The new group's purpose is to work with the NZCBC on agenda items of importance to Katorika (Catholic) Maori.

"The aim is that they provide a well-grounded voice for Katorika Maori and work in partnership with the NZCBC, embodying a more synodal way for the Church," Cardinal John Dew says.

Te Ropu Maori's inaugural delegates are from each of Aotearoa-New Zealand's six dioceses,

They include both wahine and tane members: Manuel Beazley (Auckland), Father Gerard Paterson (Hamilton), Korty Wilson (Palmerston North), Deacon Danny Karatea-Goddard (Wellington), Kathy Simmons (Christchurch) and Sharne Parkinson (Dunedin).

Dew says Te Ropu Maori is in its early stages.

Its members would attend a scheduled meeting of the long-established Te Runanga o te Hahi Katorika ki Aotearoa advisory group in February to reflect on refinements for the future.

The bishops have been wanting to establish a Maori group since a 2019 meeting they had with the long-established Te Runanga o te Hahi Katorika ki Aotearoa.

They acknowledged the need for a Maori voice at the NZCBC meeting table and for a forum to be provided for Maori working in Maori Church communities to come together. It is a synodal way of doing things.

It's not related to the 2023 Synod on Synodality, though.

The timeline to Te Ropu Maori's establishment shows the NZCBC was planning for it before the Pope announced the Synod, but organising it has been delayed by Covid restrictions on meetings.

During the NZCBC meetings Te Ropu members sit at the same table as the bishops for discussions of relevance.

They may take part in these discussions. They were present, for instance, when the bishops heard from other agencies visiting the November meeting, including Caritas, Te Kupenga-Catholic Leadership Institute and the Catholic Education Office.

Te Ropu Maori will attend relevant parts of each meeting of the bishops' conference; the 2023 calendar shows four next year.

Source

• Supplied

Students are leaving school without qualifications, says Kevin Shore, Catholic Education Office CEO.

Catholic school principals tell him of former pupils working instead of coming to school. They're helping with stressed family finances.

Others are losing motivation.

He says absence and interruptions are draining their confidence and for some, NCEA success seems out of reach.

Shore says staff are stressed and the last three years have required a huge amount of resilience.

He says Catholic principals and teaching staff are making every effort to limit the negative learning impacts on students.

With sick leave among New Zealand's teaching staff up by 80 per cent some educational experts seem dismissive when they describe Covid as an "occupational risk" for teachers on the front line.

Long Covid's not being taken seriously enough, teachers say. Yet its symptoms accompany one in 10 infections.

One teacher speaks of "brain fog, fatigue and breathlessness". Another can't walk downstairs. Her lung capacity is poor.

Others report memory problems.

One says he needed reminding how to get to classrooms and when school finishes!

Getting relievers isn't much of a solution.

Principals say Covid is making it "impossible" to find relief teachers.

There are fewer than 8,500 relief teachers in New Zealand - the lowest number for 17 years.

In two years, more than 1,200 have left and have not been replaced causing some schools to roster students home and move to online learning.

Liam Rutherford of NZEI Te Riu Roa says relief teachers need more support.

"In the pandemic, people want access to more secure work and relieving is the opposite of that," he says.

"With no work during lockdowns or over holidays people have no job security. There isn't anything holding them into the sector.

"Covid only emphasises the long-standing issue of insecurity in relief work.

"They need a wider teaching career pathway, with access to professional development."

Rutherford is calling for an in-depth review of the relief teaching workforce.

Sources

• Supplied
• Stuff
• NZ Herald

"We've had to make decisions about how to lead curriculum delivery, assessment, pedagogy and professional development," says Kevin Shore, CEO of the New Zealand Catholic Education Office.

"I remember this time well (as a principal in a school) and there was a plethora of different approaches taken by schools as many used the freedom in the NZ Curriculum to develop local place-based curriculums to compliment the core curriculum."

Shore says the various efforts resulted in some rich and innovative approaches to the curriculum - but across the sector outcomes were variable.

"Falling achievement rates and concerns over levels of student literacy and numeracy resulted in increasing scrutiny of the curriculum. There were calls for more clarity for teachers in interpreting what was most important to teach and how to teach it."

He says approaches to assessment were also a crucial part of this conversation given the strong rejection of National Standards by the education sector.

Shore was delighted to hear new Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti (pictured) tell the Association of Proprietors of Integrated School that she wants curriculum and assessment to be based on best practice models that have a strong research base in terms of effectiveness.

"The teaching of literacy is one of the most important strands of the current review," he says.

"As a former school principal I know well that low levels of student literacy are the most significant threat to equitable outcomes in education.

