INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW : DR CAITLIN MUNDAY
HEAD OF PEOPLE , RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
Great Scot was keen to have a chat with Dr Caitlin Munday to enable the Scotch Family to find out more about her background and views on education .
As a new member of the Scotch community , could you tell us a bit about your background in the lead-up to your appointment as Head of People , Research and Professional Growth ?
For the last few years I have worn a few hats . I have had the privilege of serving as the Founding Director of the Teaching Schools Alliance Sydney , where I developed and trained dozens of graduate teachers , and led an alliance of leading independent schools across
NSW and Queensland into a new space and methodology for teacher training . During this time I also worked as a Drama , English and Comparative Religion teacher , pastoral tutor , and in Research and Professional Learning at The Scots College , Sydney where I spent the last 10 years .
Scots is also a P-12 independent boys ’ school , and in my role I had the opportunity to lead the design and development of whole school professional learning programs , focused on the growth and formation of staff , and in particular teachers . Three programs I am particularly proud of were the Master Teacher Program , which sought to celebrate pedagogical expertise ; Teaching for Character , which focused on the cultivation of student character in and through academic programs across the school ; and an emerging leaders ’ program .
I co-founded the Research Invested Schools Network , to help schools think about how they might support and invest in research meaningfully , exercising thought leadership by actively contributing to the generation of new knowledge , not merely passively receiving knowledge produced elsewhere . I also served on the International Boys ’ School Coalition Research Committee , which is where I first heard about Scotch !
Now that you have been at Scotch for a few months , what are your first impressions of our school , and what excites you about where it is going ?
In the past few months I have been doing a lot of reading about the history of Scotch and in particular the values with which it was established . Scotch has always been a school of influence . One needs only to climb the stairwell of the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre for Science , to look up in Memorial Hall , or to visit the foyer of the Tolson Centre to see the significant contributions that have been made by members of the Scotch community .
Scotch has always sought to exercise such influence in the formation of men of character , ‘ men of weight ’, as the song goes , in service of civic good . In an early publication by founding father James Forbes , he comments : ‘ Education embraces many other things besides the simple communication of knowledge . It inculcates the principles of action , the formation of character … In training him ( man ), you must suggest principles fitted to influence him for right action ; you must present motives which will make him avoid evil and follow good ’. ( The Schoolmaster , Melbourne , 1 June 1849 ).
The staff of Scotch , the teachers of Scotch are engaged ( along with families ), in a work of character formation – not at the cost of academic excellence , but inclusive of it . And never has this work been more important . I consider it a unique privilege to be a part of the next chapter of the Scotch story , where all of these endeavours – teacher growth and formation , character education , the pursuit of academic excellence – are foregrounded , and our influence as a school continues to be stewarded , humbly , in service of the common good .
Could you share with us the projects you are currently working on and are
30 Great Scot Issue 172 – Edition 2 2024