President's Message

Dear Colleagues,

The most notable Education news this month came from Federal Education Minister Jason Clare who, in a speech on Tuesday September 9, flagged a radical shake-up of four major federal education agencies to create a new Teaching and Learning Commission.

Minister Clare wrote to state and territory education ministers asking them to consider his plan for pulling the four agencies “under one roof” into the Teaching and Learning Commission, which would act as a single mega-agency to support reforms under new school funding agreements.

The super-agency would bring together Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) and Education Services Australia (ESA) into a single education bureaucracy. The merger would mark one of the biggest overhauls to the sector in 17 years.

Minister Clare said the new commission would support reforms contained in the recent $16 billion school funding deals which tie extra money with lifting the proportion of school-leavers finishing year 12 and reducing the number of students failing to achieve minimum NAPLAN standards.

The agency would also analyse workforce data, advise on how to attract and retain teachers and strengthen “evidence-based teaching” methods, including explicit teaching and classroom management resources.

“We have got to reform the entire education system. And this is the big one,” Minister Clare said. “If we want more Australians to take on a university degree, we need more to finish school.”

The move has been welcomed by the NCEC and the major Principal Associations are mostly supportive. Some unions have expressed reservations about the need to preserve the nature of teaching, specifically around the independence of curriculum and the role of teachers in lesson preparation.

On the CaSPA front I was delighted to launch our next Strategic Plan: Shaping Our Future 2026-2028 Strategic Plan - Catholic Secondary Principals Australia (CaSPA). The launch was conducted at our September Meeting in Melbourne in the presence of our Board and Association Chairs and executive Officers. My thanks to Dr Neil Carrington for once again guiding our Board through the planning process.

Dr Stephen Kennaugh GAICD

CaSPA President