My name is Vincent John O’Rourke. I was born in December 1940 and my working life was spent in the field of education. After a number of years as a teacher at secondary level, I took a position with the Planning and Research Branch of the State's Education Department. From there I was appointed as the inaugural Planning Officer for the Catholic Education Office in Brisbane.

 

 

In 1983 I was invited to serve as the first lay person to be Executive Director of the Catholic Education Office for Brisbane, Queensland. I had responsibility for the administration of 130 primary and secondary schools employing 7000 people at an outlay of $180 million per year. I retired in 1998 and began a consultancy business which I wound up a short time later when my wife’s illness demanded all my time and effort.

 

 

I have attained several degrees including:

• The Catholic Institute of Education, South Africa 1994 and 1997. This involved the presentation of 16 conferences / workshops on the nature of Catholic schooling, its place in a time of change, processes to lobby government for funding, models of inservice training for teachers, staff relations and the formation of their central office and Commission. These were held in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg. At a later date I was to assist in the involvement of Australian Catholic University in providing courses to the C.I.E. Their Chair, Sister Brigid Rose, was invited to spend some time in the Brisbane Catholic Education Office and did so.

 

• Rand University at Johannesburg in 1994 where I presented a paper and ran workshops at this conference. Brisbane Catholic Education had developed a model of self-renewal for schools that was of use in the schools in South Africa at a time of significant change.

 

• Catholic Education, Zimbabwe 1997. Advice centered on the formation of supporting structures to service the need of the schools and the inservice need of the teachers particularly in religious education.

 

• Advice and support to Sarasas Schools in Bangkok. A new approach to teaching English as a second language as well as classroom technique were at the centre. Teacher and student exchanges were arranged.

 

• Advice to the Minister for Education, Republic of Ireland 1997. Areas of interest were the interface with strong industrial unions and the ongoing inservice of teachers. A representative of the Commission for School Accommodation from the Republic later followed this up by spending a fortnight with the Brisbane Office.