If you search for St. Kevin on the internet, you will find that the references to this Irish saint are vastly outnumbered by references to the Australian boys school that bears his name and that has been dragging that name through the mud in recent times.
Lyndsay Connors
-
LYNDSAY CONNORS. Words, words, words.
It is one thing for politicians to duck politically sensitive or embarrassing questions, but it is quite another when they opt for providing answers that are devoid of meaning.
-
Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind
“They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind”, according to the Book of Hosea in the Old Testament. Not in the Australian federal system of government, they shan’t. Not when it comes to education policy.
-
Slogans like “those who have a go get a go” are no substitute for rational, coherent policy
The status of Jean Blackburnas one of the finest contributors to Australia’s education policy is confirmed by the recently released biography by Craig Campbell and Debra Hayes covering her life and work. Above all, Jean Blackburn understood the interrelationship between schools and society. Schools both reflect and shape reflect the nation’s broad political, social and economic character.
-
Curiouser and curiouser: The Marketing of Private Schools
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER. The Marketing of Private Schools
In its recent newspaper advertisement for a Director of Advancement, a long-established Sydney private school for Catholic boys described itself as “an inclusive, non-selective, school, with students attending from all walks of life”. This is a school with exorbitant upfront fees and resource levels to match. Such an audacious attempt at re-branding suggests that there is more afoot here than semantics.
-
Time for a long hard look at the goals and purposes of schooling.
Schools hold up the mirror to a society as well as shaping its future. There is more to education than schools, but schooling is the formal process by which we assist young people to develop their capacity to learn and to think for themselves in a democratic society. (more…)
-
An Inquiry is needed into the ACT Catholic school system.
The ACT should be an ideal location for operating a Catholic school system – a land of milk and honey. (more…)