Feedback and Engagement

Xavier College’s Framework for constructive engagement with the Xavier
Family on matters of Feedback, Compliment, Complaint and Discussion

Overview

Xavier College deeply values the combined interests, capacity and viewpoints that its students, staff, parents and wider Xavierian community provide. The combination of these parties, working collectively for the common good of the College and our educational services, is highly capable of and called to respectfully and diligently work together to deliver positive outcomes for our current and future students and the College community.

This Xavier Engagement Framework reflects the desire and commitment of the College to listen, to be responsive to needs and opportunities, and to continuously reflect on and improve our actions and our way of being.

It is centred in the guiding principles of our Ignatian context, seeking human excellence, desiring depth, engaging critically, seeking wisdom and discernment, and nurturing people and relationships.

It is also founded on the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness, where good process supports the complexity of human actions and interactions within an atmosphere of respectful relationship.

As such, the structure of the Framework enables a variety of engagement pathways for the College and our community to meaningfully communicate and engage. It is designed to reflect the broad array of reasons for this engagement, covering feedback, compliments, complaints and opportunities for deeper discussion. The Framework is also underpinned by a Parent Code that speaks to the tone and conduct of these diverse conversations.

In establishing this Framework, the College recognises the well-formed channels of communication that are centred on the care of our students who are at the heart of all that we do. The House and year-level pastoral systems, with their identifiable leaders and contact points, are affirmed and should be maintained as the first point of contact for student-centred matters and parental engagement with the College.

The Engagement Framework is designed to complement this system through the recognition that beyond these student-centred, solution-oriented channels for action, there are times when a parent or other person simply wishes to pass on feedback, having identified an issue or made an observation, be this positive or negative. This might be quite distinct from wishing to formally register a complaint, whether this be classified as a serious, formal matter or of an informal concern. Inherent also within our Ignatian tradition is the expression of gratitude, which serves to affirm and reinforce the good and positive elements and to enable growth on what gives life and is valued. Drawn from the totality of this feedback, the College can also identify trends and areas of particular interest or concern which allows for internal actions as well as external engagement forums to more substantially listen and inform thought in particular areas of need or interest.

In this way, through the alignment and intersection of a number of feedback mechanisms, parents and members of our community may be reassured to understand that the College is committed to tracking and addressing matters as and where appropriate in order to best serve the College community and to ensure that there is a continuous cycle of improvement and positive growth across the College, for the benefit of its people, processes and actions.

The overall aim is to ensure that communication is well-channelled, respectful, purposeful and that it leads to constructive outcomes for all.

Parent Code and Principles

To this end, and in accord with regulatory requirements, the College has a Parent Code that enshrines the manner of engagement that is expected in all engagements at Xavier. This is clearly framed in a statement of Principles that can be found here. The Parent Code can also be accessed here.

Discussion Forums

Aided by the Engagement Framework, the College strives to identify issues and themes that are meaningful or important to a wide cross-section of people in our community, and to promote thoughtful discussion on the topic for the purpose of deepening understanding or perspective. Such matters might relate to key strategic directions and matters of educational value, they might reflect topics of contemporary significance, or they might be drawn from feedback the College has received and which informed conversation would be valuable.

A College Discussion Forum would typically involve an address or development of the idea from a College leader, a member of staff and/or an external expert. This would typically then lead to group discussion and/or a question-answer session to complement the topic. Topics would typically address matters of learning and academic growth, personal care and wellbeing or faith and spirituality. They might also involve aspects of operational significance or could involve the development of new College programs or experiences.

The forums would be preferably in person or could be online if considered more appropriate. College Discussion Forums will be widely advertised across the Xavier Family as relevant.

Summary of the Engagement Framework

The following table provides a clear overview of the various mechanisms that have been devised to support the holistic engagement approach.