Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Team creates partnerships with school, families and communities to deliver a range of support and education services.
All Catholic schools have focus teachers who advocate for their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and families and are supported to become agents of change. Our team also works with Principals, staff, students and their families to ensure our schools achieve the best outcomes for their students.
We assist with student support, through the provision of funding as well as the development of individual learning plans and their implementation. We work in areas of professional learning, to build the capacity of leaders and educational staff, and advance the embedding and normalising of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives within the curriculum R-12.
Our team assists to build cultural capacity, helping school communities to deepen their knowledge and understanding of their own cultural identities, histories and cultures.
We offer leadership development for young Indigenous students. We host programs (the Yellakka Yellarkarri Leadership Program is a five-day SACE-accredited program for Years eight to 12 students) for our secondary indigenous students to network, learn about life challenges and develop their potential to become leaders. We also offer cultural immersion programs for Years 2 to 5 and Years 6 to 9.
The team is in regular contact with school leadership, teachers, parents/carers and senior secondary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Please contact our team on 8301 6600 for further information.
The Australian Curriculum Team provides professional learning opportunities for curriculum leaders in schools.
Supported by professionals from the breadth of Catholic education – including literacy, numeracy, languages, AGQPT and EAL, Indigenous education and special education - the team works to provide support and training to ensure the smooth transition of the Australian Curriculum into our schools.
In addition, all CESA educational consultants working with school personnel provide professional learning and support which encompasses the Australian Curriculum and the opportunities it presents for ongoing school improvement.
For any enquiries relating to the Australian Curriculum, we would encourage to contact our team. Specific questions about a school's curriculum offering is best asked of the school itself, but we are happy to answer your wider questions about this important part of our education system.
Our Behaviour Education consultants in the Inclusion and Learning Team work with schools to support and better engage with students in learning.
While focussing on behaviour and protecting the dignity of each child, we build relationships with teachers and school communities as they work with challenging bahaviours. This support ranges from assisting in the development of behaviour plans through to providing on-going professional development for teachers.
Our Team has a strong focus on Choice Theory, Positive Education, Restorative practices and also works in partnership with the Australian Childhood Foundation around a trauma-sensitive schools project.
Our Team also conducts all the training for the Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum.
Learners of English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) are children and young people whose main home language is a language or dialect other than Standard Australian English (SAE).
In our schools they are simultaneously learning a new language and learning the knowledge, understandings and skills of the curriculum through this new language. EALD learners have the same capacity to learn and understand the curriculum as other learners, however they require informed support with the English language and cultural understandings required to successfully access the curriculum and to demonstrate their achievement.
Effective partnerships between schools, families and CEO personnel involve a shared responsibility for student learning and wellbeing within the whole school community.
The support we offer to our schools in the field of early childhood learning includes:
The CESA Educational Measurement Team supports school leaders and teachers in fulfilling their accountability requirements.
These include co-ordinating participation of all SA Catholic schools in the National Assessment Program (annual NAPLAN tests for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students, as well as national and international sample assessments) and performance reporting to school communities and government agencies.
Support is also provided to analyse assessment data from NAPLAN and other diagnostic tests, such as the ACER Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT), in order to use these results purposefully to inform the design of student learning programs. This aspect is particularly important in schools’ strategic planning, within the context of the CESA Continuous Improvement Framework.
The Educational Measurement Team’s services to the SA Catholic schooling sector include reporting to the SA Commission for Catholic Schools on whole sector performance. Other Catholic Education Office teams are supported with identification, collection, analysis and use of data to implement and report on the full range of programs in schools.
Learning a language provides the opportunity to engage with the linguistic and cultural diversity of the world and its people. It allows our students to reflect on their understanding of various aspects of social life and on their own participation and ways of being in the world.
Learning languages broadens horizons in relation to the personal, social, cultural and employment opportunities that an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world presents. The interdependence of countries and communities means people in all spheres of life are required to negotiate experiences and meanings across languages and cultures.
The Languages Team contributes to communities where partnerships and relationships are founded in justice and compassion and where cultural diversity is valued and celebrated, promoting languages as the vehicle for students to come to understand themselves, their cultures and global communities.
As our communities become increasingly diverse, we continually develop effective practices for engaging with students and families from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, to ensure all that all families are able to engage with our schools and their children’s learning.
The Cabrini Project was initiated in 2018 to develop strategies to ensure effective communication and engagement between our schools and families from diverse backgrounds.
The Learning and Technologies Team co-ordinates professional learning opportunities for CESA teachers and leaders. We support them in building their capacity in curriculum design to reflect innovative digital learning opportunities for their students.
We approach sustainable change of practice and culture in schools by using a coaching methodology, with a focus on digital technology. Contemporary learning environments, together with well-designed curriculum learning programs, integrate 21st Century Skills and Australian Curriculum ICT Capabilities.
