13 September 2017

Newsletter Articles

Francis decentralizes most authority for liturgical translations to local bishops

Pope Francis has decentralized authority over how the texts used in the Catholic Church's liturgies are translated from Latin into local languages, moving most responsibility for the matter from the Vatican to national bishops' conferences. In a motu proprio issued Sept. 9, the pontiff says he is making a change to the church's Code of Canon Law so that the Second Vatican Council's call to make the liturgy more understandable to people is "more clearly reaffirmed and put into practice. "The motu proprio, given the title Magnum Principium, modifies two clauses of Canon 838. The rewritten clauses say simply that the Vatican is to "recognize" adaptations of Latin liturgical texts approved by national bishops' conferences. A comparison of the Italian text of the prior and new versions of the canon makes the change clear. Where the Italian says the Vatican was tasked before with "authorizing" all liturgical translations, it is now asked simply to "review" translations made by the bishops' conferences.

Colombian people inspired by Francis' visit, still want realism

VILLAVICENCIO, COLOMBIA — The city itself seems like one that most prominent figures would overlook: shabby but not run down, colorful but not picturesque. Standing outside the cathedral before a large square, one might have to ask if this is, in fact, downtown. (It is.) Villavicencio, a city 75 miles southeast of Bogotá, is home to roughly half a million people, and on Friday, Sept. 8 the city was host to Pope Francis. This stop comes between his visits to Bogotá and Medellín, with Cartagena as his final destination Sept. 10. In a large field about 20 minutes outside the city center, Francis celebrated Mass before 650,000 people (roughly 150,000 more than was anticipated), according to one official who helped organize the events. Some had camped out overnight to see Francis, trickling in since midnight the night before. Others were left on the curb outside the park gates, too late to see the pope in person, but too hopeful to abandon the scene, thinking they might catch a glimpse as he leaves.

Positive Education Colloquium De La Salle College Ashfield

9 October 2017 - Outline of the Day

All sessions are located in the De La Salle College Hall

Facilitators

Leanne Warner (Langley Group):

Leanne Warner is an inspiring and experienced leader and educator who is passionate about developing people, schools and organisations.

Mr Greg Gebhart:

Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner Greg Gebhart is the Senior Trainer for the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner and one of Australia’s leading presenters. Greg has provided presentations to more than 500,000 participants at state, national and international events.

Learning Intention:

Participants will learn to:

• Develop strengths spotting skills – and why they are essential for effective educators
• Learn how to apply strengths in challenges
• Look for the strengths in ‘difficult’ students, colleagues or family members
• Expand the strengths you are able to notice or appreciate
• Notice the strengths you rely on in your role, and consider how other strengths might enhance your effectiveness and enjoyment of work!

Embracing Agile Leadership for Learning – Dr Simon Breakspeare

Leading meaningful and sustainable changes in teaching and learning are com¬plex-relational problems not just compli¬cated. The theoretical and practice dif¬ference between facing complicated and complex problems is critical (Snowden and Boone, 2007). When facing compli¬cated problems leaders can map out the step-by-step response required from the start to finish before they begin. The im¬provement work is a process of analysis, identifying the evidence-based answer and then following the plan to imple¬ment the solution with fidelity. Tradition¬al change leadership does this well. The leader tries to figure out the answer for everyone, and then tries to build buy-in so that they stick to the plan. Change is viewed as a simple, predictable and linear process. This approach works well when managing resources or ensuring a certain amount of instructional or professional learning time is accounted for. Budget¬ing and timetabling in a school can be a nightmare of a task, left to a poor deputy principal over a few late nights, but they are complicated problems not complex.

Learning Leadership

There are known knowns, things we know that we know. There are known unknowns, things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we don’t know we don’t know. Learning to be the leader who has final responsibility and accountability in a school has all of these elements.

To be selected to lead a school indicates that others have recognised your talents, skills, and ability (the known knowns), and also your potential (the known un¬knowns). No amount of prior learning however can prepare new principals ful¬ly for the role. The unknown unknowns present early and last long, and even if the unknown is named, the way in which these affect our leadership is still an un¬known. Bohn (2013) identified four challeng¬es that define a principal’s first year and which are likely to make the difference between surviving and thriving.

