Media Release, 24 April, 2013

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Ross Fox as the Executive Director of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC). Mr Fox, at present Director of Policy, Research and Communications with the Catholic Education Office, Melbourne, will take up his NCEC appointment in Canberra on 1 July 2013.

Ross was educated at UNSW (Bachelor of Engineering, First Class Honours) and Oxford (Honours MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics). He has a depth and range of practical and consultancy experience in a diversity of situations – from McKinsey & Company in Sydney to a remote Indigenous community in WA to a senior executive policy position in the Melbourne Catholic Education Office. He has also worked in industry and as a political and school education advisor and negotiator at state and federal level along the way. He is active in local parish life and has a strong practical faith commitment.

Ross’s current responsibilities at the Catholic Education Office Melbourne make him ideally suited for the new Executive Director position at NCEC. He is a member of the preeminent cross-sectoral committee on school education set up by the Government of Victoria. He leads the Catholic Education Office Melbourne information and national communications group, and manages the regular senior executive meeting agenda. He also chairs the Catholic Education Week committee and acts as Executive Officer for the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd.

The new terms of reference and statutes for NCEC (to operate from 1 July this year) outline new directions for NCEC. The Bishops have asked for a greater emphasis on policy analysis and development across a range of areas, including religious education and faith formation. NCEC’s important work on Catholic school funding will continue, but the Bishops are also asking NCEC to put more time and energy into national schooling policy issues generally and into consolidating the Church’s public contribution to the national debate about the proper purposes and processes of school education.

This will require NCEC to engage more actively with state and territory Catholic Education Commissions, as well as with the Commonwealth Government and Parliament, and with the national education authorities responsible for issues such as curriculum, student assessment and reporting, school financial accountability, teaching, and school leadership.

We believe that Ross clearly has the skill set to lead NCEC in detailing the new vision enunciated by the Bishops, and addressing its concomitant challenges. We congratulate Ross on his appointment, and look forward to working with him and the new National Commission in the seminal work of the Church in school education.

+ Gregory O’Kelly SJ
Chairman
24 April 2013

Contact: Bill Griffiths 0488 057 660