requirements of the role , we must identify a leader who can best prepare our boys for what they will inherit ; no easy task given the pace of change and the enormity of the challenges impacting our world .
To prepare ourselves to evaluate the attributes of the high calibre candidates who have offered themselves for selection , we first invested considerable time in gaining a clearer perspective on the issues they will confront as we move into and through the third decade of this century .
These issues will not surprise you . They include the most challenging we confront – as a community and as a country – the changes sweeping the world in the social , environmental and technological fields and the geopolitical tensions , including those in our region , to name a few .
To get a better understanding of how our broad community sees those challenges we convened sessions with parents , boys , teaching and non-teaching staff , our alumni , the Foundation and the Presbyterian Church . These sessions were immensely fruitful and gave Council some critical insights .
While the scope and impact of the challenges were acknowledged , all stakeholders were clear that there were some fundamentals that did not change . The critical aspects of relational learning – so well championed by Tom – remained relevant , as did our foundational value of respect . These are at one level straightforward concepts , but they cannot be underestimated for their potential to guide how our School is led in the future .
Each one of us has been impacted by technological change – more so in this COVID age than ever before . Technology has supported our educational endeavours in many ways , but whatever advances are made ( and there will be many ) it cannot replace the criticality of the relationship between student and educator . We know from everything we see – in our School and beyond – that boys thrive when that relationship is strong . Perhaps the way to think about technology is how it might best be used to enable a more effective implementation of the relational approach to learning .
In the same way that we will be required to adopt and adapt to technology , we will continue to confront an array of social challenges . These can be immense and many go to the heart of what our community stands for . I take great heart from the overwhelming endorsement of our stakeholders for our key value of respect , and how we must continue to ensure that this is the dominant force guiding all in our community as we go about our work .
The challenge for boys today is substantial , as a deluge of competing messages hits their computer and mobile phone screens . It has never been more critical to instil the core value of respect in the mind of each of our boys , and send them into the world clearly understanding how this critical value manifests in all their relationships .
These thoughts are being reflected in the conversations we are having with candidates for the role of Principal , and I look forward to updating you on Council ’ s progress in coming months . www . scotch . vic . edu . au Great Scot 3