Sharron Cole : Director, Catholic Education Centre

Sharron is the Director of the Centre, taking up the role in early 2009. She came to the position following a five year appointment as Deputy Chief Families Commissioner.

 

She has worked in the public and community sectors for many years. Her public work includes an extensive involvement in health, having current roles as the Deputy Chair of the Hutt Valley District Health Board; Deputy Chair of the Midwifery Council (and the current Chair of their Professional Conduct Committee); a member of the ACC Purchasing Guidance Advisory Group; a member of the WHO Code Compliance Panel. She has been: a member of four advisory groups to the National Screening Unit; a member of a NZ Guidelines Working Group; and a member of Pharmac’s Consumer Advisory Committee.

 

She has a particular interest in ethics, currently chairing the Families Commission and the Weltec Ethics Committees and co-chairing the ACC Research Ethics Committee.  She is also a member of the Panel of Advisors to the Nathaniel Centre, the NZ Catholic Bioethics Centre.  She is a past Chair of the Wellington Regional Health Authority Ethics Committee and was a member of the National Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology.

 

Sharron also has a broad range of involvement in the community including her current role as Chair of Parents Centres New Zealand and as a board member for Natural Fertility New Zealand.

 

Her education background is in the tertiary sector.  She holds a Masters degree and a post-graduate Diploma in Education from Massey University where she worked as a tutor for the History Department for 20 years and as a Study Skills tutor for the Centre for Extramural Studies for a number of years. She has also worked in adult education in the community sector, facilitating Treaty workshops, childbirth education courses and a wide range of life skills workshops.

 

 As Director, Sharron is keen for the Centre to reach out to Catholics everywhere and to encourage and assist them to move on from the child’s understanding of faith that most people have unless they have done some adult education or formation in the faith. With new learning, we gain a different understanding of scripture and theology and that in turn, has an impact on our participation in and appreciation of liturgy.  It also leads us to a better understanding of what it truly means to be a Christian, living out the gospel values of Jesus Christ.

Sharron wants the education offered by the Centre to be widely available, accessible and appropriate for all Catholics.  This means that the education would continue to be delivered through various modes and media, including online and we will seek to use the new technologies such as e-conferences and webinars. The learning the Centre offers ranges from formal, academic, assessed learning to informal so that no matter what their situation is, every Catholic can experience the benefits of lifelong learning in the faith.

 

Contact Sharron: s.cole@wcec.org.nz