7:30
Agenda
Registration and Morning Coffee
8:10
Welcome to Country
8:15
Opening Remarks from the Chair
David Idstein, Director Character Development and Leadership, The King’s School
8:20
Welcome Remarks
Dr Scott Marsh, Principal, Scotch College, Melbourne
8:30
International Keynote Address – The Caught, Taught, and Sought model of Character Education
Dr Liz Gulliford, Associate Professor, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, The University of Birmingham
9:10
Keynote Address – Why Character Education is critical in the Australian context – a Principal’s Perspective
Rebecca Cody, Principal, Geelong Grammar School
9:40
Live Interview Flourishing in Schools: What Is Educational Success Really For?
Dr Kylie Trask-Kerr, Senior Lecturer Facility of Education, Australian Catholic University
In conversation with David Brown, Dean of Students, Scotch College Melbourne
10:10
Morning tea
10:40
Panel Discussion: What Character means to us – Diverse schools, unique approaches, shared goals
- How state, Catholic, and independent schools interpret and prioritise character education
- Exploring the diverse strategies and philosophies schools adopt to foster character development.
- Aligning diverse approaches to achieve common outcomes: nurturing ethical, resilient, and community-minded students.
Sarah Asome, Principal, Bentleigh West Primary School
Aaron McDonald, Principal, Youth Off the Streets
10:40
Panel Discussion: What Character means to us – Diverse schools, unique approaches, shared goals
- How state, Catholic, and independent schools interpret and prioritise character education
- Exploring the diverse strategies and philosophies schools adopt to foster character development.
- Aligning diverse approaches to achieve common outcomes: nurturing ethical, resilient, and community-minded students.
Sarah Asome, Principal, Bentleigh West Primary School
Aaron McDonald, Principal, Youth Off the Streets
Streamed Workshops:
Stream A
Leadership
Stream B
Character in the Classroom
Stream C
Primary
Stream D
Extra Curricula
Stream E
Faith
Stream F
Purpose-Led
Stream A – Character in Leadership
11:10
Championing Ethical Leadership in Schools: The St Catherine’s x Cranlana Partnership
- How Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership partnered with St Catherine’s School to adapt their renowned Ethical Leadership Program for Year 9 students, creating an age-appropriate curriculum that builds character and ethical decision-making skills in adolescents.
- Insights from the successful 2025 pilot program and the 2026 full rollout, including measurable impacts on student development, lessons learned during implementation, and how the program integrates with existing school frameworks.
- Exploring the potential for replicating this model across other educational institutions, addressing challenges in embedding ethical leadership into secondary curricula, and the role of school-community partnerships in developing the next generation of ethical leaders.
Matt Finnis, CEO, Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership
Natalie Charles, Principal, St Catherine’s School
11:40
The Role of Character in Transformational School Leadership
- How character-driven leadership fosters trust, resilience, and ethical decision-making in school communities.
- Strategies for integrating character education into leadership practices to inspire staff and students.
- The long-term impact of character-focused leadership on school culture, collaboration, and student outcomes.
Christopher Quinn, Principal, Western Port Secondary College
12:10
Abbotsleigh Women in Leadership Academy: A Model for Character-Driven Leadership Development
- Groundbreaking initiative embedding character education to nurture curiosity, resilience, and ethical leadership in young women.
- Comprehensive programs including leadership classes, mentoring by accomplished women, and real-world leadership experiences.
- A model for schools to cultivate everyday leadership, collaboration, and influence through purpose-driven education.
Victoria Rennie, Deputy Headmistress, Abbotsleigh
Stream B – Teaching Character in the Classroom
11:10
The Sydney Grammar School Approach to Character Education
- Historical Foundations: The approach is rooted in 19th and 20th-century educational ideals shaped by figures like Thomas Arnold, adapted to Australian schooling, emphasizing character formation within a non-denominational, academic tradition.
- Humanities and Arts as Catalysts: Drawing on Friedrich Schiller and Matthew Arnold, the humanities and arts cultivate imagination, empathy, and moral discernment, with cocurricular activities fostering reflection, ethical seriousness, and independent thought.
- Grammar Forum:A newly articulated intellectual and ethical curriculum focused on open inquiry, teaching boys how to think rather than what to think, while engaging with significant ideas, great works, guest speakers, and real-world ethical questions.
Dr Luke Harley, Assistant Headmaster, Sydney Grammar School
11:40
Integrating Character into the Curriculum
- Why Character and what is the starting point?
