History of the Association
BEGINNINGS
The initial meeting of Principals, which led to the formation
of the PAVCSS, was initiated by Mr Frank Rogan, then Supervisor
of Catholic Education in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. He
saw the need for greater communication and cooperation among
Catholic educators and hoped that this first meeting of
Principals might lead to the formation of an ongoing group
that could facilitate this.
The Director of the Catholic Education Office, Father Frank
Martin invited all principals of Catholic Schools in the
Archdiocese of Melbourne to a meeting to be held on 10 August
1972, at the Olympia Room, Olympic Park. The themes of the
day were "The Catholic Secondary School in Contemporary
Society" and "The Lay Teacher in the Catholic
Secondary School".
This meeting proved to be so successful that it was decided
that a further meeting should be held. This meeting, also
organised by Mr Frank Rogan, was held on 9 November 1972.
Professor P. Musgrove of Monash University spoke on the
topic of "Curriculum Change", in the light of
the freedom given to schools to develop their own programmes
and curricula up to the end of Form 5. Since the topic was
of vital concern for all schools it was decided to invite
Deputy Principals as well. There was representation from
fifty secondary schools.
ESTABLISHMENT
At this meeting, a committee was formed to establish the
Principals' Association. It consisted of Sr Brigid Arthur,
Sr Nora Finucane, Sr Josepha Dunlop, Fr Frank Shortis, Br
William Greening, Br Romuald O'Brien, Sr Paschal Rushford
and Mr Frank Rogan. This committee had representation from
Regional Colleges, boys' colleges, girls' colleges and colleges
with students only to Form 4. It met for the first time
on 8 December 1972.
The Committee requested that country membership be included,
meeting dates for 1973 were fixed and the aims of the prosed
Association were formulated. These were:
- To foster close links between those concerned with the
improvement of education administration in Catholic Schools.
- To conduct conferences and seminars for Principals and
teachers in Catholic Schools.
- To facilitate the dissemination of information about
developments in educational institutions.
- T o provide a forum for the discussion of common problems
and new approaches.
The composition and name of the Association had to be considered,
and these questions were raised
- Should it be an association in its own right or should
it see itself as the forerunner of a larger organisation
of teachers in Catholic secondary schools?
- Should it become a Victorian association or be restricted
to the Archdiocese?
- Should it be a professional association, restricting
itself to matters associated with teaching and learning
processes, or did it see itself as being a body which
would suggest means of rationalising resources, or changes
in policy?
- What was to be its relationship with the Catholic Education
Office?
Fr Frank Shortis was elected Chairman and Mr Frank Rogan,
Secretary, as a direct link with the Catholic Education
Office. An interim constitution was prepared.
On 11 October 1973, the interim constitution was adopted,
and members of the 1974 Executive elected. Twelve months
later, the General Meeting adopted the constitution stating
that the Secretary of the Association should be a Principal,
but not without acknowledging the contribution of Mr Frank
Rogan over the previous two years. He was asked to stay
with the Association as an observer.
The name of the Association was to be the Principals' Association
of Victorian Catholic Secondary Schools. Membership was
to be open to any person who acted as Principal in a Victorian
Catholic school with secondary classes and who had final
local responsibility for that institution. During any necessary
absence of the Principal, the person who administered the
school during this period was to be invited to attend meetings
and vote on issues raised.
The Association, through its Executive, was to speak on
behalf of the Principals of Victorian Catholic Secondary
Schools. The Executive would be responsible for conducting
general meetings of the Association and managing the interests
of the Association between general meetings.
The development of the Association was aided by the regular
correspondence between Mr Frank Rogan and the Catholic Secondary
Schools Association of NSW and the ACT, the Secretary of
which was Mr John Kennedy (who subsequently became a member
and was twice elected President of the PAVCSS).
At the first General Meeting, the Principals' Association
was asked for suggestions as to what form the Catholic Education
Commission of Victoria might take. Fr Frank Shortis and
Br Romuald O'Brien (later Fr Frank O'Brien) were invited
to assist, and Fr Frank Shortis became the PAVCSS Representative
on the newly formed Commission in August 1973.
CONFERENCES
In 1976 the first PAVCSS Conference was held at St Mary's
College, Melbourne University, with 70 principals participating.
This Conference, led by Sr Carmel Leavy OP, addressed the
theme "The Many Worlds of the Catholic School's Principal".
Following the success of the first three-day Conference
the Association has annually organised conferences on the
following themes:
1977 Values Clarification in the School Community
1978 The Principal as a Pastoral Person
1979 Personal Formation of the Principal
1980 Staff Community Development
1981 The Identity of Catholic Secondary Schools: A Challenge
for the eighties
1982 Ministry, A Means of Christ's Peace
1983 Ministry
1984 Nurturing Growth in the Catholic School Community
1985 Axiology and Catholic Education: You - The Leader
1986 Adolescence and Adulthood - A Juxtaposition of
Cultures
1987 Prophetic Mission of the Catholic School
1988 Catholic Schools Towards 2000
1989 (National Catholic Education Commission Conference
held in Melbourne)
1990 Challenging our Culture: The Task of Catholic Education
1991 To Renew the face of the Earth - the challenge for
Catholic educators
1992 To cast Fire on the Earth - Catholic Educators as
Leaders
1993 Noticing God -Spirituality in Catholic Education
1994 The Heart of the Matter - The Family and Catholic
Education
1995 Educating Now to be Church: Community for Liberation
In
the 1980s these conferences were open, first to Deputy Principals
and then to teachers, administrators, Board members, priests,
parents and students. From them developed the Catholic Education
Conference, which is held annually in Melbourne, and which
has contributed significantly to Catholic educational thinking
in Australia.
In 1987 a Conference, for Principals only, was held at
Parkville. The success of this venture has seen similar
conferences held in subsequent years, first at Parkville
and than at Marysville. The following themes have been addressed:
1987 Ministry of Leadership in Catholic Education
1988 Leadership:
Patrick Duignan
1989 Staff Development:
Charles Burford
1990 Values in Leadership
1991 Visionary Leadership
1992 Prayer for Leaders:
Fr Patrick O'Sullivan S.J.
1993 Spirituality of the Ordinary:
Mary-Anne Confoy RSC
1994 Re-imaging the Sources of Our Faith:
Fr Frank Andersen MSC
1995 Tomorrow's School, Leading Tomorrow's Church:
Kevin Treston
1996 Leadership and Values:
Paul Begley
1997 Authentic Leadership:
Professor Patrick Duignan
1998 Challenges to Faith/Challenges to Leaders in Faith
Development:
Fr Michael Morwood MSC
1999 The Conversations of Our Lives - Avenues to Conversion:
Fr David Ranson
2001 The Dynamics of Adult Christian Formation:
Fr Wayne Cavalier OP
2002 Leadership: An Alternative Vision - Jill McCorquodale
SGS
2003 Surviving and Thriving as a Principal - Dr John Tickell, Fr Michael Court SDB
2004 The Courage to Lead - Fr Michael Court SDB
2005 A Journey in Faith as a Principal - Fr. Peter Matheson
2006 Centered in Faith, Centred in Self - Dr Richard Wade, Dr Brenda Beatty
2007 "The Catholic School Integrating Faith, Life and Culture. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"
Dr Rose Marie Prosser, Dr Philip Hughes and Professor Graham Rossiter
There was no conference held in 2000 as the first National
Conference of Catholic Secondary Principals was held in
Melbourne and hosted by the PAVCSS
(Images from Journal of Catholic Education Conference,
vol 9, No. 3, August 1992 - 'To Cast Fire Upon the Earth':
Catholic Educators as Leaders)