This provides an environment that empowers students to participate in their learning, embracing creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, life-long learning, collaboration and communication, ICT literacy, the consciousness of being a local and global citizen and personal and social responsibility.
The vision for developing contemporary learning environments is reflected in the content of the Learning and Technologies Team Blog. The blog provides useful resources for CESA Teachers and Leaders to build capacity in utilising and integrating digital technologies to improve student learning outcomes.
The Literacy and Learning Team supports our schools in designing and delivering contemporary approaches to the teaching of literacy within a framework of on-going enquiry and reflection.
Professional learning includes:
The Literacy and Learning Team situates its work within a sociocultural perspective which raises awareness of issues such as:
The Numeracy Team works with teachers and schools in the Catholic system in metropolitan and country areas through the following professional learning opportunities:
School based projects which are run in individual schools based on the needs of the staff and students are also offered.
Action research forms the basis of our work with teachers. Consultants and teachers engage collaboratively in the research process to improve learning outcomes in mathematics and numeracy for all students. Consultants work as co-researchers with teachers in their classrooms in order to identify students learning and plan future directions.
Underpinning all of the Numeracy Team’s work is the Australian Curriculum, a constructivist approach and an enquiry approach to learning, with the aim of deepening understanding in mathematics and developing numeracy.
Should you require further information, please contact the team on 8301 6600 or CESA registration centre: http://registrationcentre.cesa.catholic.edu.au/
The Religious Education Team supports the integration of faith, life and culture in schools.
The team works to educate, support and resource those involved in the educational mission of the Catholic dioceses in South Australia. It aims, in partnership with families, to assist children and young people in their spiritual and religious formation and invite them into a deeper engagement with the life and mission of the Catholic Church.
We provide a range of services to schools in the fields of:
As a South Australian school network, we are required to adhere to the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE).
SACE is internationally recognised, and is the main way South Australian students get into TAFE and university courses in South Australia, interstate and overseas.
Inclusion and Learning embraces the vision of educating students to participate in Church and the wider community.
In partnership with school communities and families the Inclusion and Learning Team promotes the access and inclusion of students with disability.
Our students with disability consultants provide support for enrolment, transition and collaborative case management and also assist schools to link to external agency support. Resourcing is provided to schools assisting the inclusion of students with disability. Other resourcing provisions include crisis health and assessments.
Our services also include opportunities for professional learning both centrally and school based and information regarding external learning opportunities.
The Vocational Education Team supports and builds the capacity of individuals and school communities to support students in their senior years of schooling and beyond. The team advocates the interests of Catholic Education in South Australia, connecting with key representatives including:
Our support is provided across the metropolitan and regional areas through:
Composing Written Texts F-6 and Composing Written Science Texts 7-10 each provide analysed and annotated model texts and strategies for explicitly teaching text structures and language features.
These resources can be ordered using the form at download link below.
The role of Communications & Marketing is to promote the offerings of Catholic Education SA and to support schools in their building of relationships with local communities through marketing and communication with a range of audiences.
Services available to schools
The ECT Consultancy, in collaboration with school leadership teams, assists in the formation and professional development of teachers new to Catholic Education SA.
A range of professional learning opportunities and online resources is complemented by in-school visits. Further information on the program is available in the working with us section
The Human Resources Team provides a range of consultancy services to schools and the Catholic Education Office in the form of advice on a range of human resources and industrial matters.
Largely this includes providing advice on a range of HR and industrial matters, strategic system-wide HR project support, payroll and long service leave.
The Information and Communications Technology team supports the IT network across Catholic Education.
The focus of the Infrastructure and Development Team is in supporting schools through capital development and contracts regarding the maintenance and development of their school buildings.
The team not only provides a support role - it also brings industry expertise to our schools.
The Catholic Education Office also provides expert advice and support in the areas of planning and how schools can prepare for growth through enrolments and financial planning in terms of managing their own infrastructure development.
Catholic Education SA is committed to strong school leadership that is inspired by our Catholic faith.
The Leadership Development Team is responsible for providing quality support, coordination and professional learning in leadership in the Catholic context. We work with aspiring and current Deputy Principals and Principals in Catholic schools in SA to ensure that schools flourish through dynamic leadership.
Key areas of work undertaken by the Leadership Development Team include:
CESA uses resources from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL).
AITSL is a collaborative organisation drawing on the expertise of the Australian government, all state and territory education departments and the wider education community.
It promotes excellence in teaching and school leadership practice for the benefit of all young Australians by providing policies, advice and resources to support all Australian educators to become expert practitioners.
The Australian Professional Standard for Principals is a public statement which sets out what principals are expected to know, understand and do to achieve in their work.