- Integrating character education into a caught, taught and sought approach
- Promoting a whole-school approach to character development through leadership programs, community service, pastoral care and staff “buy in.”
- Character in a history classroom
Andrew Perks, Deputy Principal Culture and Character Education, Bacchus Marsh Grammar School
12:10
Cultivating moral virtues in the classroom
Character educators recognise that education is inherently formational. Virtue is shaped through repeated practices that form habits over time. Since students spend the majority of their school lives in classrooms, these spaces represent the most powerful context for moral formation.
Yet, with crowded curricula and competing priorities, intentional virtue formation can feel like an added burden. This workshop demonstrates how moral virtue formation can be meaningfully embedded into everyday classroom practice, without becoming an “add-on.”
Participants will explore practical, integrated strategies to intentionally cultivate virtue through what they are already doing.
- Why focusing on moral virtue formation in the classroom is important for character education
- Identify the key components for cultivating moral virtue in the classroom
- Apply the 4 Ps of the classroom (person,practices, pedagogies and programs) to integrate moral virtue formation into everyday teaching
Bree Steedman, Director of Christian, Character and Service Integration, William Clarke College
Stream C – Developing Character in Primary Education
11:10
Starting the Character Education Journey: A Primary School Perspective
- Aligning to your vision, values, and culture – how does it ‘fit’ with the ‘signs on your walls’
- Bringing your community along – articulating the why of Character Education from Board, to leaders, staff, parents and students and leveraging from what we are already doing
- Take the first step – practical opportunities for nurturing Character development
David Hodges, Deputy Principal, St Andrew’s School South Australia
Luke Ritchie, Principal, St Andrew’s School South Australia
11:40
Embedding Character Education in Primary Classrooms: Practical Strategies for Everyday Impact
- Moving beyond values and behavioural expectations to help students grasp what matters, why it matters, and how to respond in daily situations.
- Using routine moments, discussions, and curriculum opportunities to intentionally support students’ reflection and responses.
- Building a consistent approach through shared language, routines, and structures like assemblies for early adoption.
Tremaine Pavlovski, Head of Junior School Drama, Scotch College Melbourne
12:10
The Bentleigh West Teacher partnership with the NT Government schools
- How Bentleigh West Primary School is partnering with the NT Government schools to provide leadership development, coaching and teacher placements for teachers to work in schools in Alice Springs and Darwin
- The experience to date and the impact on the teachers’ character development
- The flow-on effect and benefits of the wisdom and knowledge acquired by the returned teachers
Sarah Asome, Principal, Bentleigh West Primary School
Stream D – Character and Extra Curricula Activities
11:10
Building Character Through Challenge: The Transformative Impact of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
- How the Duke of Ed challenges young people to step out of their comfort zones, building perseverance, adaptability, and self-confidence.
- The framework’s focus is on collaborative activities and service projects that cultivate essential leadership skills, employability and a sense of responsibility.
- How the Duke of Ed inspires young people to connect with their communities, fostering a deeper understanding of social responsibility and inclusivity.
Helen White, Chief Executive Officer, The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – Australia
11:40
From Values to Behaviour: Does Character Education in Sport Actually Work?
- What changes and what doesn’t: evidence from a mixed methods study on courage, respect, and honesty in adolescent sport.
- How to move from values to behaviour: designing and embedding a co-created Character Code within school sport.
- How cultures shift when character is caught, taught, and ultimately sought by students.
Greg Clarence, Director of Cricket, The Scot’s College
12:10
To be Advised
Stream E – Character and Faith
11:10
Character Education in Faith-Based Schools: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges
Faith-based schools occupy a distinctive and at times contested position in the Australian character education landscape — inheritors of a rich virtue tradition, yet confronted by urgent questions of institutional credibility, cultural plurality, and the coherence gap between formation language and formation practice. This paper draws on the Jubilee Centre Framework for Character Education in Schools to examine how Catholic schools can both learn from and contribute to the broader national conversation about what it means to educate for character.
- Situates the Jubilee Centre’s four virtue pillars — intellectual, moral, civic, and performance virtues — within the Catholic educational tradition, demonstrating points of deep convergence and productive tension that are relevant across faith-based and secular contexts alike.
- Interrogates the challenges facing faith-based schools in sustaining coherent, whole-school character formation, including the risk that performance virtues become decoupled from moral purpose in high-accountability educational environments.
