ACPPA Board Directors meet together in Canberra

The ACPPA Board met in Canberra last week. Some highlights of the Board discussions included:

• Meeting with Dr Ross Fox, Director of Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn
• Presentation from Dr HeeRa Ko and Dr Paul Kidson, Australian Catholic University Institute for Positive Psychology and Education
• Review and amendment of ACPPA Bylaws
• Continued work on sub committees and strategic review
• Combined meeting with CaSPA
• Analysis of ACPPA Member Survey data.  A summary of this will be provided to members in December.

Making evidence accessible for the classroom

MultiLit was founded on the philosophy that educational practice needs to be informed by scientific research to deliver the best outcomes for students. MultiLit ensures all instructional materials and resources are effective, evidence-based and incorporate new findings from research.

The MultiLit Research Unit (MRU)

Comprising nine PhD qualified researchers, the MRU is at the heart of MultiLit’s approach to innovation and development. Its primary aim is to carry out the research underpinning programs and services provided by MultiLit and evaluate their efficacy, as well as disseminating the latest research findings on literacy to educators.

MRU Press books

MRU Press publishes rigorously researched educational texts that translate current evidence into practice in the fields of reading, the science of learning and literacy. Ensuring information is made accessible, these books share knowledge on evidence-based approaches that are essential for children to learn successfully.

The latest release from MRU Press, Effective Instruction in Reading and Spelling, co-edited by Emeritus Professor Kevin Wheldall AM, Dr Robyn Wheldall and Dr Jennifer Buckingham OAM, is an accessible, up-to-date guide to evidence-informed practices in teaching reading and spelling, firmly grounded in the Science of Reading.

ACPPA discount code

ACPPA members can access a 10% discount on any book in the Academic Books section of The Bookshop by MultiLit using the code ACPPA2023 until 31 December 2023.

Evidence-based programs

MultiLit has been providing effective literacy programs for over 25 years. All its programs are grounded in scientific, evidence-based best practice, extensive ongoing research and expertise in the science of how children learn to read.

InitiaLit – evidence into practice

InitiaLit, MultiLit’s whole-class program for initial instruction in literacy (Years F-2), provides everything needed to teach literacy effectively. InitiaLit Kits include detailed lesson scripts and instructions, Sounds and Words Books or RAD Reading Books for small-group sessions, assessment procedures, flashcards, picture cards, posters, PowerPoint slides, and access to hundreds of downloadable resources.

The program is aligned to the Australian Curriculum, which helps take the stress and time out of planning.

InitiaLit, as with all MultiLit programs, has been rigorously tested and trialled in Australian classrooms to demonstrate proven results, while also being practical to use.

Tailored Professional Development

MultiLit’s highly regarded PD workshops provide the skills, knowledge and resources to ensure teachers have the confidence and capability to achieve success with our programs. As well as providing the training to deliver effective literacy instruction consistently and with fidelity, MultiLit’s PD also covers the latest evidence and how it relates to today’s classroom.

To find out more about implementing evidence-based literacy programs in your school, please contact MultiLit e: multilit@multilit.com p: 1800 55 99 19.

The ACPConnect Podcast, ‘Principal Talks’ has dropped new episodes for you to listen to. Broken into two episodes, we hear from current and former principals and ACPPA Board members about their pilgrimage journeys. Hosted by ACPConnect’s Josephine Brennan, and ACPPA Executive Officer, Gez Mulvahil the discussions are an open and honest account of the pilgrimage journeys.

In Part One, we talk to retired Victorian Principal (and ACP's Thoughts and Prayers with Helen) Helen Healy, and current Western Australian Principal, Annette Quirk as they discuss enrichment leave, pilgrimage and God moments. Sometimes God pops up unexpectedly, and sometimes finding a God moment is hard to do...even in the holiest of places!

In Part Two we talk to two current Principals, Gavin Rick (Queensland) and Leon Colla (Victoria) as they relive their experiences in the Holy Land. Their stories made us laugh, and made us cry, and their 'God moment' stories left us with goosebumps.

If you have a story to share, contact hello@acpconnect.com.au

Listen on Spotify Principal Talks Podcast

 

MSP Photography are passionate about providing quality, photographic memories for students and families. Discover the many options available and explore the MSP difference.

Click here to find out more about MSP Photography

NCEC Presentation by ACPPA and CaSPA Presidents: Principal Wellbeing

In September, the National Catholic Education Commission invited ACPPA President Peter Cutrona and CaSPA President Ann Rebgetz to present to the Commission about Principal Wellbeing. Peter and Ann provided some context of the Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing survey data and recommendations from the report. This survey is a longitudinal study conducted by the ACU Institute for Positive Psychology and Education.

