‘Faith in learning’ and ‘learning in faith’: Catholic Education’s system day
Over 2,000 Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn Catholic Education staff attended the system day on Monday at Canberra Convention Centre
Catholic education was in the spotlight on Monday when more than 2,000 staff from across the Archdiocese’s 56 schools gathered at Canberra’s national convention centre for a “system day” ahead of the new school year.
The keynote address was delivered by Noel Pearson, founder of Good to Great Schools Australia. Well-known nationally as an indigenous advocate, Mr Pearson is also a leading campaigner for Australian educational reform.
Archbishop Christopher Prowse on stage at the Canberra and Goulburn’s Catholic Education system day
Initial input was given by Catholic Archbishop Christopher Prowse, who in his short address, underlined the importance of the Catholic faith in Catholic education.
Referring to the conference theme of “faith in learning”, the Archbishop said this also implied the importance of “learning in faith”.
Catholic Christian faith is a social belief, he said. It involved “walking together” as a “community of the Holy Spirit”, a reference to the 12-month Archdiocesan Year of Walking Together he initiated last August.
Quoting Isaiah 54:2, he invoked the image of a desert tent from biblical times, with its cloths, ropes, poles and pegs representing symbolically, not only the universal, missionary, and sacramental nature of Christianity but of Catholic education too.
In his address following the Archbishop’s remarks, director of Catholic Education Ross Fox also highlighted the importance of the union between faith and education in the Catholic school system.
“We cannot afford to have learning at the expense of faith or an emphasis on faith at the expense of learning,” he told the conference.
“I’ve heard the Archbishop say many times that we want to be a system that nurtures and grows both saints and scholars.”
The key focus of Mr Fox’s address was on “Catalyst”, Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn’s evidence-based approach to school education.
(l-R) Canberra and Goulburn’s Catholic Education Director, Ross Fox, Noel Pearson and Catholic Archbishop Christopher Prowse
Informed by the science of learning and the science of reading, the methodology has a system-wide emphasis on high-level teacher proficiency and literacy.
Mr Fox said an essential organising and guiding principle was on the teacher as the “most important learner”.
Speaking directly to staff, he said, “we know if we look after you in your professional growth and development, your professional knowledge, then the students will be taken care of in terms of their faith and their learning.”
Break-out sessions provided presentations from various national and international leaders with experience in evidence-based and system-wide learning approaches.
Mr Fox concluded his address by observing that it was only through what happened between the teacher and the learner in the classroom that “we can hope to be the Catholic education system we aspire to be where there’s genuine faith in learning and there’s genuine learning in faith.”