Executive Level Ethics Delivered in School

St Catherine’s Melbourne embeds pioneering ethics program.
Aug 6, 2025
Ethics
Students equipped with the same processes and ideas that high level execs and public figures use.

The Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership is responsible for shaping the moral compass of Australia’s top decision-makers.

Cranlana’s high level ethics program which is popular among senior execs, judges and policymakers will be embedded in St Catherine’s School’s (Toorak, Melbourne) Year 9 curriculum.

This program arrives amid concern over how well Australia's education system is preparing young people for the immense ethical and social challenges of a world shaped by artificial intelligence, social media, and climate change.

“Today’s teenagers face dilemmas that most adults weren’t ready for until their 30s. We can’t protect them from these challenges, but we can give our future leaders the ethical framework to act on their values under pressure,” said Matt Finnis, CEO, Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership.

This partnership between St Catherine’s and Cranlana marks a bold shift in how ethical development is addressed within Australian education and steps are taken to cultivate citizens capable of the critical thinking and moral courage required to navigate a fractured, fast-moving world.

The program will develop students' capacity for ethical thinking and moral reasoning at a crucial stage in their development. It consists of an intensive two-week residential in Narmbool, along with bridging and capstone elements across the year that connect timeless philosophical wisdom with real-world application.

“Rather than a one-off seminar or values week, the program will embed ethical decision-making and leadership into a core part of students’ learning. It’s not about telling them what to think or how to behave, it’s about helping them develop the tools to think ethically, under pressure, and with others in mind,” said Finnis.

Australia is no stranger to public debates over the ethical and psychological pressures facing young people. In recent months, national headlines have spotlighted everything from algorithmic decision-making and deepfakes, to the mental health toll of social media.

The eSafety Commissioner’s Youth Digital Participation report found that 4 in 5 teens feel pressure to present a perfect version of themselves online, while 42% have experienced some form of online hate or harassment. Simultaneously, the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has raised questions about authenticity, academic integrity, and the erosion of critical thinking. These are not just technological shifts, they are ethical dilemmas, and today’s adolescents are often left to navigate them without the language or frameworks to do so.

In addressing these challenges, society must do more than protect young people - it must recognise their capacity to contribute to a better world. Today’s youth are thoughtful and values-driven, attuned to nuance, and rightly critical of the systems shaping their lives. Many are not only eager but determined to drive change.

St Catherine’s and Cranlana hope the partnership will serve as a model for other schools across the country, proactively equipping Australia’s youth with moral courage and the ability to make ethical decisions in a world where it will most certainly be asked of them.

“This is ultimately about making space - physically and symbolically - for the young women of St Catherine’s to engage with fundamental questions of individual and collective goodness, moving beyond external pressures to explore deeper truths about themselves and their place in the world,” said Natalie Charles, Principal at St Catherine’s.

“We want our students to leave us feeling optimistic about the future and their capacity to contribute in ways that ultimately enrich the very fabric of society at a time when the pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness has never been more pressing,” said Charles.

Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership provides learning and advisory programs drawing on over two millennia of philosophical wisdom along with contemporary applied insight from fields of behavioral ethics, organisational psychology and transformational governance. Cranlana’s curriculum and content bridges the gap between timeless principles and modern best practice to empower leaders to confront the ethical dilemmas of today.

In 2019, the Myer Foundation partnered with the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation to integrate the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship. At the same time, Monash University became Cranlana’s third partner, with Cranlana now established as part of the University’s Education portfolio.