Newsletter 14: 22 October 2019
Dear Colleagues,
Last week in Canberra, a gathering of Directors for Catholic education across Australia was hosted by the National Catholic Education Commission CEO, former Senator Ms Jacinta Collins. Jacinta is Catholic education’s key advocate for approximately 770,000 students in Catholic schools and their families, as well as the more than 90,000 people who work in Catholic education.
The gathering was an opportunity for Directors to meet with our elected representatives in Canberra, and discuss current issues impacting on our schools. From a Marist Schools Australia perspective, it was heartening to hear affirmed the government’s commitment to a range of initiatives to increase incentives for teachers to work in government and non-government schools situated in remote communities. This initiative will be evaluated over the next 18 months with hopes that if successful, can be broadened to include a number of difficult to staff regional areas.
In the group’s conversation with the Minister for Education, Mr Dan Tehan, recent comments he made in the press in relation to NAPLAN were discussed. Whilst educators across the country sit at various points on the spectrum in relation to the benefits of NAPLAN, there seems greater unity among Australians in support of changes to the presentation of information on the MySchool website. Status measures, that is results by students at a single point in time, have previously dominated public discourse in this country in regard to NAPLAN and Year 12 results. Many Catholic educators for more than 20 years, have also consistently promoted and utilised the complementary measures of learning gain over a period of time to assist in identifying best practice and areas for improvement by teachers, students, schools and districts. At the meeting in Canberra, of particular note were indications of increased emphases on the MySchool website, highlighting more prominently learning gain made by students between years of testing. Such an outcome will demonstrate a developed understanding in the Australian community of fair and ethical measures of school effectiveness.
As our Year 12 students across the country enter their final exam and assessment period, it is important to remind them it is a step on their life-long learning journey. Let us offer the following prayer often during these final weeks of their Marist education.
Lord, as our students prepare for their examination,
let your strength and your wisdom be present.
May they revise their work thoroughly.
May their memory be reliable and orderly.
May they be calm and focused on the task ahead.
May they know and feel the love and support of family and friends.
And may you, the author and creator of all things, enlighten them.
Amen.