THE PATHWAY TO EXCELLENCE

We live in an ever-changing world. We need to be prepared to seize the opportunities that life throws at us. The Pathway to Excellence is an approach that helps you find and fulfil your purpose in this world with the character, competency and wellness you will need to thrive.

CHARACTER

Character is how you live your life. As you move through your life, you ask and answer important questions:

• Do I belong? This inspires how you develop your civic character.
• Am I realising my potential? This informs how you develop your performance character.
• Am I doing what is good and right? This prompts how you develop your moral character.

As you respond to these questions about your civic, performance, and moral character, you must dig deep within yourself to find an inner sense of where you are in the story of who you have been, who you are and who you might become. This is called your personal ‘mark’. You must also identify your ‘measure’, or how you are trying to live up to others' expectations. Developing your character is about wrestling with both your mark and your measure. As you wrestle with yourself and your context, you will grow in the civic character of belonging, the performance character of realising your potential, and the moral character of doing what is good and right.

“The journey of learning towards character needs to connect us to the essential questions that we all have and point us towards a way to find answers to them. The power of this inquiry to help us all to live better lives, to help us feel as though we are making a difference in the world, to help us to know that we are getting somewhere, must be sourced in the message we use to talk about it. It must be so significant, so rich, and perhaps even so disruptive of our frames of mind, that it compels us to sit up and take notice. It must force us to want to do something about it. It must make us commit to finding our way on The Pathway To Excellence.”

Dr Philip SA Cummins

COMPETENCY

This process of wrestling also influences how you adapt your expertise over time to address your purpose and how you organise yourself to fulfil this purpose. In wrestling to build the character that will allow you to identify and claim your purpose, you will demonstrate competencies (knowledge, skills, dispositions and habits) in how you:

• Learn: Learning is about self-awareness – knowing yourself. You use curiosity and wisdom to think through the question “Who am I?” Learning well means cultivating "My Purpose" through growing in values and beliefs, personal development and academic success.
• Live: Living is about relationship – earning your place through respect. You use humility and gratitude to answer the question “Where do I fit in?” Living well means appreciating "My People" and "My Place" by forming positive relationships (especially with family and friends), and creating a home life and financial stability.
• Lead: Leading is about service – putting others first by going on a journey from me ... to you ... to us. You use courage and compassion to answer the question “How can I best serve others?”. Leading well means motivating, influencing, directing and inspiring others to achieve together as a team through “My Practice” of service and volunteering, formal leadership and leadership development.
• Work: Working is about vocation – how you find your calling within the supportive network of people with whom your sense of belonging, fulfillment of potential and propensity to do good and right can come together. You use commitment and diligence to answer the question “Whose am I?” Working well means connecting “My Purpose”, “My People”, “My Place” and “My Practice” through your planning, social purpose and career development.

WELLNESS

It’s important to understand that success in demonstrating character and competency through how you learn, live, lead and work can't be achieved without wellness. Wellness is vital to your overall growth and experiences, and during your journey here we will focus on your physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual health. After all, how you feel affects how you live your life and who you are becoming.

GRADUATE OUTCOMES

You will know you are growing in character, competency and wellness because you will begin to achieve six outcomes of thriving. Thriving means how people use their character and competency to achieve success in a world that requires them to:

• Have the integrity and character to lead meaningful lives as good people.
• Handle complex situations with authenticity as future builders.
• Grow and transform as continuous learners and unlearners.
• Guide society in a more sustainable direction as solution architects.
• Balance local, regional, and global perspectives as responsible citizens.
• To work well with others to achieve success and fulfilment as team creators.

LET'S GO!

To make progress on The Pathway to Excellence, you don't have to be perfect or extraordinary to succeed. You simply must be committed to aim for excellence, claim your purpose, and pursue it through a process of wrestling with your character, growing in your competency, and building the wellness you need to become the best version of yourself.

So, let’s go!