Some highlights from their presentation were:

WHAT EMPLOYERS CAN DO:

1. Introduce school leader wellbeing priorities within performance frameworks. Personal health and wellbeing are a component of the AITSL Australian Professional Standard for Principals. Performance frameworks would benefit from inclusion of specific measures that develop, support, and report upon the health and wellbeing of school leaders. Including these in performance frameworks commits both employers and school leaders to take positive steps towards, and provision of resources for, their achievement.
2. Develop supportive cultures of trust with school leaders. The declining data on Trust, combined with low rates of seeking support from employers, indicates more needs to be done to create and sustain trusting cultures. Adopting the previous recommendation would be a valuable start. Providing ongoing opportunities for professional dialogue, both consultative and evaluative, on workload, health, and wellbeing in an environment of collegial support is essential.

WHAT PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS CAN DO:

1.Seek feedback on how best to support members. The dual role of advocacy and support offered by professional associations is important to the wider profession. The low take up of seeking support provides an opportunity for associations to update their services.
2. Continue advocacy with government and employers on the positive recommendations from the Productivity Commission and National Teacher Workforce Action Plan in line with the results of this report.

Recommendations ACPPA and CaSPA want to be part of the solution . To co-create with the NCEC a common approach that supports and reports on the wellbeing of school leaders in the catholic system by:
1. Understanding the models of best practice already occurring across the systems
2. Associations collecting and sharing the primary and secondary Catholic principal data from the Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey.
3. Systems to support and promote the Health and Wellbeing survey with their school leaders.

©Ann Rebgetz and Peter Cutrona

?Ann Rebgetz (CaSPA President), Peter Cutrona (ACPPA President) and Gez Mulvahil (ACPPA Executive Officer) at NCEC Parliament House function

Be That Teacher

Catholic teachers, inspiring and changing young lives, feature in national campaign

Catholic teachers from across Australia are featured in a national campaign to inspire more Australians to want to become a teacher as part of the broader campaign under the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan (NTWAP) to address teacher workforce challenges.

“It is an important initiative aimed at lifting the status of teachers in Australia and attracting more teachers to the profession,” National Catholic Education executive director Jacinta Collins said today.

“Teacher quality has the greatest impact on student learning and Catholic education welcomes the significant focus by the federal, state and territory education ministers to respond to the challenges we see across all sectors of education, particularly in regional, rural and remote areas.

“While it’s critical to attract more teachers to the profession, we also need to provide the best initial teacher education we can, coupled with ongoing professional learning and mentoring to support teachers throughout their careers.

“I hope young Australians and those in other fields will be inspired to consider teaching as a career, by hearing about the great work teachers do,” Jacinta said.

The Be That Teacher campaign is a joint initiative of the Australian and state and territory governments. Featuring teachers from all education sectors, the campaign was launched by the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Education Minister Jason Clare MP.

The Education Minister Jason Clare said the campaign is about changing the way we as a country think about our teachers, and the way our teachers think our country thinks of them.

“I want more young Australians to want to be a teacher. To be that teacher, who inspires and changes young lives,” Minister Clare said.

“We have many amazing teachers across our sector, but we still need more. I hope young Australians will be inspired by listening to and reading about the great work teachers do across, not just our sector, but nationally.”

The 15 Catholic teachers featured in the campaign are listed below. Read about why they chose teaching as a career and their inspirational stories about the lasting impact they have had on their students.

Andrew McCausland, St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, Riverside.
Edwina Battersby, Newman College, Churchlands.
Alexandra Cashin, Saint Mary’s Catholic College, Kingaroy.
Liam Benton, Kolbe Catholic College, Greenvale.
Mary Jane Logan, St Clare’s College, Griffith.
Emma Rice, St Johns College, Dubbo.
Tegan Douglas, St Johns College, Dubbo.
Jayme Rafferty St Monica’s College, Cairns.
Leanne Shead, St Monica’s College, Cairns.
Jodie Maller, Our Lady of the Angels, Wavell Heights
Lisa Modd, Padua College, Mornington.
Monique George, St Thomas the Apostle Primary, Kambah.
Sarah Adams, St Mary MacKillop College, Isabella Plains.
Andrea McQuirk, St Thomas More’s Primary School, Campbell.
Tania Willsdon, Our Lady of Hope, Greenwith.

Source: https://ncec.catholic.edu.au/media-centre/catholic-teachers-inspiring-and-changing-young-lives-feature-in-national-campaign/

Dear colleagues,

As you know, NAPLAN moved from May to March this year, and changes were made to reporting in order to provide simpler, clearer, and more meaningful results.

We are keen to hear from principals and teachers, as well as parents and carers, on these changes. Their feedback will be captured via a survey from 9 October to early December 2023.

A link to the survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NRTZCHN. We kindly ask that you share the survey to your networks and encourage participation by principals, teacher, parents, and carers.

