April 2022 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues

After many Zoom meetings over the last two years it was wonderful for the CaSPA Board to meet in person in Brisbane. During the meeting it was also a pleasure to catch up with the Executive of CASPAQ and two of our Partners – SchoolZine and Atomi.

In March CaSPA launched the ACP Connect App and Website. ACP Connect is the continuation of a wonderful partnership between ACPPA and CaSPA. Please check you Emails and maybe Junk Mail for your personalised login to the wealth of resources available for your health and well-being.

In recent weeks the other exciting development has been the release of the CasPA Conference’s Registration Link. I hope you will all be able to attend with your Leadership Teams and enjoy the collegial time on offer after 2 years of restrictions.

Registration Link: https://consec.eventsair.com/caspa-2022/registration

Please take some time to look at the results of last year’s CaSPA Survey. The results will be outlined in this and the next editions of our newsletter before being placed on the CaSPA Website.

Our hearts and prayers remain with all those affected by the recent floods and the devastation being experienced by the people in Ukraine.

God’s Blessing to all,

Ann Rebgetz

CaSPA President

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Brief Executive Summary

The Catholic Secondary Principals Australia (CaSPA), in partnership with Pivot Professional Learning, designed and conducted a survey to investigate challenges and enablers for principals, in order to understand how CaSPA can best provide support for regional and remote school leaders.

• Key findings by domain Satisfaction 161 respondents noted that they were somewhat satisfied or very satisfied with their current job. One notable difference between the metro and non-metro respondents was in the positive domain, where although most reported being satisfied, the degree to which that was the case varied. School leaders in major cities were more likely to report being ‘very satisfied’. Consistently, and across all geographical cohorts, three factors appeared to be influential. These were: - Planning the vision for the school’s future - Making an impact on future generations, and - The challenge of leadership.
• Workload Across all responses, questions targeting workload highlighted a major challenge for the school leaders who responded. Almost 70% of the respondents noted that on average they were working more than 55 hours per week, with 35% working over 60 hours on a consistent basis.
• Generally, school leaders felt recognised for their work by their employers, however fewer thought that their contract reflected the extent of their work.
• Recruitment and retention of staff were also more challenging in rural and remote locations. For example, retaining staff was very challenging for remote schools (75%), whereas only 2% of leaders in major cities and 4% in outer regional areas shared this experience.
• Metro and outer regional school leaders felt ‘a great deal of control’ over staffing decisions (81% and 71% respectively), whereas their remote colleagues experienced this in much smaller numbers (38%).

Profiles of all the CaSPA Board are available on the CaSPA Website: https://caspa.schoolzineplus.com/current-and-past-board-members

CaSPA is delighted to announce a partnership with ACPPA to launch the Principal Well-being App - ACPConnect. You will soon receive an invitation to login into the App. Please check your Inbox and Junk Box for the invitation.

With the concerning statistics that have come to light since the Principal Occupational Health and Wellbeing Survey began 11 years ago, it is vital that we work together to provide action and practical tools about principal well-being.

This free health and wellbeing portal is for all Catholic Primary and Secondary Principals across Australia.

Every Principal will receive a personal log in to begin accessing resources relevant to them.

Check out the ACPConnect homepage: https://acpconnect.com.au/

CaSPA acknowledges and supports the release of the 2021 Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey. The survey shows that the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on schools has worsened the risks of long-term damage to principals’ health and wellbeing. The Survey again confirms that principals work longer hours, suffer far higher levels of work-related stress and are at greater risk of physical violence and threats of violence than the general population. In 2021 the further uncertainty and distress of Covid issues saw one in three principals receive a ‘red flag’ notification. In 2022 CaSPA will continue to sponsor and support the work of ACU and Deakin University in this important research for all Principals around Australia. Dr Paul Kidson

Watch Video - Ann Rebgetz, CaSPA President - IPPE Principal Survey 2022

Australian Education Ministers have agreed to critical improvements to the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) giving teachers the additional information they need about student performance earlier in the year.

From next year, NAPLAN, which traditionally has been held in Term 2 of the school year, will be held in Term 1.

Bringing the test forward puts information in teachers’ hands sooner, allowing for more targeted support for students to ensure they are gaining important literacy and numeracy skills.

Specialist research area: Australian Principals Health & Wellbeing

https://www.acu.edu.au/research-and-enterprise/higher-degree-research-hub/scholarships

One PhD Stipend Scholarship is available to conduct research within the Health & Wellbeing research group at ACU’s Institute for Positive Psychology and Education (IPPE). The research will focus on the Australian Principal Occupational Health & Wellbeing Survey. This scholarship offers a unique opportunity to identify psychosocial drivers to improve the wellbeing of principals and prevent negative long-term consequences of an overwhelming increase in job demands to effect change or improve policy.

The candidate’s thesis may include studies such as: a systematic review of strategies to improve school leader wellbeing, evaluate previous policies relevant to principal occupational health, safety and wellbeing, and secondary analysis of data from the survey and other related projects.