"Students with low levels of literacy (and numeracy) have a limited ability to participate in the breadth of the senior school curriculum resulting in more limited career options."

Shore says at a personal level, he is encouraged by the strategies Tinetti described.

He's particularly pleased with Tinetti's focus on best practice teaching for literacy and numeracy.

"It's encouraging to see curriculum statements that have more clarity on what should be taught and when, funding for curriculum lead support, focused professional development for our teaching staff in schools and a more comprehensive set of resources to support teachers in delivering the curriculum."

The next thing to get right is to ensure delivery matches these good educational ideas, he says.

"I've seen a number of good educational ideas scuppered by poor delivery strategies. I am hopeful, though, that this aspect of the current education reforms in curriculum and assessment does receive the necessary funding and technical support to be successful."

Clarifying a report on 1News, Shore told CathNews that Catholic schools are not part of the 44 Christian religious-affiliated schools that are denying access to the Gardasil vaccine.

The vaccine offers protection against the human papillomavirus which can result in cancer-causing sexually transmitted infections.

"The Catholic Church does not accept there is a direct moral link between being vaccinated and any attitude towards sexual promiscuity," Shore said.

He explained Catholic schools, through their human development programme, continue to walk alongside and support parents as young people develop and continue to promote a Catholic and Christian vision of sexual intimacy.

"The Church's position is very much the same as a parent's where we guide our children, set value systems and expected behaviour but love and support them despite the decisions they might make," he said.

He observed that while from a physical and mental health perspective casual intimate relationships can be very damaging for young people, abstinence seems to be at odds with the modern world.

"The terrible consequences of STIs require every person to be protected as much as possible."

Shore commented that some data suggests up to 80 percent of women are exposed to this virus at some point.

"No person deserves to face such dire consequences as a result of a decision, whether deliberate or not, that may lead them to catch an STI and subsequently something more serious," said Shore.

1News reported last week that in 2021, 44 schools did not take part in the nation-wide free in-school immunisation programme for years seven and eight.

The News organisation reported that most of the 44 schools had a Christian religious affiliation.

"It is important to give it to young people aged around 11, 12, 13 because it is most effective in this age group," says Director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre, Dr Nikki Turner.

"[It] is heartbreaking that we will see people who turn up in later years with cervical cancer who did not know it was preventable," she says.

Source​

• Supplied: Catholic Education Office
• 1News

The Community Schools Alliance is made up of 43 of the country's 2431 state and integrated schools.

And the former CEO of the New Zealand Catholic Education Office Brother Sir Patrick Lynch has also suggested that "significant changes" need to be made to the proposal.

A report prepared by a task force led by former principal Bali Haque proposes the establishment of about 20 regional "hubs".

All the legal responsibilities and liabilities currently held by school boards of trustees would be transferred to these hubs.

Massey High School principal Glen Denham, a spokesman for the Community Schools Alliance said he worked under such a system in London and it did not work.

"We are a world-class education system. It's not broken," he said.

"What makes us great is that we are a tapestry of different kinds of schools, that you can go 10km down the road and find a completely different kind of school."

Lynch says there has been a need for a review of what is now referred to as the Tomorrow's Schools model.

"However, the recent task force document succeeds in throwing out the baby and the bathwater, given the proposals it has made."

He says not many people would agree that no changes should be made, "yet the task force seems to have forgotten or overlooked some fundamental aspects of today's New Zealand society."

The Catholic schools that have joined The Community Schools Alliance are: Baradene College (Remuera), Chanel College (Masterton), De La Salle College (Mangere), John Paul College (Rotorua), Liston College (Henderson), Marist College (Mt Albert), Sacred Heart College (Glendowie), St Dominic's Primary School (Blockhouse Bay), St John's College (Hastings), St Paul's College (Ponsonby), and St Peter's College (Epsom).

Source

• wn.catholic.org.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• newstalkzb.co.nz
• Image: Screenshot conversation.education.govt.nz

This represents a less than 0.1% decline in the total share of students in New Zealand.

This is the first year that non-European/Pakeha students represent over half of students in Catholic schools.

The European/Pakeha student population in Catholic schools is 49.9%, with the next largest group being Pasifika students (15.7%) and Asian and Maori following closely (15.3% and 14.5% respectively).

There are 66,888 students in Catholic schools in New Zealand, which represents 8.3% of the New Zealand schooling network.

Of these, 44% are Y1-6 Primary students, 39% Y9-13 Secondary students and the remainder (17%) Y7-8 Intermediate level students, who may be in primary or secondary schools.

