Last week, Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn (CECG) was honoured to share the transformational journey of Catalyst at the Australian Catholic Education Conference (ACEC) in Cairns. With more than 1,200 education leaders from across the country in attendance, the three-day conference explored the theme “Hope, anchored in Faith”, an apt backdrop for reflecting on the impact of evidence-informed teaching across our Archdiocese.

Over the past five years, Catalyst has become a nationally recognised example of how evidence-based practice can transform classrooms. This reputation saw CECG invited to co-present with Catholic Education Tasmania (CET), to more than 200 delegates. The joint presentation, titled ‘A Tale of Two Systems’, showcased how research-informed practices are revolutionising student outcomes across Australia. While each system reflects different contexts, both share the common purpose of investing in teachers as the most important learners, to realise every student’s God-given potential.

The presentation explored the similarities and differences between the Catalyst program and the Insight into Learning program. While both systems share a common mission grounded in Faith, similar governance frameworks, and strong leadership supported by dedicated teams, each brought differences to their rollout of their approach.

Patrick Ellis, CECG Education Lead, outlined the deliberate steps taken in Catalyst’s five-year transformative journey, including crucial foundations:

1. Building teacher and leadership capacity from the outset
2. Prioritising leader engagement across all schools
3. Maintaining a phased, evidence and data-driven program to sustain change – even when everything feels like a priority

With CECG’s large system spanning NSW and ACT, it was vital to approach the implementation with a strong data-focus to provide rich insights into performance and identify measurable gains.

The evidence clearly demonstrates CECG’s progress with 73% of students now competent readers, exceeding the national NAPLAN average of 68%.

Jennifer White, CET’s System Lead: Curriculum and Pedagogy, shared the stage with Patrick, and demonstrated CET’s accelerated implementation, leveraging learnings from CECG and enabling a more fluid and agile approach.

Both speakers reinforced the power of whole-system approaches that empower teachers to excel in their calling. This transformation programs have been made possible through consistent change management, anchored in Catholic values and informed by the Science of Learning. By investing in teachers as the most important learners, providing them with research-informed resources and support, and maintaining our Catholic mission at the core, our students are provided with the foundations for lifelong learning.

This recognition at ACEC validates the Catalyst program even further and CECG welcome further opportunities to share our insights and collaborate with colleagues embarking on their own program of change. CECG extend our gratitude to the National Catholic Education Commission for the invitation to present.

Explore the impact of Catalyst