Reflection through the lens

In schools, the middle leadership team is the driving force behind implementing change and enacting the vision of the principal. At St Philip’s Christian College the principal has cast a vision that requires teachers to strive for excellence so that our students have the very best learning opportunities. The Fac¬ulty Leadership Team is encouraged to take on an instructional leadership role so that an understand¬ing of excellence in practice is developed among the teaching staff. Excellence is achieved by deep and critical reflection on practice within a coaching context (Tripp and Rich, 2012). Effective reflection requires a deliberate and consistent examination of instruction and is an integral part of improving teacher practice. Authentic change through reflective processes requires an explicit lens so that analysis of teaching becomes specific thereby avoiding shallow judgements based on memory (Knight, 2017). Video capture of teaching is an effective method in which the focus of reflection can be narrowed and used by teachers to generate genuine reflections on practice. Watching yourself on video can be confronting at first and it feels like an exemplification of listening to a voice recording of yourself. However, once you watch yourself over and over again, the novelty of watching yourself work wears off and you are able to make more precise observations of how your actions lead to learning and this is a powerful tool for improvement.

Mind full or Mindful?

Are you an educational leader who under¬stands that students’ wellbeing concerns are on the increase? Are you aware of research that is being conducted that indicates student stress levels are skyrocketing and school is being cited as the primary concern? If there was a potential solution to decrease stu¬dent anxiety and stress levels in your school would you find a way to include it in your curriculum? Or would you consider it too difficult to include one more thing in an overcrowded curriculum and fear that the teachers would complain about yet another thing they have to do in their day?

What if it didn’t have to be difficult? What if it didn’t have to take up an enormous amount of time? What if the data supported the use of this in other fields and was being explored to find the most effective way of implementing this into your school on a daily basis to achieve enormous results? What if it meant meditation instead of medication and life skills that your students would utilise for a lifetime? Have you considered the power of mindfulness?

The Australian Psychological Society (APS) has conducted its fifth successive national Stress and wellbeing in Australia survey and it is reported that:

“The half decade snapshot shows that Australians are faring worse than they were in 2011 when the survey began, reporting lower levels of wellbeing and workplace wellbeing and higher levels of stress, depression and anxiety symptoms. Australians’ levels of wellbeing have fluctuat¬ed over the five years. A slight improvement was recorded in 2014 and 2015 but wellbeing still remains lower than that in 2011 when the APS first surveyed Australians on this important measure.”

(http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/PW15-SR.pdf)

Schools Plus Teaching Awards

Applications for the 2018 Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards are now open.

The Awards have been created by Schools Plus and the Commonwealth Bank to celebrate and reward excellence in teaching and school leadership. They are supported by Schools Plus' Pioneers in Philanthropy, a group of high-profile business leaders and philanthropists including David Gonski AC. $45,000 Teaching Fellowship In 2018, 12 outstanding educators will receive a $45,000 Teaching Fellowship, comprising $30,000 for a project at the Fellow's school, $10,000 for professional development and a $5,000 study tour to a high-performing education system.They will also join a network of leading educators – including previous Award recipients – and have unique opportunities to learn from experts, share experiences and shape Australia's education landscape.

This is a great opportunity to recognise the inspiring work that goes on in Australian schools! The Awards are open to teachers and school leaders from all Australian schools across the Government, Catholic and Independent sectors.Applications are open until October 12 and further information can be accessed at teachingawards.com.au.

Schoolzine

Schoolzine is proud to be a digital partner and supporter of ACSP NSW - Association of Catholic School Principals in NSW Inc.

Schoolzine has been an industry leader in digital school communications for 10 years. They are dedicated to customer service, product development and understanding the school landscape that keeps them at the top of the industry. Schoolzine’s Parent Engagement Platform consists of 3 packages, an eNewsletter, Mobile App and Website offering. Purchased separately or together, they guarantee each package will make engaging with parents easy and even enjoyable for a school of any size. Schoolzine addresses the need for media-rich, interactive content that engages parents.

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