Principal's Report - The Power of Compassion
Did you know that the Thursday of Week 7, Term 3, is the most challenging day for a teacher in Qld schools?
I have not established this scientifically – and it’s a pretty high level analysis with a bit of guess work – but I think a lot of teachers would agree. Here’s how I have worked that out.
Firstly: Thursday is the most challenging day of the school week. It has above average student and staff absence, there are more behaviour incidents and learning is ‘slower’. This is the case internationally. I taught in two schools in the UK and was Principal in a third – the data was similar.
Secondly: Term 3 is the hardest term of the school year in Australia. The excitement of the beginning of the year has passed, the holidays seem a long way away, assessment schedules (particularly for Year 12) are busy, and a Toowoomba winter can leave us all feeling a little sad. In the biorhythm of the school community, we dip in Term 3.
Thirdly: I have chosen Week 7 because that is where the energy levels really begin to dip. We have not yet ‘sprung’ into Spring. In our context, we are still dealing with westerlies and shortish days.
I contend that this is NOT just the case for teachers, but actually the case for all in the College community.
So, we are tired. And when we are tired, we are irritable.
We are all juggling many demands, and it can sometimes show in the way we speak to one another and respond to the challenges around us.
In times like these, I believe it is important to focus on something simple but powerful: compassion.
The linguistic root of the word "compassion" comes from the Latin words com (meaning "together with") and pati (meaning "to suffer"). Combined, the root verb compati literally means "to suffer together with" or to feel a shared pain alongside another person. Compassion is not weakness. It is not about avoiding difficult conversations or lowering expectations. It is recognising that everyone is carrying their own cross, which we may know nothing about. Compassion is choosing to treat others with dignity, patience and understanding, even when we are under pressure ourselves.
Compassion has been essential for human evolutionary survival because it serves as a powerful survival strategy that drives cooperative care, group protection, and social cohesion. While the phrase "survival of the fittest" is often misinterpreted as a mandate for ruthless selfishness, Charles Darwin argued in The Descent of Man that sympathetic and cooperative communities flourish best and rear the greatest number of offspring. Our biological vulnerability as a species transformed a simple caring instinct into a sophisticated, highly successful evolutionary strategy.
As a Catholic community, we are called to see Christ in one another. That call becomes especially important when life is busy and stress levels are high. A kind word, a smile, a gesture of support, or simply taking the time to listen can make an enormous difference to someone's day.
Imagine the impact if compassion became our vernacular, our everyday language. Imagine if encouragement and reassurance was our first response, patience was our default setting and respect the foundation of every interaction.
Schools are places of learning, but they are also places where young people learn how to live in community. Every day we are teaching our students, through our actions and words, what it means to care for others.
When we find ourselves tired, worn down and a bit sad, compassion remains one of the most powerful ways we can witness to the Gospel. Let us make compassion, an intentional desire to walk with each other, not just something we do occasionally, but the language we choose to speak every day.
Mr Chris Gabbett
College Principal
