Chaplaincy Conference (Saturday 27th February, 9.30am to 5pm)

Published date: 22 February 2010

Mater Dei Institute of Education in partnership with the School Chaplains Association and the Third Level Chaplains Association is delighted to host a one day free conference in Mater Dei entitled "Bridge-Building: Chaplains in Education".

The conference will be facilitated by Prof. John Sullivan, Professor of Christian Education, Liverpool Hope University.

It will consider issues facing chaplains in second and third level contexts.

On Saturday 27 February 2010 - 9.30am to 5pm

Car parking is available in the grounds of the college.
For more information please visit the "Chaplaincy Conference" webpage on our website.

 

John Sullivan is Professor of Christian Education at Liverpool Hope University, where he has been working since March 2002. After more than twenty years' professional experience in secondary schools and tertiary colleges as teacher and senior manager, John moved into higher education in 1994, providing in-service training and teaching Master's courses in Christian educational leadership.

He has been a Pastoral Head of Year and Head of Department, Deputy Head of an 11- 18 comprehensive school, Vice Principal of a sixth form college and Headteacher of a joint Catholic-Anglican secondary school. He has also been a Chief Inspector in a London Local Education Authority, with oversight of 100 schools and colleges and an educational management consultant, working with many different educational and church institutions and groups.

For five years he directed a Master's programme in Catholic School Leadership while at St Mary's College, Twickenham, winning an award from the USA National Catholic Educational Association in 2001 for "an outstanding contribution to Catholic teacher formation and development." Author of Catholic Schools in Contention (Veritas, 2000), of Catholic Education: Distinctive and Inclusive (Kluwer [now Springer] Academic Press, 2001), co-editor and contributor to The Idea of a Christian University (Paternoster, 2005), and co-editor and contributor to Dancing on the Edge: Chaplaincy, Church & Higher Education (Matthew James, 2007), John has had more than 65 chapters and articles published (in the UK, USA, Europe and Australia) on aspects of religion and education. His latest book is Communicating Faith (The Catholic University of America Press, 2010).

He now teaches (through inservice programmes, Master's courses, and supervision of doctoral students) in the areas of Christian educational leadership, formation for ministry, Catholic Studies and in the interconnections between theology and education. He is frequently invited as keynote speaker at local, national and international conferences on aspects of mission into practice in Christian education. He has a special interest in exploring the match between purposes, contexts and approaches at all levels of Christian education and also in analyzing the factors than inhibit and enhance the effective communication of faith.

In addition to his (Liverpool, 1971) postgraduate certificate in education, John has a BA in History & Politics (Hull, 1970), advanced diplomas in Theology (Liverpool, 1974) and in the History & Philosophy of Education (London, 1977) and two research degrees: an MLitt in Religious Studies (Lancaster, 1981) and a PhD in Catholic philosophy of education (London, 1998).

John has been married to Jean for 38 years. They have four children (37, 35, 34 and 22) and three grandchildren (13, 9 and 2 years old).