How Might We Refresh Reconnect and Refocus our Leadership?

 

I was rapt when the Secondary Principals Council won 2 annual payments of $6000 for Principal Wellbeing in the latest Collective Agreement. Steering our schools through the pandemic in a way that kept students connected to their school and learning, balancing the wellbeing needs of students and staff and supporting the range of and rapidly developing protection measures put in place by the government was demanding work for principals. We had been asking for programmes such as professional supervision for many years and now principals could use this new resource to best support their wellbeing.

I was a little disturbed by the speed at which a range of wellbeing retreats in a number of Pacific Islands emerged which included a few half days focussing on personal wellbeing (with, I suspect, some tools to support wellbeing) and time for rest and relaxation. I was worried a bit about these because it was my view that yes, a few days relaxing on a Pacific Island might help you overcome some stress in the short-term, but it may not actually address the long-term stress that was impacting on the wellbeing of principals. The demands of leading our schools in these rapidly changing times would still exist after returning from such a break.

During a visit to Wellington last November I caught up with Derek Wenmoth for a coffee to discuss how we could work together to support principal wellbeing. It soon became clear that we shared the view that a principal’s wellbeing was best served when they clearly understood their ‘why’, their moral purpose, and were equipped with tools that allowed them to lead their school on a journey of transformation that was driven by this moral purpose. I certainly knew in my own principalship that being clear about what I was prepared to ’die in the ditch’ for meant I had the confidence to be courageous and to take action. I was able to reflect that my wellbeing was best served when my leadership was guided by my personal Leadership Model shown in the diagram below:

This conversation was the beginning of the work that resulted in Derek and I rolling out Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus – a programme that began with a 2 day retreat for 14 primary and secondary principals in Hanmer almost 2 weeks ago.

Over 2 days each participant was supported to re-engage with and explore their own moral purpose around their leadership, imagine a range of possibilities, identify an area of focus for their leadership, explore tools and frameworks for guiding their next steps and connecting with a buddy from the group to support each other over the next 20 weeks.

At the conclusion of the hui we agreed on 20 weeks of buddy connection, 1-on-1 connection with Derek or myself, webinars from experts and whole-group check-ins. We also committed to meeting face-to-face at the end of the 20 weeks to celebrate our progress.

The feedback, at this early stage, from the participants has been hugely positive. One participant posted on Facebook, “Best PLD ever!”

Other participant feedback included the following:

I loved the mix of Secondary and Primary Principals, quite unique. Sincere collaboration felt between all participants.

A good investment in my professional learning because it was organised and planned by experts who have a deep, authentic and proven understanding of what is important in schools ie what to focus on for the maximum benefit to schools and learners.

Two days of taking a breath and focussing on what really matters with passionate, engaged educational facilitators in a peaceful alpine setting. Listening and connecting with other principals who came to refresh, reconnect and refocus. This hui delivered all this and more.

Engaged, passionate, well informed facilitators who seamlessly worked together to deliver an outstanding programme of thought provoking leadership learning.

Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus is the perfect title for this professional development. It does just that. A fantastic retreat, space to think, relax and start to reconnect.

While the 2 day Retreat component is over the mahi now will be about remaining connected and focused over the next 20 weeks to build on the momentum that got underway at Hanmer.

As a facilitator I came away refreshed, reconnected and refocused!

What Next?

Derek challenged all participants to think of themselves as Systems Leaders, not just as leaders of their own school (see his post here). Tomorrow's Schools has us as leaders of our own entities, each doing our best to navigate the rapidly changing environment. There has never been, in my view, a rallying vision for us all to unite behind despite the best intentions of the Ministry, different Ministers and programmes like Kāhui Āko. It is time for a movement of like-minded leaders to connect and focus in meaningful and sustainable ways to support each other on this important journey of transformation. This felt like the beginnings of such a movement.

We've started with 14!

We’ve had a number of inquiries already about whether we’re planning to run this sort of programme into the future, including questions about running it for APs and DPs. If this is something you’d like to be a part of, or know of someone who might be interested, I encourage you to add your name to our registration of interest so that we can keep you informed of our plans moving forward into the second half of 2024 and 2025.

Think about joining a movement of like-minded leaders!

Register Your Interest Here

An opportunity for emerging leaders

We are both really motivated to work with newly appointed APs and DPs as they are our future principals. I can’t help but think how I would have benefitted, early in my leadership, from being supported to explore my moral purpose in relation to leadership, to explore different ways of leading and to become familiar with a range of tools and frameworks to support my leadership.

The drivers for change in schooling are not going to go away and it is vital, in my view, that leaders do not become part of the roadblocks.

If you want to be on this waka or know someone who should be on it, please register through this link or share it with that someone.

Register Your Interest Here

 

How Might We Lead Towards a Qualification That Is Driven By Core Beliefs In Our Own School?

