Strategy Portal
Making Sense of Sense-Making...
From the Murray to the Sea, DOBCEL aims to realise a vision of the ‘fullness of life for all’ for almost 19,000 students across a community of 63 Catholic primary and secondary schools.
While data shows our Diocesan system of schools is performing quite well, standing still as an education system is not an option in our ever-changing world. In addition, research shows there continues to be inherent and unacceptable educational disadvantage for students outside metropolitan areas.
The DOBCEL Board and community have co-designed a 10-year Strategy, presenting a bold and brave, but not reckless approach to driving high performance across our system of schools over the next decade and beyond.
2025 is our year of sense-making. Below you will find links to useful information, helpful resources and some of the activities that are helping us to make sense of our strategy. Please follow the links in this portal for details and instructions on how to do these activities with your respective teams.
The portal has been designed to be a central location to access the relevant tools and will continue to evolve as we progress on our collective sense-making journey. Please continue to refer back to this portal for new and helpful information.
DOBCEL Strategy 2035 Executive Summary
We encourage you to read and refer to the Executive Summary below for an overview of the Why, What and How of the DOBCEL Strategy 2035 and to begin to make sense of what it means to be a High Performing System of Catholic Schools.
Network Collaboration Days
Around 1,300 staff have now taken part in our Network Collaboration Days, participating in activities designed to explore and make sense of the DOBCEL Strategy 2035.
Participants reflected on student and school characteristics, considered what they would like to Grow and Let Go within their school contexts, and were introduced to the Theory of Change — our Practical Principles which guide our shared direction. The sessions were an opportunity to have powerful conversations about what excites, challenges and inspires us in our collective journey.
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many valuing the opportunity to explore fresh ideas, imagine future possibilities, and strengthen their sense of belonging within our diocesan education community.
We heard from Executive Director, Tom Sexton who introduced The Why, The What (Five Strategic Pillars underpinned by our Catholic Identity) and The How (Theory of Change — Our Three Practical Principles). We also heard from Professor Pasi Sahlberg who introduced us to global change forces and encouraged us to explore the role and impact of student and school characteristics in relation to student learning. Tom and Pasi's slides can both be accessed below.
Slides from Tom Sexton
Executive Director Tom Sexton invited us into a bold and hopeful conversation about the future of Catholic education across DOBCEL. He affirmed deep trust in our leaders and staff, and introduced the DOBCEL Strategy 2035 — a visionary horizon shaped by local voices and global insights. Tom challenged us to collaborate, innovate, and lead together to build a system where every student, staff member, and school community can thrive.
Slides from Prof Pasi Sahlberg
In our collaborative sessions, educational thought-leader Pasi Sahlberg introduced us to global change forces and encouraged us all to think about the changes we are seeing in our own school context and communities. We also explored the role and impact of student and school characteristics in relation to student learning. The PISA Report that Pasi refers to in his slides can be downloaded here.
Sense-Making Activities
The sense-making activities below may assist you to deepen your understanding of our strategy within your teams as it relates to your own school context.
Sir Ken Robinson
Do schools kill creativity?
Michael Fullan on "Systemness"
Somehow a band of system thinkers, sprinkled through the levels of the hierarchy would transform the whole thing?
It is time to have one of those ‘I used to think, now I think’ moments.
Of course, systems cannot change by a bunch of leaders showing the way.
‘Systemness’ is defined as the sense that people have at all levels of the system, that they are indeed the system.
This means they have a responsibility to interact with, learn from, contribute to and be a living member of the system as it evolves.
Fullan, 2021
CSE Leading Education Series #01 February 2021 p. 33