IBSC Australasian Regional Conference
May 3 – 5, 2026
Prince Alfred College and St. Peter’s College
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Cultivating Humanity: A Compelling Responsibility in Boys’ Education
Speakers
Tom Bennett
Keynote Address
No More Lost Boys: Building Character
Monday, May 4, 9:45 AM
From the playing fields of rugby to the Netflix drama Adolescence, the question of how we turn boys to men has been a constant thread in human culture. Nowhere is it felt more palpably than in schooling, which acts as a creche and a host for this transition. How is character formed? Can we do anything about it or will boys just be boys?
Hear Tom Bennet address this directly and consider what levers we in education can use to help boys make sense of their own lives and successfully navigate the great ocean of humanity around them.
Previously a teacher in the East End of London for 13 years, Bennett is the author of five books on teacher training, behavior management, and educational research, including the bestselling Running the Room. In 2013, he founded researchED, a teacher-led organization that aims to help teachers become research literate and pseudoscience-proof. In 2015, he was appointed as school behaviour advisor to the United Kingdom Department for Education and leads its Behaviour Hubs project, a nationwide program designed to reboot behavior skills in disadvantaged schools. He works with teachers and schools around the world in all aspects of behavior management and research integration.
In 2022, he was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in recognition of his work in education.
Patrick Ellis
Featured Session 1
Leading Transformative Change—Impact for Boys
Monday, May 4, 1:15 PM
Hear Patrick Ellis unpack the transformative change that occurred at Catholic Education Canberra-Goulburn with Catalyst, specifically their approach to teaching and learning. This involved careful considerations of program implementation and change management, with refinements over several years from careful analysis of student learning outcomes and deepening shared collective knowledge across the system. CECG's approach in Catalyst saw improved student learning. Ellis shines a light on the specific experiences and impacts upon the boy learners within CECG.
Ellis is the executive general manager, learning outcomes at Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese (CSPD). Previously he served as the education lead at Catholic Education Canberra-Goulburn (CECG), where he led the teaching and learning approach of Catalyst, a system-wide initiative grounded in cognitive science. His work involved designing and implementing professional learning, providing targeted support, and developing high-quality resources for teachers, all with a focus on high-impact teaching practice.
In his current role at CSPD, Ellis is again leading significant system change through Uplift, CSPD’s strategic direction for implementing a consistent, evidence-based teaching approach aimed at transforming students’ lives through learning.
David Bott
Featured Session 2
PAC and The Wellbeing Distillery: A Bespoke Well-Being Framework Designed for Boys
Monday, May 4, 3:30 PM
An author, well-being strategist, and leadership advisor, David Bott helps organisations and educators turn well-being from intention into everyday practice. With a background spanning education, psychology, and system-level change, he has worked across schools, government, and complex organizations to design healthier, more effective cultures. He is cofounder of The Wellbeing Distillery and former associate director at the Institute of Positive Education, where he trained more than 20,000 professionals globally.
Panel From Monash University
Keynote Address
The Algorithm in the Classroom: What the Research Tells Us About Boys, Online Communities, and the Rise of Antisocial Ideas
Tuesday, May 5, 8:45 AM
Sarah McCook
Sarah McCook is a research fellow with the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Hub. Her work focuses on engaging men and boys in the prevention of gender-based violence, specializing in masculinities theory and gender transformative approaches to violence prevention in schools, workplaces, and communities.
Naomi Pfitzner
Naomi Pfitzner is a leading gender-based violence scholar, director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Hub, and a criminologist in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University. She conducts research on gender-based violence prevention and response as well as service system reform, workforce professional learning, and capability building. Her work has a key focus on the primary prevention of gender-based violence, respectful relationships education, and gender equality.
Alexandra Phelan
Alexandra Phelan is a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Monash University specializing in gender and violent extremism. Her research examines how gender shapes insurgent governance, recruitment, legitimation, and women’s participation in extremist movements. Phelan is the author of The Combination of All Forms of Struggle (Columbia University Press, 2025) and editor of Terrorism, Gender, and Women (Routledge, 2021). She is an associate editor of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, a Small Wars Journal El Centro fellow, and an associate fellow at Royal United Services Institute.
Steven Roberts
Steven Roberts is professor of sociology at Monash University and an internationally recognized scholar of masculinity, youth, and digital culture. He has authored and edited multiple books on men and masculinities and published widely in leading academic journals. His research examines how contemporary masculinities are shaped by digital media, populist backlash, and shifting gender politics, and how these forces drive both regressive and progressive forms of social change. Roberts is associate editor of the Journal of Youth Studies and a board director at Respect Victoria, the Victorian statutory authority dedicated to preventing family violence and violence against women.
Stephanie Wescott
Stephanie Wescott is a feminist academic, writer, and former teacher whose work examines gender, power, and violence in school settings. Her research investigates the persistence of misogyny, sexism, and male supremacy in educational institutions, with a particular focus on how these dynamics shape the experiences of teachers and students.
Andrew Lee
Keynote Address
Strength From Failure: A Parent’s Perspective on Boys’ Education
Tuesday, May 5, 1:20 PM
Andrew Lee attended St. Peter’s College from 1983 to 1994. His life in the law has since taken him across continents and legal systems. It has been shaped by postgraduate study at Harvard and Stanford law schools, the Hague Academy of International Law, and Peking University Law School, as well as by work spanning Europe, Asia, and the United Sates. From corporate practice to criminal defense, he has worked in courtrooms where the stakes could not be higher. He has served as a mediator for the World Bank and the United Nations Ombuds and represented incarcerated people facing the death penalty. Lee is also a current parent at the school and has great insight into the responsibility attached to cultivating humanity through compassion and care.