Last week I got an email from David Hood and he spoke about the launch of his book From Rhetoric to Reality, and about the work we had done together and the people we had worked with. I attended the book launch in May 2015 and on my return home published the following post:

Principal Possum, May 2015

I almost didn't go to the launch of David Hood's book, The Rhetoric and The Reality: New Zealand schools and schooling in the 21st century, last Wednesday night. It would mean a late afternoon drive to Hamilton to attend the function and then not getting home until 11.00pmish. I'd been feeling a bit flat all week and quite fatigued and nearly talked myself out of it.

I am so pleased I made the effort (and even managed to fit in a roadside-in-Huntly radio interview on the way down. This was supposed to be on an academic's claim that pen and paper should be banned from school but the article was in fact on the need for schools to align, quickly, with the needs of learners and their lives).

For 4-5 years I had been part of a network of principals, Coalition of 21st Century Schools, facilitated expertly by David Hood. It was here that I was introduced to the concept of the Paradigm of One and the much needed Paradigm of Many. It was here, under David's mentorship, that I explored what schooling might look like if we put students at the centre and met their needs and then developed the confidence to put some different things in place.

He exposed us to hard copy readings back then that now flow daily across my consciousness through Twitter. He took us on a study tour to Australia to explore Rich Tasks. It was powerful stuff (the power of which I did not appreciate at the time).

His gentle support (though I always sensed a level of impatience within him - after all he wrote his first book Our Secondary Schools Don't Work Anymore 17 years ago) encouraged me to introduce 3 Day Wananga, 100 Minute Learning Periods, small group Learning Advisories and High Impact Projects at Opotiki College in 2011/2012.

Since that time I have been at HPSS attempting to lead a school that allows a secondary school to work for our students by being relevant for them. The hope has also been that we may influence work in other schools. The Paradigm of One and The Paradigm of Many has become part of my mantra and I had forgotten that it had emerged from the work with David.

The launch was appropriately at Tai Wananga, a school in Ruakura, Hamilton, that David had assisted in establishing. This is a school that not only allows Maori to achieve as Maori but also puts in place a model of secondary schooling that we at HPSS also aspire to.

In David's brief address to the gathering he spoke of the need for schools to place the needs, passions, lives and futures of their students at the centre of curriculum design, pedagogy and decision-making. It was a true tears in my eyes moment and reminded me of the influence he has had.

I was invited to stay and share a meal with him before heading home. Arrival at home was looking further away but I jumped at the opportunity. Over dinner we committed to maintaining our connection with David already booking in to visit us with me committing to taking staff to visit Tai Wananga. It was over dinner that his frustration and impatience with the rate of change in thinking about and practice in secondary schools was occurring.

It was a late arrival home but that short time with David had been invaluable.

In his latest email there still existed a frustration with what had happened with NCEA, the missed opportunity with the Bali Haque led review of Tomorrow's Schools and some wonderings about where the new Government's policies would take us.

Last week I posted my thoughts and suggestions on NCEA Level 1 and I'm sure it was the exchange of communication with David that brought those thoughts to the surface.

Yesterday (Friday 1 March) it was pleasing to see a Letter to the Editor in the NZHerald from David Hood, which I have included below:

History of exams

The main problems with NCEA are firstly the decision to create three qualifications in the last three years of secondary school, the only country in the world to do so.

That is a tremendous load on students and teachers. This is why many schools are abandoning NCEA Level 1, but also because Level 1 has no value in the marketplace. Level 2 is now the base qualification for entry to employment or further education.

Secondly, was the decision to require the achievement of an arbitrary number of credits to be awarded for any one of the three qualifications. This inevitably led to debates on the relative value of different subjects, especially between “academic” and “vocational”.

Neither of these were recommended by the NZQA board back in 1992. NCEA was intended to be one qualification awarded when students graduated from school, and would record all credits achieved at whatever point in time in their schooling.

These recommendations were strongly opposed by a lobby group of mainly “prestigious” state and private boys’ schools. The result is a system now being criticised by James Bentley of St Peter’s College (NZ Herald, Feb 27).

David Hood, NZQA CEO 1990-97.

Imagine if that vision for qualifications described in his second to last paragraph had come to fruition!

I'm keen to keep imagining it as a possibility.

We can go close to this in our own schools under the current and new system simply by:

• dropping NCEA Level 1 (and not replacing it with anything else!)
• moving the focus to students spending their 2 or 3 years in the senior school achieving their quality qualification by the time they graduate. This requires:
• a rejection of the focus on calendar year qualifications and shift to a focus on the qualification at graduation. This will take some courage as such a process is not represented well in league tables
• a change in the mindset of teachers in the senior school to that similar to those in the junior school which has them focusing on deep, engaging learning programmes rather on the assessment event
• reporting in the senior school to be on progress through the Curriculum Levels and to not include Achievement Standard results (these are already accessible in real time on schools' LMS's)

All of these are simple to bring about, but they do need to align with your own and your school's core beliefs about teaching, learning, engagement and qualifications.