Catholic School Parents Australia Media Release

11 March 2021

CSPA supports Education Minister’s reform agenda

Catholic School Parents Australia (CSPA) supports the reform agenda outlined by the Minister for Education and Youth Alan Tudge MP in his speech at the Menzies Research Centre earlier today. 

In response to the Minister’s address, Jacinta Collins - Executive Director, National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) notes that national priorities developed by NCEC to support the continual improvement of educational outcomes for all students in Australia’s 1,751 Catholic schools align well with those outlined by Minister Tudge.

“CSPA works in close partnership with NCEC,” notes CSPA Chair - Karl Rodrigues, “and we greatly value our opportunities to work with other educational bodies such as ACARA and AITSL.  Our families want the best possible learning for their children and parent voice being part of the constructive discernment of these key education agencies is vital”.

Minister Tudge made reference to parents several times in his address, noting the important r

ole that parents play in a child’s life and also in relation to the planned development of a repository of assessment tools that parents may access to see how their children are performing.

“CSPA has been focussed on building on the more than fifty years of research on parent engagement,” notes Mr Rodrigues, “research that consistently shows how family engagement in their children’s learning positively impacts their children’s achievements.  CSPA enthusiastically supports any school reforms that motivate families to further engage in their children’s learning.”

Across 200 years, many families have placed great ‘faith in the future’ in seeking out a Catholic education for their children.  The wonderful partnerships between many millions of parents and carers and Catholic schools have assisted Catholic education to grow from strength to strength.  CSPA thanks all education authorities, especially those in government, in valuing the voice of parents and carers in this most critical of enterprises, the education of our children.