About Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited: Towards 2035
Welcome to Towards 2035, a podcast from the Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited (DOBCEL).
This is Season 3: Our Strategy in Practice – exploring how Strategy 2035 is moving from vision and prototype into deeper implementation across our system.
You’ll hear from leaders, educators and communities across DOBCEL as we look at what we are learning, the evidence beginning to emerge, and how this work is shaping our collective direction for Catholic education.
What happens when schools ask students what matters to them—and give them the chance to act on their ideas?
Across DOBCEL schools, student agency is taking shape through grassroots projects led by young people who want to make their school communities better. Students are identifying what could change, listening to their peers and working alongside teachers to turn ideas into action.
For this episode, Paula Doran visited students in Colac to hear about the projects they’re working on and what student agency looks like from their perspective. Let’s hear what they had to say.
16 Sept 2026
The driving principles of Pasi Sahlberg
What happens when one of the world’s leading education thinkers gets to see DOBCEL’s young people putting creativity, curiosity and purpose into action?
Recorded at our STEM MAD event last month, Paula Doran sits down with internationally renowned Finnish educator Professor Pasi Sahlberg to explore what he sees happening across the DOBCEL system – and why it matters well beyond our own schools.
Pasi has worked alongside DOBCEL in the development of Strategy 2035, bringing decades of international experience as a teacher, researcher, policymaker and adviser to education systems around the world. In this conversation, he reflects on the importance of giving young people genuine agency, the power of teachers and schools to create meaningful change, and what events such as STEM MAD tell us about the future of education.
The conversation also takes the bigger view: how can the work happening at a grassroots level in regional Victoria contribute to a global conversation about education? And what can DOBCEL learn from the very best thinking and practice internationally?
It’s a conversation about students, teachers, innovation and the power of education systems to think boldly about what comes next – with a global thinker who has been closely involved in helping DOBCEL shape that future.
16 Sept 2026
Exploring strategic tech deimplementation
In this episode, Paula Doran speaks with Ben Shields, Principal of St Patrick’s Primary School Ballarat, about how stepping away from the daily demands of school leadership during DOBCEL’s recent study tour to Finland created space to reconsider the role of technology in education.
A long-time advocate for digital technology, Ben shares how his observations in Finnish schools—and a thought provoking conversation with educator and author William Doyle—challenged some of his previous thinking. He reflects on the importance of protecting children’s capacity for sustained attention, deep thinking and perseverance, particularly during the junior primary years.
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