Newsletter 12: 10 September 2024

Dear Colleagues

Character

Recently at the MSA Biennial Conference, Professor David de Carvalho gave a key note speech sharing reflections on Australian education and assessment. David is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, former CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, and current Director on the MSA Ltd Board. A key provocation by David was, “Not everything that matters can be measured, and not everything that can be measured matters!”. In the coming weeks many teachers and staff will be finalising all manner of matters with our Year 12 students as they enter this final phase of their school journey and the public examination period in most States and Territories. Whilst comprehensive revision, practice exams, and ongoing learning dominate the precious time left, there is a valuable gift being quietly and thoughtfully prepared and finalised behind the scenes, the student reference.

The reference is a time consuming and often painstaking process for teachers and school leaders and is a most treasured statement for all student leavers. The reference attempts to capture in words that are imperfect and limited, the character of the individual. Some of the great literature many of our students would have studied during their years with us, focus on character. Two favourites are The Crucible by Arthur Miller and A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt. In both these celebrated works, the reader and audiences become immersed in profound and dramatically posed questions that challenge the very core of the respective protagonist, their “being” in the eyes of God, in essence their character. Like all truly great literature, these plays have awoken and continue to awake truths that matter to us as human beings and people of faith. Knowledge of right and wrong, seeking that which is true and shunning what is false, courage to act in ways that you deem correct albeit unpopular, challenging yourself and others, including those you love most in the world, with faith and reason. A good school reference sheds light in various ways on character. Whilst a useful document for future employment, most importantly for the young person the reference affirms the gifts God has given them, recognised by people they will continue to admire with sincere gratitude, their teachers.

Let us keep every young woman and young man completing Year 12 across our Marist Schools in our prayers over the coming weeks.

We pray to you loving Father

for each student as they enter their exams.

Fill their hearts with perfect peace.

Give them clarity of thought.

Prompt their minds to be attentive to all they have learned and studied.

Give them wisdom, timeliness, and ability in response.

Bless them with satisfaction, hope, and joy in completion.

Inspire in them always love for others in the way of Jesus.

Amen.