- Addresses the question of institutional credibility directly, arguing that schools and systems which have faced serious ethical failures are not disqualified from the work of character formation, but are held — rightly — to a higher standard of accountability and transparency.
- Proposes that Catholic Social Teaching offers one of the most developed available frameworks for civic virtue formation, with resources for ethics, justice, solidarity, and courageous action that are of genuine relevance to educators across all sectors.
Dr Greg Elliott, Executive General Manager Quality and Performance, Catholic Schools Parramatta
11:40
An Antidote to Self-Made Character: Character Formation in (a faith-based) Community
- How character education risks becoming another self-construction project within expressive individualism, where virtues are pursued as personal achievements rather than developed through participation in shared practices, relationships, and narratives that provide meaning beyond the self.
- How Faith-based schools offer a distinctive approach by inviting students into stories larger than themselves—the narrative of their school community and the story of God—which provides identity, purpose, and responsibility that challenges individualistic cultural assumptions.
- Authentic character development occurs not as an additional burden for students to carry, but through formation within community and cultural narratives that locate the self within a wider purpose, enabling students to contribute to something greater than personal success.
Pete Tong, Senior Chaplain, Barker College
12:10
A Framework for Student Flourishing in Faith-Based Schools
- Exploring a conceptual framework for student flourishing in Christian-ethos schools, emphasizing the development of wisdom, character, and purpose.
- Understanding and implementing measures to assess spiritual health and wellbeing in secondary school students.
- Introducing an approach to the assessment of virtues in students within Christian ethos schools.
Nigel Grant, Director of Mission, SCOTS PGC College
(This workshop features research undertaken by Nigel in his PHD – The pursuit of wisdom, character and purpose for secondary school students in faith-based schools).
Stream F– Character for Purpose-Driven Education
11:10
Navigating Challenges and Celebrating Success: The YOTS Journey and Its Impact on Character
- Insights into the obstacles faced by YOTS and the strategies employed to navigate them effectively.
- Key achievements and milestones that have shaped the organization’s growth and mission.
- Exploring how the journey of YOTS has influenced personal and organizational character, fostering resilience, integrity, and purpose.
Aaron McDonald, Principal, Youth Off the Streets
11:40
To Be Advised
12:10
The Berry Street Model: Transforming Character Formation in Young People
- The Berry Street Model’s trauma-informed approach to fostering resilience, self-regulation, and emotional intelligence in youth.
- How the model integrates character education to build strengths like empathy, responsibility, and perseverance.
- Practical applications of the Berry Street Model in empowering young people to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
Grace Langton, Senior Manager Training & Quality, Berry Street Yooralla
12:40
Lunch
1:40
Live Interview – What do young people need to prepare them for the world?
Lucas Walsh, Professor of education Policy and Practice, Youth Studies, Monash University
In conversation with Lucy Dalleywater, Director of Activities, Frensham
Character in Action Case Studies
2:10
Growing Good Humans: Building a Culture of Character
- Developing a deliberate and visible culture of character across the Senior School through explicit programs, language and shared values.
- Embedding character education within pastoral care, wellbeing and everyday student experiences
- Creating authentic opportunities for students to put character into action through leadership, service, mentoring and whole-school initiatives.
- Establishing a collaborative whole-school approach through a dedicated Character Team, staff alignment and strategic wellbeing leadership
Martine Wells, Head of Character & Wellbeing, Kilvington Grammar School
2:20
The Character Formation Journey at Trinity College, East Perth
- Trinity College has developed a structured character education journey featuring four bespoke programs for Years 7-10, timetabled weekly to focus on personal development through modules on Respectful Relationships, Cultural Understanding, Leadership, and virtues including resilience, compassion, gratitude, and mindfulness.
- The program integrates external providers (The Resilience Project, Wellio, expert guest speakers) with internal staff expertise, while Junior School students receive weekly wellbeing-focused character education and Years 11-12 students engage through opt-in seminars and pastoral care sessions preparing them for post-secondary life.
- The College has navigated significant obstacles requiring strong leadership commitment to establish this initiative, and now operates from a position of strength to fulfill their mission of building virtuous character in students for public service.
Clint Testa, Coordinator of Student Formation and Leadership, Trinity College Perth
2:30
The Year 10 Character & Enterprise Initiative Journey
- How the Year 10 Character & Enterprise Initiative was designed to integrate character development with entrepreneurial thinking, fostering resilience, creativity, and leadership in students.
