Shining Lights Week 1, Term 4
Don't get your knickers in a knot ....
The above advice, along with “Count to 10” and “Stick it in your pipe and smoke it”, is advice my parents gave me when I was younger and frustrated…usually with my siblings.
Lumen staff were given much better advice on Monday from Graeme George who led our professional learning workshop on Restorative Practices. Restorative Practices are synonymous with Unconditional Love. Our College motto, “Be the Light of Christ”, encourages us to be inspired by Jesus' interactions with outcasts like the ten lepers and Zacchaeus, the tax collector, as well as parables like The Prodigal Son. In these Gospel accounts, the levels of challenge and support provided to those in need are balanced to restore harmony; as opposed to lacking support (punitive), lacking challenge (permissive) or lacking both (neglectful).
Graeme spoke about Aristotles’ philosophy of moral will and moral skill. He explained that the role of adults, particularly parents/carers and those in educational settings is to help students develop their knowledge and skills in self regulation and non-cognitive capacities such as courage and compassion, in the same way that we teach them how to read, budget and drive a car.
Rather than “punish” naughty children, we might consider consequences that “prune” poor choices and use these experiences as opportunities for learning and strengthening our relationships. Children and young people who have few adults who relate to them in this way could be described as living in relational poverty, or as Jesus puts it in the Beatitudes, “poor in spirit”, which has long term impacts on their flourishing.
The onset of puberty, marked by biological maturation, includes development of the Limbic System, focusing on emotions, rewards and relationships. It’s often in late adolescence or one’s twenties that the Cortex, the regulatory system, matures. Graeme refers to these biological developments as the Gas Pedal and Brake and advised that we should be “curious not furious” when faced with undesirable behaviour; we should “explore not explode”; adults should “Be the kids’ prefrontal cortex while theirs develops.”
After the outstanding speeches on Wednesday from all the nominees for College Captain, I spoke with Kinder students about what makes a great leader - eg. someone who listens, as opposed to being bossy; someone who cares for others, rather than just themselves. We then practised Christian meditation for a couple of minutes, which they found “calming”, “relaxing” and “a bit weird”. Christian meditation uses silence, stillness and simplicity to allow students to simply be. The sacred word “Ma-ra-na-tha”, meaning “Come, Lord Jesus” helps to free the mind of invading thoughts and by being still and silent, even for a short time, self-regulation skills develop.
Distance Education
One of the ways of studying at Lumen Christi Catholic College in Stage 5 and 6 is through Distance Education (DE). DE is a challenging method of study, requiring great self-discipline, time-management skills, and a high level of motivation. Often students choose to study via DE as the course they wish to undertake is not offered at the school due to non-viable numbers of students wishing to take the course, access to appropriately qualified teachers of specialist courses or due to a clash in the timetable. This means that often there is not a specialist teacher available to assist students face-to-face when required.
Despite these challenges, Lumen Christi has a proud tradition of students achieving highly in DE courses. While these courses often are based in highly specialized areas such as Languages Other Than English (LOTE) like Japanese, French, German and Spanish, we have also had students in recent years undertake DE in courses such as Industrial Technology (Multimedia), Community and Family Studies and next year we are potentially looking at DE course in other specialist areas to cater for student needs.
While certainly not an appropriate mode of study for every person, DE can offer the right candidate an opportunity to further their studies and develop skills appropriate for their pathways
Visiting Immigration Detention
We would like to extend our thanks to the Peterie Family from our local Pambula Parish for their generous donation of a copy of the PhD study by Michelle Peterie, Visiting Immigration Detention: Care and Cruelty in Australia’s Asylum Seeker Prisons. In the preface, editor Nando Sigona from the University of Birmingham describes Michelle’s book as ‘a captivating account of Australia’s onshore immigration detention system’ that will ‘resonate with students, researchers and everyone keen to understand the impact of immigration detention regimes.’ (Page ix. Peterie, 2022).
This book will be accessioned through our library and will be a valuable resource for our Senior Students, Staff and Social Justice Advocates groups.
