Report from attendance at this Fourth International Conference on Catholic Educational leadership
29 July - 1 August 2007, Sydney.
The conference began with the Chancellor's reception Sunday evening at the Sofitel
Wentworth Hotel which was the Conference venue.
Keynote addresses through the conference were presented as follows:
" Archbishop J Michael Millar, Congregation for Catholic Education,The
Vatican, Rome, whose address was entitled "Faith Inspired Leadership: The
challenge for the Catholic Educator in the 21st Century"
" Ms Oona Stannard, Catholic Education Service for England and Wales, England.
Her address was "Changing the reality: Securing Sufficient Leaders for
Catholic Schools - An experience of succession planning"
" Professor Patrick Duigan, Flagship for Creative & Authentic Leadership,
ACU National, Australia. He presented an address "Distributive Leadership:
A Catholic Perspective"
" Dr Padraig Hogan, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland. Padraig's
presentation was entitled "Not Without parables: What Educational Leadership
can learn from the experience of learners"
In addition to the keynote addresses the conference was well supported by a
large number of concurrent sessions running at 30 minute intervals. Conferees
were able to select and attend sessions of choice. These sessions were either
of 30 minute duration or continued across a longer time frame. Conferees came
and went according to interest and the need to move quickly to another session.
Some examples of available sessions were:
" School as community
" Catholic Schools and Values
" Charism and Mission effectiveness
" Theology, Religious Education and Church
" Parent Leadership in Catholic Education
" Leading Catholic Schools in an Era of Diversity.
" Religious Education Coordinators as whole school leaders
" Creating Cultural Change: Family - school Partnerships
" The Ontario, Canada Catholic Educational Leaders' Programme.
" Understanding Intellectual Disability and Cultural Diversity
The Conference included a "Leadership" Dinner on the Tuesday evening
in the grand ballroom and a beautiful Mass as concluding liturgy at the conference
end on Wednesday 1st August concelebrated by Bishops and clergy present
Overall this conference was a meaningful experience where the common themes
and issues of Catholic Education surfaced from many corners of the world as
Catholic Educators face today's challenges.
Presenters spoke of matters we can relate to here in New Zealand,
*Parish - School partnerships,
* linking school and church,
* the inclusion of students who are not Catholic and goals for non Catholics
in Catholic schools,
*the importance of family and parent commitment to the schools' aims and ethos,
*the school as a Christ Centered learning community
*the role of parents
*the importance of staff PD in understanding the Catholic Ethos
*the importance of nurturing aspiring future Catholic Leaders
*Reaching out to the marginalized
*Developing a "quality culture" of quality improvement.
*Self review at the core of the daily work of schools
I would like to express my appreciation to KONICA MINOLTA for their generosity
in making this award available to Catholic Principals through the NZCPPA which
has enabled me to experience such a high quality leadership learning experience.
Greg Day
Schools Support Manager
Catholic Diocese of Hamilton