There are 237 Catholic schools in New Zealand, with an average school size of around 280 students.

Most Catholic schools are full primary schools (Y1-8) but they are the smallest schools with an average student roll of around 175.

Most secondary schools are open to Y7-15 and have an average student roll of about 750.

Most Catholic school students are based in the Auckland region. This tracks well with the proportion of the whole school population, Catholic and non-Catholic, in each region.

The Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson, West Coast and Southland regions have more than 10% of all students attending a Catholic school (the average for New Zealand being 8.3%).

Diocesan summaries provide a breakdown by Primary and Secondary student population and also show the ethnic make-up for each diocese.

The Auckland and Wellington dioceses, with their more multi-cultural urban populations, have more ethnically diverse student populations, followed by Hamilton and Palmerston North.

An update of this report will be timed to follow the Ministry of Education release of the March roll returns. A downloadable PDF version is available here.

Source

• Supplied: Paul Ferris, Chief Executive Officer. New Zealand Catholic Education Office
• nzceo.org.nz
• Image: nzceo.org.nz

Bill Shorten, who is the party's federal parliamentary leader, has promised the Catholic Bishops' Conference chairman, Bishop Denis Hart, to "arbitrarily" give Catholic schools the $250m in the first two years of government.

Shorten also pledged billions more to come over the next decade.

He made the promise to Hart in the week before a by-election for the Batman seat in the House of representatives.

He reminded Hart of what the party planned to spend on Catholic schools should it win government at the next federal poll.

The measures Shorten outlined are in line with what Labor has promised for nearly a year.

It has been pledging to restore the level of funding schools were originally promised under the Gillard government in 2012.

Labor outlined the difference between what the Turnbull government is giving schools in 2018 and 2019 and its plan.

It says the difference is $1.88 billion for public schools, $250 million for Catholic schools and $53.5 million for the independent sector.

Citing these figures, Mr Shorten wrote: "Catholic schools would be more than $250 million better off in our first two years of government alone."

Shorten's promise has been met with opposition by a public school lobby group.

The group says it is "an arbitrary and partisan move".

The president of the Australian Council of State School Organisations, Phillip Spratt, says Labor has made an "irrational and illogical policy in the scrabble for votes".

On Monday the education minister, Simon Birmingham, told Sky News "there's always somebody who can be bought by a few pieces of silver", suggesting Labor had bought Catholic Education Melbourne's support.

The Catholic education office in Melbourne is said to have intervened in the Batman by-election.

It has been reported as making 30,000 robocalls in favour of Labor's Ged Kearney.

On Tuesday the Labor frontbench MP Brendan O'Connor labelled the comments - apparently comparing the sector to Judas - "disgraceful" and called on Birmingham to apologise.

Source

• The Guardian
• Sydney Morning Herald
• SBS News
• Image: TenPlay

Four officials testified earlier this week at Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

When Cardinal Pell came to Melbourne as an auxiliary bishop in 1987, Fr Peter Searson was terrifying children at the parish of Doveton.

Fr Searson, who died in 2009, killed a bird in front of children, showed them a dead body in a coffin, held a gun to the heads of parishioners, threatened to stab a child and repeatedly molested youngsters during Confession.

Melbourne's Catholic Education Office took complaints to then-Archbishop of Melbourne, Archbishop Frank Little, but nothing was done.

Then-Bishop Pell reportedly received a delegation of teachers complaining about Fr Searson in 1989 and another of parents in 1991.

Fr Searson was eventually suspended in 1997, a year after Cardinal Pell became archbishop.

This came after the priest bashed an altar boy whose parents went to police.

Earlier this year, Cardinal Pell told the royal commission that when he was auxiliary bishop, staff from the CEO didn't give him a full account of allegations about Fr Searson.

The cardinal said the office had given him "no adequate background briefing on the long-term problems at all".

The cardinal said he believed CEO staff deceived him because they feared he "would not accept the status quo".

He said this was done to protect the office and Archbishop Little.

Former deputy director of the Catholic Education Office Peter Annett testified that he was shocked, disappointed and angry that the cardinal had referred to inaction by the CEO.

Msgr Thomas Doyle, former executive director of the Catholic Education Office, told the commission Cardinal Pell's evidence that he was deceived by education office staff was wrong.

Contrary to Cardinal Pell's claim, Msgr Doyle said the CEO would have welcomed his assistance in removing the priest.

But a former principal at the Catholic school in Doveton, Graeme Sleeman, strongly rejected the claim that dealing with Fr Searson was the top priority of the Catholic Education Office.

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• The Guardian
• Image: The Telegraph