Last week I celebrated my fifth year as executive director of the NCEC and I have to say the time has flown by quickly.
I am very pleased with the work we have achieved together with the Commission and our team in the national office, our leaders and colleagues in state, territory and diocesan authorities, as well as Religious Institute and Ministerial Public Juridic Person school authorities, parents and principals associations, and the many that represent Catholic education on our national standing committees, networks and working groups.
Collaboration and accountability has been a key feature of the work of the NCEC over the past five years and we can see great progress across our national strategic priorities.
As part of this national picture, there are some significant federal priorities that we will be significantly involved in over the 12 months to represent the voice of Catholic school communities, including:
- the National School Resourcing Board’s review of the Schooling Resource Standard indexation which impacts on school funding and keeping pace with increases in the cost of living and education
- the release of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s final report and the Albanese government’s commitment to religious freedom protections that will influence the way faith-based schools operate and teach
- the development of the next Better and Fairer Schools Agreement to lift student outcomes in Australian schools – I will represent the Catholic education sector on the government’s Australian Education Senior Officials Committee (AESOC) subgroup that will work through the detail of this reform agreement
- the National Teacher Workplace Action Plan to address critical teacher workforce issues, initial teacher education and teacher quality.
National representation is very important to the work of our school communities and the support our school leaders and staff to better serve the needs of our students and their families.
Jacinta Collins
National Catholic education executive director