Thanks for your ongoing support.

David de Carvalho
Chief Executive Officer

2025 Australian Catholic Education Conference to be held in Cairns

The National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) has announced that the Diocese of Cairns will host the next Australian Catholic Education Conference at the Cairns Convention Centre from 20-22 August, 2025.

National Catholic Education executive director Jacinta Collins said Catholic Education Diocese of Cairns will partner with the NCEC to deliver the conference for 1,500 delegates.

“Following on from our very successful conference in Melbourne last year, the majority of delegates expressed a desire to hold the conference every three years, rather than four,” Jacinta said.

“Cairns generously offered to co-host the conference in 2025 which will be held in the newly-refurbished Cairns Convention Centre. We are grateful for the support of the Cairns Diocese and the Queensland Government who have generously approved a tourism grant of up to $100,000 to support our event.

“The conference will focus on the strategic vision and mission of Catholic education in Australia with a broad range of speakers, presentations and workshops in Catholic identity and mission, learning and teaching, leadership and governance, parent engagement and more.

Under the theme, ‘hope, anchored in faith’, which is connected to the 2025 Jubilee Year theme, ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, the conference branding features the artwork of local First Nations artist Susan Reys, and reflects the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in far north Queensland.

Catholic Education Diocese of Cairns Executive Director Bill Dixon said the local Catholic education community was excited by the opportunity to welcome educational leaders from across the nation.

“Our diocesan family of schools is growing each year; in 2023 for the first time we reached enrolments of more than 12,000 students in our 30 schools,” he said.

“They stretch from Tully in the south to Waiben (Thursday Island) in the north and to Weipa and Dimbulah in the west. And we are aiming to open another two schools in coming years to cater for the growing demand for a quality Catholic education.

“We’re thrilled that principals and school and system leaders from all states and territories will be able to join us in Cairns to discuss important issues and to enable us to showcase some of the great work being done by our students and staff in Far North Queensland.”

Partnership opportunities are now available by contacting events@ncec.catholic.edu.au. To receive all the latest conference information and notice of early bird registration, please subscribe via www.ncec.catholic.edu.au/2025ACEC.

About the Diocese of Cairns

The Diocese of Cairns is 377,000 km2 spanning from Cardwell in the south, west to the Northern Territory Border including the Atherton Tablelands, and north to the Torres Strait Islands and Gulf of Carpentaria.
The Diocese’s 30 Catholic schools and colleges provide a quality education to more than 12,000 students and almost 2,000 staff. The schools extend from Tully in the South, west to Dimbulah on the Atherton Tablelands and Weipa on Cape York peninsula, and north to Waiben (Thursday Island) in the Torres Strait.

About the Artwork

Susan Reys’ artwork, Tenacious Dreaming, pictured below, represents the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – the land on which the Catholic education conference will be hosted.

The Southern Cross is featured around a central Cross representing Catholic education across Australia. The Southern Cross, also known as the Seven Sisters, is also an important directional tool for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. The boomerang shape represents the Seven Sister mountain on the tablelands, and their spirit is now the constellation. The three message sticks represent the three lore of the First Nation peoples and the 10 dots represents the ten commandments of the Old Testament. The eight diamond shapes represent the shields of the eight Yidinji clan groups of the Cairns region.

The underlying message of Tenacious Dreaming is, “Don’t be scared to dream big. Dream big things for yourself and others and never give up on yourself. I don’t give up, I look within. I am cocooned in my fearless and undeniable sense of knowingness. My faith entwined in my cultural beliefs. Comfort me and guide me. Give me joy and purpose.”

Source: https://ncec.catholic.edu.au/media-centre/2025-australian-catholic-education-conference-to-be-held-in-cairns/

CaSPA National Conference 2024 – SAVE THE DATE!

Leadership and the Fruits of the Spirit

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

Probably the most memorable verses in Galatians are those that list the ‘fruits of the Spirit’. Fruit grows from planted seeds. Every leader should embrace this list of inward qualities. Evaluate yourself against them:

Love - is my leadership motivated by love for people?
Joy - do I exhibit an unshakable joy, regardless of life’s circumstances?
Peace - do people see my peace and take courage?
Patience - do I wait patiently for results as I develop people or goals?
Kindness - am I caring and understanding toward everyone I meet?
Goodness - do I want the best for others and the organisation?
Faithfulness - have I kept my commitments?
Gentleness - is my strength under control? Can I be both tough and tender?
Self-Control - am I disciplined to make progress towards my goals?

Source: Maxwell, John.C (2003) Leadership Promises for Every Day p338

Some changes ahead….stay tuned!

ACPPA is excited to share that the Board has been working within a communication platform that is expected to be rolled out to our members throughout 2024. Stay tuned - there will be more to come in the December edition of etopics!