrels is significantly worse than both the ASL and the general population. Our red flag triggers are significantly lower than the ASL percentages yet cause for concern considering the Composite Psychosocial Score (CPRS) is still registering at 10.9%.

We must be supported in finding ways to eliminate the quantity of work, the lack of time to focus on teaching and learning, and the mental health of students and staff. These are the greatest sources of stress for our Principals. With our CaSPA leaders spending more time attending school events and internal meetings than all school leaders we have cause for concern.

I look forward to discussing these challenges and many more with you all at our Conference in Perth.

Dr Stephen Kennaugh
CaSPA President