St John’s College has released its inaugural Culture and Values Report, which was prepared by nationally respected governance consultant Elizabeth Jameson AM and culture and corporate educator Dr Christina Turner after a four-month review of the College’s culture and behaviours.

The College Council commissioned the independent review in February 2022 in line with the recommendation from the first National Student Safety Survey.

Ms Jameson and Dr Turner engaged with College staff, students and other stakeholders to understand what works well, what needs improvement and what needs to change in order to build a strong, positive culture for the future.

In describing the review, Ms Jameson commended St John’s for choosing to be the first college at the University of Queensland to invite independent consultants to study its culture and values.

“It tells you that it is a culture that is interested in looking at itself and understanding itself moving forward into the future and responding to the pressures of the world around us,” she said.

Report Findings

Ms Jameson said the review found that St John’s had an incredibly strong culture.

“We had lots of positive feedback about what it is to be a Johnian. There is a lot of pride in being residents and members of a College that has a very long, rich history and set of traditions. And there is great pride that the College strives for excellence for its students in all aspects,” she said.

Ms Jameson said that the findings in relation to safety and wellbeing were in line with what’s happening in other educational institutions, organisations and communities across Australia.

“Students at St John's College are exposed to risks such as sexual harassment and assault and the main issue for them is the way in which they are reported and handled."

“Students felt that they were able to report those types of incidents, and that they were heard. They also had some very constructive suggestions for us that made their way into the report,” she said.

Recommendations

Ms Jameson said the report provided 15 recommendations that fell into four categories:

• People matters: Four recommendations regarding the responsibilities of the College Council, the CEO and Warden, her senior leadership team, the residential advisors and the student club executive.
• College values: Three recommendations focused on reviewing College values, encouraging student-led cultural improvements and increasing diversity in an inclusive way.
• Traditions, practices, behaviours: A recommendation to undertake a College-wide discussion of the relevance of St John’s traditions, applying the existing ‘retain, rework or remove’ policy.
• Safety and wellbeing: Seven recommendations to evaluate risks, remove unsafe practices and improve support services to deliver an enhanced safety culture.

Ms Jameson said many of the recommendations were already matters being addressed by the leadership team of the College.

“Among the College leadership and staff, we found a genuine commitment to working with students to find solutions. One good example was the ‘retain, rework or remove’ approach that had already been introduced by the CEO and Warden. She had promoted the idea to students that they needed to think about the reason for traditions and practices and question their relevance in today's world,” Ms Jameson said.

St John’s Response

St John’s College Chief Executive Officer and Warden, Rose Alwyn, welcomed the Culture and Values Report and said that all 15 recommendations would be addressed by the College.

“St John’s is a home away from home for more than 300 students and we’ve been doing this for 110 years. We need to keep evolving and ensuring that our College community and its culture align with society’s expectations,” she said.

A Framework for Action had been developed to guide the College’s response to the Report. It sets out seven actions for the short term and ten actions for medium term, aligned with the principles of safety, respect and inclusive diversity.

Read the Report  

Read the College’s Framework for Action

Read the Cultural Review Report Action Plan (updated August 2023)