PAM Betts is “ immensely grateful” for a career spanning 42 years in teaching and education and for her role as a trailblazing woman at the top of her profession.
Miss Betts is preparing to retire as executive director of Brisbane Catholic Education this month and expressed optimism for the crop of students at Catholic schools and what they can look forward to in life.
“They are articulate, they are intelligent, they are real about the world they live in,” she said.
“They know they can’t change the world but they know they can do something in their corner, so I have great faith and hope in the young people in our schools today… they will leave the world an even better place than we’ve left it.”
Miss Betts spent nine years as BCE’s executive director and is the first woman and only the fourth person appointed to the position, following Fr Bernard O’Shea, Vince O’Rourke and David Hutton.
Miss Betts worked with each of her predecessors during her stints at BCE.
“I’ve been fortunate to work with so many talented people focused on improving the education experience for our students so that they develop a love of learning and a heart of hope,” she said.
“Catholic education in Brisbane has a wonderful history, and there are so many exciting opportunities to come.
“Mary MacKillop, who just over 150 years ago came to the Archdiocese of Brisbane to establish schools at Kangaroo Point and Maryborough, spoke about Catholic education helping to give each student the opportunity to become the person that God created them to be.”
Miss Betts is a daughter of former Australian rugby union prop Neil “Tiny” Betts..
She was educated at St Elizabeth’s Primary School, Tarragindi before moving to Our Lady’s College, Annerley.
After completing a science degree at Griffith University and a Diploma of Education at the University of Queensland, Miss Betts started teaching at St Mary’s College, Ipswich before moving to her former school Our Lady’s College, St Peter Claver College, Riverview, and Brisbane’s All Hallows’ School.
She then took up a role in the BCE Office assisting the Executive Director before moving to the Queensland Catholic Education Commission and then the Queensland Province of the Christian Brothers, which became Edmund Rice Education Australia in 2007.
Miss Betts completed three Masters’ degrees before returning to the BCE Office in 2010 as director – administrative services which was followed by her appointment as executive director in 2013.
She said her sense of mission had not wavered – guided by a belief that a Catholic education could change lives.
“When I see young people and their lives transformed as a result of our Catholic schools, that gives me great joy,” Miss Betts said.
“I’m humbled by that, but it also gives me great hope because our future is in safe hands.”
In all her years of service the last two have posed some of the biggest challenges with schools on the COVID-19 frontline.
In 2020, as restrictions and lockdowns began, Brisbane Catholic Education took a “critical incident” approach, setting up a command headquarters at the O’Shea Centre at Wilston and switching from face-to-face teaching to learning online when it was needed.
While most students stayed home, schools remained open, with teachers becoming frontline essential workers, just as critical as doctors, nurses and other health carers.
“I think we faced this challenging and unprecedented time with great courage and also with that great hope that we have in Catholic education,” Miss Betts told The Catholic Leader at the end of 2020.
“For our schools it is all about the relationship we have with our families, that our teachers have with the students in their class, and that they have within the school community in supporting one another.
“That stood us in great stead to face what were really unpredictable and uncertain times.”
Miss Betts said she would miss many parts of her work when she left BCE on December 10, however she has her immediate retirement plans clearly laid out.
“On the eleventh of December I’ll get on the barge and head over to Straddie,” she said, speaking of her beloved second home, Stradbroke Island.
“I’ve grown to love Straddie. I was actually a late adopter of Straddie. I hadn’t ever been there until I was probably in my late thirties. And I absolutely fell in love with it.
“I think it’s a place that is so close to Brisbane, unspoilt, and the story of the Aboriginal people on Stradbroke Island is so rich and a gift to us.
“Not only to Australia and to this region, but to the Church.”
Stradbroke Island was the site of the first Catholic mission to First Nations peoples when Italian Passionists arrived in 1843.
The priests stayed only four years and the mission was deemed a failure although generations of Catholic leaders have come from those first efforts.
“I used to go to Mass at Dunwich when I was on Straddie, and to be there with the locals was really humbling,” she said.
“I just think it’s sheer beauty, it’s representation of God’s creation and a place of rest and calmness is amazing to have it so close to Brisbane.
“And what a gift it is to this community.”
With a keen interest in history, Miss Betts believes it is critical students learn about and appreciate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and cultural practices.
“Their story is a tragic one. And it is tragic because of our occupation of Australia 200 years ago,” she said.
“They cared for this land for 60,000 years and they did an absolutely amazing job of caring for this land and living in harmony from the land. We need to learn so much from them.
“This is their place. We should respect their story and we need to teach young people that story.”
Miss Betts long-time deputy, Dr Doug Ashleigh will act as BCE’s executive director until Dr Sally Towns takes over the role permanently, from next May.
Dr Towns is director of Catholic Schools and chief executive officer of Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools Limited.
