Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) has this week outlined to parishes its contribution to building stronger WA communities.
Contributing to stronger WA communities was released to parishes across the Archdiocese of Perth this week, highlighting the significant role of Catholic education in Western Australia, evidenced not only in the financial contribution to the economy, but more importantly in preparing children and young people to positively contribute to society well into the future.
Speaking to The Record earlier this year, CEWA Executive Director Dr Debra Sayce, said that at a time when all of humanity have been called to unite in a common cause, Catholic school communities have witnessed the tremendous resilience and creativity of the human spirit and the significance of purposeful mission and service.
“It has been inspiring this year to see Catholic schools giving witness to our mission in extraordinary ways,” Dr Sayce said.
“It is now essential that we bring forward the best ideas and innovations to support new and more effective strategies in our schools,” she said.
As the second largest education provider in the state of more than 76,000 students, Dr Sayce remarked that the Catholic education system provide educational options and quality school opportunities for 18 per cent of the State’s total school student population, including 23 per cent of all secondary school students.
“We cater to families from a spectrum of social and economic backgrounds, Catholic schools provide educational choice for all families seeking a Catholic education for their children, regardless of their individual circumstances or their capacity to financially contribute,” Dr Sayce explained.
Also highlighted in the report are CEWA’s flagship initiatives, which aim to achieve the vision of being Christ-centred and child-focused communities and engaged learning environments through:
- Child Safe Framework: Launched in 2018, the Child Safe Framework promotes work practices and establishes expectations for personal and professional boundaries that support a child safe culture for all Catholic schools, care centres and communities, based on the latest research in child safety for institutions, in line with best practice, and consistent with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommendations.
- Transforming Lives Strategy: With more than 3,100 Aboriginal students and more than 100 Aboriginal Teaching Assistants in Catholic schools across WA, the system-wide key initiative is commits to creating outstanding, culturally responsive learning environments for young Aboriginal people and their families. The strategy strives to ensure Aboriginal students have equitable access and participation in Catholic schools, and every opportunity to achieve educational outcomes equal to that of their non-Aboriginal peers.
The report emphasises that parents in Catholic schools make a significant contribution to their children’s education, saving the Federal and State governments millions of dollars annually.
Catholic schools saved WA taxpayers $611 million in 2019.
In 2019, this resulted in a net saving of $262 million to Federal Government and $611 million to State Government in recurrent costs alone.
In 2019, independent analysis undertaken by Ernst & Young estimated that CEWA supported approximately 11 000 full time teaching and non-teaching jobs resulting in an estimated gross value add of $1.64 billion.
This information is coupled with the fact that CEWA colleges are among the top performing schools in the State in terms of Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) achievement, and cater for all students, whether they are aspiring to undertake university, further training or enter the workforce.
2019 highlights include
- 4,988 students achieved the WACE at CEWA colleges with 19 students awarded with School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) General Exhibition, SCSA General Exhibition (ATSI), VET Exhibition and Subject Exhibition awards.
- Many students achieved an ATAR ranking of 95 or higher. CEWA students’ median ATAR was 82.05 in 2019, compared with the State median of 81.05.
- Literacy and Numeracy standards were met by 97.0 per cent of CEWA students and the percentage of students that reached numeracy, reading and writing standards were 97.8 per cent, 99.0 per cent and 98.9 per cent respectively.
Dr Sayce added that just as it has been inspiring this year to see Catholic schools giving witness to their mission in extraordinary ways, it is equally essential that all sectors of education continue to work together, with the support of the State and Federal government, to develop education plans that as Pope Francis stated, “put the economy and politics at the service of the human person.”
“So, while this year has confronted us and challenged us, our approach has been consistent with who we are; and indeed goes to the core of the mission we were founded on. The principle underlying this – that our decisions must be Christ-centred and child-focused – has held us in good stead,” Dr Sayce concluded.