David Hutton Executive Director of Catholic Education Archdiocese of Brisbane 31 August 2011 ACU RESEARCH WEEK SHOWCASE EVENT WHY DO EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH?

Response to Professor Goos’ presentation General reflections on research as a Catholic educational practitioner

Making a difference: changing something Moving beyond the anecdotal, “private devotions” and teaching how you were taught e.g. open space, multi-aging Ensuring decisions have on evidentiary basis e.g. Year 7 to secondary Teachers as researchers: action learning and mutual benefit

Getting to scale: influence policy and practice The dollars! Teacher isolation and inertia To every complex question there is a simple answer which is always wrong (c.f. NAPLAN) Quality and validity of research: framing of research Impact on schools of research

Reflections of a Catholic Educational Practitioner Research influence by View of the human person: not mechanistic or economic but holistic View of education: religious and educational purposes What we research Issues of personal meaning such as belief, values and spirituality are valid areas of research Religious issues such as communal expression, doctrine, ritual, social action, religious education and religious life of the school

The role of the Catholic intellectual tradition and teachings The integration of the religious dimension and the area of research e.g. literature, science, economics