Newsletter 10: 8 August 2023
Dear Colleagues,
On Friday evening, the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) held their Annual Awards ceremony in New South Wales. ACEL is the largest professional association for educators in Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region. It has a growing network of more than 7,000 members and over 45,000 educators, with branches in each state and territory. This cross sectoral education celebration was attended by the NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, the Honourable Prue Car MP, who conferred the major award of the evening, the Dr Paul Brock Memorial Medal. This prestigious honour is awarded annually to a prominent educational leader who has significantly impacted educational direction and achievement. In particular the award commends the recipient's demonstrable value of social justice in making substantial contributions to evidence informed policy, practice and research. The late Dr Paul Brock is well known to Marist educators, having been school captain at Marist Brothers Hamilton in 1959 and serving Catholic education as a Marist Brother for 15 years. Renowned as a gifted and brilliant teacher, Paul made significant contributions to the Australian and New South Wales governments in senior Ministerial and Department portfolios for over three decades as well as forging a distinguished career in tertiary education. Below is the citation from last Friday's Awards ceremony.
Professor Brother David Hall FMS, Dean of the La Salle Academy at Australian Catholic University, is one of the foremost Australian thinkers in the field of Catholic educational leadership. He brings to his work a deep appreciation of the challenges and realities of leadership in schools and systems, and a wide knowledge of current trends in the fields of education, leadership, and theology. Brother David’s work has impacted Australia through an extensive contribution to Catholic systemic and congregational education and globally through international formation programs that he designed and delivered in nations across Africa, the South Pacific, and Rome for a range of international participants. Brother David’s significant impact to NSW education and beyond, and his strong social justice values, make him a most deserving winner of the Dr Paul Brock Memorial Medal.
It is custom for the Medal winner to address the gathering. Below is an excerpt from Brother David's speech.
To lead a company that provides goods and services is important. To lead in government or in the serving and helping sectors requires even further attention and sensitivity, and a commitment to the common good. But to lead in education requires even more because our core business is human beings, who they are and who they will become. This is what makes it sacred. Educators shape human beings, who shape humanity – there is no more important task than that.
As leaders we need to be careful to avoid the slippery slide of viewing education through a transactional lens alone, we need to magnify our emphasis on education as transformational. Transforming who, for what? Transforming humans, for a new humanity. Knowledge, skills, competencies, and attributes are critical and need to be front and centre, but always with an eye to what education should be: education should be at the service of building a new humanity, one that is more just, peaceful, and compassionate.
As a Catholic educator you would not be surprised that I end my comments tonight with the words of Pope Francis. Yes, the world-wide leader of the Catholic Church but also a man deeply committed, as you and I are, to a flourishing humanity. In commenting on the type of educational leaders we need for the future he says:
“They need the courage to generate processes that consciously work to overcome the existing fragmentation and conflicts of society. The value of our educational practices will be measured not simply by results on standardised tests, but by the ability to affect the heart of society and help give birth to a new culture.”
It is worth noting that for only the second time in the history of this Award, there were two recipients. Along with Brother David was the Secretary for the Department of Education in New South Wales, Mr Murat Dizdar.
We Marists join in congratulating Brother David on this most deserved recognition for his outstanding leadership and contributions throughout the past 40 years in Catholic education. Despite the enormous demands on David due to his exhaustive and influential work with Catholic educational leaders here in Australia and overseas, his commitment as Chair of the Board for Marist Schools Australia remains among his highest priorities.