- A step-by-step look at the program’s structure, including key activities, projects, and real-world applications that challenge students to develop both character and enterprise skills.
- Insights into the impact of the initiative on students’ personal growth, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities, as well as reflections on what has worked and areas for future development.
Peter Gibson, Head of Character Education, Barker College
2:40
From Vision to Practice: Embedding Values-Based Education at Sirius College
- Strategic integration of values into curriculum, pastoral care, and co-curricular programs to shape student character and school culture.
- Key enablers of success, including leadership alignment, collaborative resource development, and professional learning.
- The transformative impact of Values-Based Education on character development, behaviour, and community connection.
Ruveyda Ozturk, Campus Principal, Sirius College Eastmeadows
2:50
A Strategy for Character: Building the Bridge Between Values and Impact
- Translating strategic character vision into an actionable plan, demonstrating how to move beyond aspirational values to create meaningful, embedded impact across the school community.
- Key artefacts including a Character Framework, Graduate and Community Profiles, developmental progressions, and a Character Compass that define what good character means within their unique school context.
- Focusing on the “how” rather than the “what,” equipping delegates with insights and strategies to build their own bridge from values to impact tailored to their specific community needs and context.
James Bowles, Deputy Head, Central Coast Grammar School
3:00
Afternoon tea
3:30
Embedding Character: A Caught, Taught, Sought Approach
A longitudinal case study of the character education journey at St Andrew’s Cathedral School over a five‑year period. Drawing on the Caught, Taught, Sought framework, the session explores how character has been intentionally and systematically embedded across curriculum, culture, and practice.
Participants will examine practical examples of how character has been:
- Caught through relationships, role modelling, and school culture
- Taught through explicit teaching and curriculum integration
- Sought through student agency and service learning
Bronwyn Wake, Head of Character & Wellbeing; St. Andrew’s Cathedral School
3:50
Live Interview The Importance of Ethics, Character, and Moral Muscle in Australian Sport
4:30
Closing Remarks from the Chair
4:30
Networking Drinks
6:30
Conference Dinner
Join Us for the Character Education Summit Dinner!
Celebrate a day of inspiring conversations at Ramblers Ale Works—just 1km from Scotch College! Enjoy an exclusive evening with canapes, your first drink, live music, and delicious burgers in a relaxed, informal setting. Connect with fellow educators and continue the dialogue in a vibrant atmosphere.
Date: Thursday, 12th November
Time: 6:30pm–11pm
Cost: $50 per person
Capacity: Limited to 200 guests
Perfect for networking and unwinding after the Summit. Walk or take a quick tram ride—socializing made easy!
Register now to secure your spot!
8:20
OPENING | Opening remarks from the Chair
Fiona Devlin, Deputy Principal, Ivanhoe Grammar School
8:30
International Keynote Address- Can Character Boost Wellbeing?
Dr Liz Gulliford, Associate Professor, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, The University of Birmingham
9:10
Panel Discussion: Can Character Boost Academic Success?
9:40
International Keynote Address | Preparing Students for Complexity: Intellectual Risk-Taking and Moral Flourishing
- Fostering intellectual risk-taking cultures that prepare students for uncertainty and moral ambiguity while maintaining academic excellence.
- Using Australian-context dilemmas to build thoughtful engagement with complex, real-world questions.
- Creating environments where wellbeing, ethical courage, and achievement work together to develop flourishing learners.
Shelby Clark, Ph.D. Principal Investigator, The Good Project | Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education
10:10
Morning tea
10:40
Case Study: Harnessing Cognitive Development to Build Resilient and Ethical Leaders
- Understanding the science of Cognitive Development and Leadership Potential
- Leveraging neuroscience and educational psychology to design strategies that maximise the strengths of future leaders.
- Building resilient leaders through tailored learning strategies
- Character development as a cognitive and strategic asset
COL Brad Kirkpatrick AM CSC, Director Training Projects – FORCOMD, Australian Defence Force
Streamed Workshops
Stream G
Staff Development
Stream H
Today’s World
Stream I
Character in Action
Stream J
Wellbeing
Stream K
Virtues
Stream G– Staff Development for Effective Character Education
11:10
All Teachers Are Character Educators, But Are We Preparing Them? Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Practice
- While the Australian Curriculum formally positions all teachers as character educators responsible for students’ ethical and character development across subject areas, Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs do not consistently provide explicit preparation for this role, leaving schools to develop teachers’ dispositions, language, and practical understanding of character formation.
