Above: A snapshot from the Diocesan Directors Forum

Catholic education directors from state and territory Catholic education commissions and dioceses, and education leaders across Australia, came together on 25 October for the Diocesan Directors Forum. 

Due to travel restrictions the scheduled meeting in Canberra was moved to an online gathering. 

The day was facilitated by Brisbane Catholic Education executive director Pam Betts, who also spoke about the recent assembly of the Plenary Council and the need to focus on leadership formation for current and emerging leaders across the Church including education. 

National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) executive director Jacinta Collins said the forum is an opportunity for Catholic education leaders to contribute to a national conversation by capturing and sharing best practice and supporting a strategic and collaborative approach to the mission of Catholic schools in Australia. 

Presenting with NCEC's senior data analyst Nicola Taylor, Jacinta spoke about the national priorities for Catholic education and highlighted some of the challenges and opportunities.

"While we have funding certainty with the current 10-year agreement, one of the challenges is the need to review the Capacity to Contribute model to ensure the contribution expected from parents is fair and allows for affordable choice for families going forward," Jacinta said.

"We also have the opportunity to focus more heavily on lifting student learning standards for all students and to support this work at class, school and system level through data and research, sharing best practice and collaborative leadership."

NCEC chair Nicholas Moore referred to Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge's recent speech for the Centre for Independent Studies saying there had been a 60 per cent increase in school funding over the past two decades, while learning standards have been declining.

In his speech, the Minister identified three areas to lift learning standards:

1. What students are taught - delivering an effective curriculum
2. How students are taught - a focus on quality teaching
3. The environment in which students are taught - behaviour and discipline

Nicholas said the task for Catholic education was to ensure the focus was on lifting standards for all students. 

NCEC deputy director Sally Egan's presentation focused on Catholic education's national strategic priority of supporting the continual improvement of educational outcomes for all students, and provided insights and evidence of how schools and systems can lead successful school improvement as they focus on the learning, teaching and leadership in their school communities. 

"Lifting academic growth for every student is driven by factors such as improving expectations, access to consistent delivery of the curriculum and adapting pedagogy to student need," Sally said.

"We know that schools need to focus on evidence informed practice to improve outcomes for all students, while being supported by the strength of the system and sector."