Robert Blucher is currently the Northern Regional Manager of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu - also known as Te Kura, the former Correspondence School.

Before joining Te Kura (which is the country's biggest school, with over 20,000 students) Blucher had leadership and principal roles at several secondary schools.

He has also been a review officer with the Education Review Office.

Blucher identifies strongly as Catholic, with Croatian and Maori (Ngati Kuri) heritage from the Far North.

He and his wife Carleen are active parishioners in the Ponsonby Herne Bay parish. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference says Blucher will take over the role formerly held by Te Kupenga's inaugural CE, Dr Areti Metuamate, who left to return to Australia last year.

In the interim, Nathaniel Centre director Dr John Kleinsman has been the Institute's acting chief executive.

Te Kupenga-Catholic was created in January 2020 by merging Good Shepherd College with The Catholic Institute.

It is made up of three operating units.

There is the Catholic Theological College (an accredited private training entity for tertiary courses and qualifications).

In addition there are the National Centre for Religious Studies and the Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics.

Te Kupenga-Catholic has a broad responsibility.

It combines academic, leadership, faith formation and bio-ethical research and advocacy mandates for the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Source

• Scoop