- Drawing on international literature and emerging doctoral research, the session examines the disconnect between system-level expectations and actual teacher readiness, exploring what constitutes effective preparation for character education and how everyday teaching practices contribute to students’ character development.
- Participants will explore how professional learning structures can better equip pre-service, early-career, and mid-career teachers to enact character education effectively, positioning teacher education as a critical bridge between theory, policy, and classroom implementation.
Rachel George, Head of Year, St Andrew’s Cathedral School
11:40
Building Resilience and Reflection in Staff
- Equipping staff with tools and strategies to foster self-awareness, resilience, and continuous improvement in their professional and personal lives.
- Creating and enhancing school culture to embody the values of character, integrity, and collaboration.
- Developing Middle Leaders who exemplify the school’s values, drive meaningful reflection and inspire both staff and students.
Sam Butterfield, Acting Deputy Principal, Hume Grammar School
12:10
Character by Design: Turning Values into Habits
In a time of rising anxiety, staff fatigue, behaviour complexity, and ethical drift, schools need character education that is lived daily, not laminated on walls. Character is formed through routines, relationships, leadership behaviour, and the standards people see modelled every day.
Participants would gain practical tools to:
- Embed values into everyday systems and routines
- Build responsibility, courage, and respect
- Strengthen belonging and accountability
- Lead consistently under pressure
- Sustain staff wellbeing while shaping culture
Andrew Murray, PhD Candidate, Australian Catholic University
Stream H– Character in Today’s World
11:10
Reframing Boyhood in the Digital Age: Responding to the ‘Manosphere’ Through Character Ed
- Moving beyond restrictive or reactive approaches to tackle the deeper psychological needs (identity, belonging, purpose, peer status) that make manosphere content appealing to boys, particularly in high-challenge school contexts.
- A practical, evidence-based model centred on identity and masculinity, emotional literacy, belonging and relationships, peer culture, and digital influence to proactively shape boys’ development.
- Reframing boys as young people seeking direction and connection rather than problems to fix, equipping educators with strategies to develop emotionally literate, socially responsible, and critically reflective young men in the digital age.
Jeff Rayner, Director of Senior School, De La Salle College Malvern
11:40
Implementing AI that actively cultivates belonging, purpose, and resilience
- Building shared language, norms, and trust around AI use across a school community
- Clarifying why and when AI should be used, and when human judgement must remain central
- Supporting students to persist, reflect, and learn honestly rather than outsource struggle
Rachelle Crameri, Director of AI and Digital Innovation, Ivanhoe Grammar School
12:10
Building Authentic Student Agency and Resilient Identity in the Co-Creation Era
- How hyper-connected online algorithms and digital comparison distort self-worth, and how schools can ground a girl’s character in real-world strengths rather than external metrics.
- Dismantling toxic female perfectionism and the paralysing fear of failure by designing low-stakes environments that actively encourage girls to embrace risk-taking, structural grit, and resilience.
- Moving away from outdated, top-down instruction to partner directly with highly vocal young women—giving them true agency to shape their own character education, boundaries, and personal pathways.
Lorna Beegan, Principal, Strathcona Girls Grammar School
Stream I – Turning Character Education into Action
11:10
Character and Flourishing for Girls – The Tangara Experience
- Tangara’s distinctive approach integrating academic excellence with intentional character formation through the REAL (Real Excellence and Attitude for Life) program, helping girls develop virtues like responsibility, resilience, judgment, and self-control across all areas of school life.
- Partnering with families to nurture every dimension of girls’ development—strong minds, spirits, connections, and hearts—forming confident, compassionate young women of faith, courage, and vision.
Rita Sakr, Principal, Tangara School for Girls
11:40
Character at the Centre: Navigating Identity and Growth in Education
- Exploring how identity and character evolve over time through experience, reflection, and choice.
- Highlighting the transformative role of education in shaping enduring habits of thought and action.
- Examining the connection between virtuous practices and living a meaningful, fulfilling life.
Dr Ann Brewer, Dean of Professional Practice & Strategic Projects, Queenwood
12:10
Virtue, Voice, and Behaviour: Exploring Boys’ Perspectives on Character Education
- Virtue: Character education aims to foster positive behaviour and values-based school cultures, but its impact on boys’ intrinsic motivation to “do the right thing” rather than comply remains underexplored.
- Voice: This workshop draws on current research using an interpretive, phenomenological approach to foreground student voice, exploring how boys perceive the influence of character education on their behavioural decision-making within a school context.
