3. Professional Development

Staff & Board Enrichment in Marist Charism

Young Marists responds to requests from individual schools to carry out professional development for Staff and Boards. This entails a number of different approaches, depending on the needs of the particular group. The themes of Marist Education gleaned from the insights of Fr Colin in Les Avis are kept to the forefront, as are the unchanging Gospel virtues that continue to inform the spirit of a Catholic and Marist school. Both Staff and Boards are helped to understand how a Marist way of living and working affects the outcome for each student and for the whole school. This professional development is always changing and growing. New needs are constantly being met, and most schools in the Network avail themselves of at least one significant session of enrichment in Marist Charism each year. Individual staff have further opportunities for Marist professional development through National Network Forums.

Marist Staff Neighbours Programme 

This programme grew out of the realisation that students returning to school from the Young Marist Neighbours programme were having some difficulty in articulating what was a very personal experience, and so the on-going processing of the programme was somewhat hampered. To meet this unexpected need,Young Marists instituted a Marist Neighbours for staff. The programme is based at Te Whaiti, and we take the staff participants through the same process as the students, visiting the same places, listening to the same people, and experiencing the same group dynamics. Some of the more confronting and complex dynamics, which are appropriate for teenagers, we simply explain, helping the staff members to understand how they can help the students to continue processing their experience when they return to school.

NNMS Forums with Staff Groups

Young Marists presents professional development in Marist Charism in a focused and intentional way through Forums run for specific interest groups, requested by the member schools of the Network. The Forums, presented in Wellington, run over a twenty-four hour period. Typically there is some general input on Marist history and spirituality and how it impacts on this particular group. Then there is input, much more specific to the interest of the group, and guidance, especially, on how the individual staff member might apply this aspect of Marist insight to his or her work and life. The participants have the opportunity to network with each other, to exchange best practice examples, to learn from each other’s experience, and to be affirmed in their service to Marist Education.

These are some of the interest groups that gather for Forums:

    •    Principals and Board Chairs
    •    Senior Management Teams
    •    Directors of Religious Studies and Ministry Leaders Religious Education Teachers
    •    Teachers of Secular Subjects
    •    Middle Management Leaders
    •    Teachers new to a Marist School
    •    Tagged Teachers
    •    Non-Catholic Teachers
    •    Extra-curricular coaches and administrators Ancillary staff
    •    School and Board Financial Officers
    •    Wananga exploring Marist tikanga
    •    Servant Leadership in Marist Schools

As well as these, there is an annual Forum in early April on The Care of Young Leaders. This is attended by the Head and Deputy Head students from all the Network schools, and their Principals. It is an opportunity for the student leaders to assess and evaluate their performance so far, and for the Young Marist team to give them guidance and support. The Principals each have the opportunity to sit down in open and frank dialogue with their student leaders. Each of the schools takes its turn in hosting this Forum.

Growing Catholic School Leaders Programme 

This programme grew out of the realisation that over the next ten to fifteen years there will be a need for new Principals, not only in our own schools, but in Catholic secondary schools all over Aotearoa New Zealand. Many candidates had been applying for Principal positions in Catholic schools without even realising why they did not qualify in terms of Catholic Character and the requirements of the so-called ‘S65’ form. 

The programme runs over eighteen months during which there are five Forums. Each Forum focuses on one of five components: 

1. The legal and Church requirements of the PSCI Act 1975. What Proprietors of Catholic Schools deem as ‘acceptable’ in an applicant for a leadership position. 

2. The personal Catholic faith and spirituality of the leader

3. The spiritual leadership in the Catholic secondary school

4. The professional leadership in the Catholic secondary school

5. Intentional preparation for leading in a Catholic secondary school in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Each programme is restricted to thirteen participants and each forum contains strong elements of Marist spirituality and exploration of the Marist Charism in the context of school leadership. At each Forum participants hold a question and answer session with one or more of the Principals in the Network. In between forums the participants are given reading material and a certain focus for reflection. 

The first programme concluded with a small graduation ceremony in November 2015, and four of the participants had already been promoted to senior leadership positions. The second programme began in March 2016.