- Behaviour: The study contributes to ongoing conversations about character education, behaviour, and wellbeing in contemporary schooling, offering insights for educators to promote pro-social behaviour effectively.
Lauren Hutchinson, Head of Gipson House & Senior School Teacher, St Margaret’s Berwick Grammar
Stream J – Character and Wellbeing
11:10
Beyond Wellbeing: Reclaiming Character Education through a K-12 Framework
- Reflecting on the limitations of a wellbeing-only approach in schools, and why Arden expanded its focus to include character development alongside wellbeing.
- Why character education matters in forming servant-hearted, outward-focused students.
- The journey of establishing a whole-school approach to character and wellbeing across K–12.
- Early insights and learnings from implementing the framework across the school in 2026.
- The development of the ‘Arden Character Model’ and how it is shaping school culture.
- Embedding the 5 CASEL competencies within a Christian worldview and in alignment with Arden’s school values.
- Developing practical, explicit K–6 SEL lessons through a structured Character and Wellbeing scope and sequence.
Lucy Koorey, Head of Upper Primary, Arden Anglican School
11:40
Navigating Harmful Ideologies: Integrating Character and Respectful Relationships Education
- Exploring how Character and Respectful Relationships Education can work together to help students recognise and resist harmful ideologies in their evolving digital and social worlds.
- Practical skills for initiating and navigating sensitive discussions with students about problematic attitudes, media influence, and emerging ideologies
- Creating safe classroom spaces that foster empathy, critical thinking, and healthy information engagement.
Aimy Skym, Respectful Relationships, Health, Wellbeing and Specialist Services Branch, Department of Education
12:10
Pembroke School’s Approach to Ethical and Spiritual Care in Education
- Integrating ethical and spiritual care into the Pembroke educational model, fostering students’ moral reasoning, values formation, and spiritual growth as essential components of holistic education.
- Creating a supportive environment where students’ spiritual and ethical needs are recognised and addressed through pastoral care programs, mentorship, and community engagement.
- The methodology in ethical and spiritual care at Pembroke and its impact on the formation and development of character
Gabrielle Corbett, Head of Ethical and Spiritual Care, Pembroke School
Stream K – Cultivating Virtue
11:10
Cultivating Virtue: A Catholic School’s Journey to Human Flourishing
- How the SPC Honour Code and the Building Character and Resilience Program shape behaviour, character formation, and everyday language at St. Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School.
- How virtue cultivation is embedded into the PDH Program (NESA syllabus) and communicated consistently to the school community through newsletters and announcements.
- Actionable strategies for integrating virtue-based education into school culture, fostering character development, and promoting human flourishing.
Sister Cecilia Joseph OP, Principal, St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School
11:40
ACC and Compassion: A joint partnership in character education.
- The benefits of partnering with an external agency in building your character education program.
- Engaging all students K-12 in meaningful service opportunity
- Compassion and social justice as crucial for students in the 21st Century
- The role of service trips in building students’ character.
Leighton Cott, Executive Head, Character and Capacoty, Australian Christian College
12:10
To be Advised
12:40
Lunch
1:40
Are We Sure That’s What the Data Means? Exploring Validity in Educational Assessment
Live Interview
David Idstein, Director Character Development and Leadership, The King’s School
2:10
International Case Study | The teachers and Principals’ perceptions and practices of character education in Fijian secondary schools
- Transformative Impact: Character education drives holistic growth and boosts academic success.
- Critical Gap: High value, but under-supported—urgent need for curriculum, training, and prioritisation.
- Global Relevance: A culturally grounded, scalable model for character education worldwide.
Dr Uma More, Faculty of Education, University of Fiji
2:30
Practical insights from the neurobiology of character
- Used-induced plasticity: a key to child and adult character formation.
- The drivers of resilience and motivation.
- The building blocks of flourishing.
Dr Andy Mullins, Director, Drummond Study Centre
2:50
Principal’s Panel: Shaping the Future of Character Education in Australia
- Exploring innovative approaches to character education – What’s working and what’s next?
- Rethinking assessments to reflect character development alongside academic achievement.
- Addressing challenges such as cultural diversity, inclusivity, and evolving societal expectations in character education.
Gerard Foley, Principal, Ivanhoe Grammar School
Dr Scott Marsh, Principal, Scotch College Melbourne
3:20
Closing remarks from the Chair and End of the 2026 Australian Character Education Summit