Posts tagged principal

Inclusive Management

4 years ago
by MrBainbridge in

A lot is said and written about inclusive management practices but often without clear definition of the context in which it is appropriate.

Good management practice includes as being as inclusive and consultative as possible with stakeholders, within some defined parameters.
1. Good leaders lead, rather than prevaricate.
2. Decisions must be made for the widest possible good and based on a careful analysis
of the full information flow.
3. Those who bear the responsibility for decision making, should ultimately make the
decision.

Work places are not democracies and there needs to be a clear understanding of what constitutes consensus decision making. Consensus decision making is where the management will provide information, consult widely, make a decision based on full information, legal requirements / and to the advantage of greater common good (normally) them communicate both the decision and the reasons for it, to the stakeholders.

In this school inclusive management practices takes many forms. The Board of Trustees are briefed and make major decisions of a governance nature. They consult the community as appropriate, especially for major decisions. The Senior Management Team, together with the principal, discuss and often decide on a range of management and curriculum issues. They generally receive a wider information flow. All teaching staff have imput into the budget process, suggestions for purchases, professional development and school iniatives. Periodically, any extra money that materializes is available to staff and ‘wish lists’ circulated.

Syndicate Leaders and those with administrative responsibilities have the delegated authority to exercise their responsibilities within their defined parameters. Similarly, budget holders have the authority to spend their allocated budgets. In this aspect of inclusive management, there is an implied professional trust and delegated authority, rather than a ‘de facto’ delegation as in some schools where the principal or other senior staff, make spending decisions, despite someone else being (nominally) in charge of that particular area.

The development of a school vision or charter is often paraded as a crowning example of collaborative / inclusive / consensus partnership. Schools are required to consult with their communities on the development of a charter. Nearly all consult on a draft document rather than a ‘blank page’ approach. Many requirements in the charter and operations plan are mandated by the Ministry so are compulsory features. Such documents need to take account of historical contexts, environmental features (ie: proximity to immediate environment features for curriculum purposes) previous spending and development and the current stage and state of the school as well as Ministry initiatives and government directives. We don’t throw the ‘baby out with the dishwater’ each time you revisit the charter or school vision. From this context, a draft version is developed and circulated to staff and parents, genuinely seeking feedback. The recent strategic plan at this school was quite markedly changed from its draft form to its finished form with staff imput changing reporting targets and finance and property capital expenditure. The feedback from parents was minimal and represents a challenge to do better.

An inclusive philosophy is also about how you treat people. In this school, all staff are treated with the same respect and the same consideration. School functions are open to all staff members, full time or part time, teaching, property or administrative staff. Pastoral care and access to the principal is available to all staff employed at the school.

Matipo Primary School has a strong tradition and commitment to the development and growth of teachers. Opportunities are provided for study, course attendance and opportunity to exercise real responsibility. There is wide delegation of tasks. Our Leadership Project has helped to provide both knowledge and skills and leadership for the Senior Management Team and the Aspiring Leaders group.

Inclusive Management should lead to a more even distribution of workload, provide leadership opportunities to a wider number of staff and should ultimately lead to better learning outcomes for pupils. However, there are some corollaries that are part of the concept. Inclusive leadership involves some important attributes including:
• Good communication.
• Willingness and work ethic.
• Timeliness and task completion.
• An understanding and sense of professionalism.
• Vision, charisma and the ability to both drive and motivate.
And the willingness to in turn, delegate, grow and involve other staff.

Inclusive management needs to be real not theoretical and must allow real opportunity for others to both manage and grow.

The School of the Future

4 years ago
by admin in
In 1996 eleven years ago, the Australian Principals Association Professional Development Council, released an absolutely brilliant and inspirational resource entitled “Managing Change, a Resource Kit for Principals.” It was intended as a discussion resource to plan the future of Australian education but didn’t get the profile and accolade it should have.
In terms of futurism, it drew heavily on a paper presented at the 1993 ICP Conference in Geneva by Kevin Richardson. What he presented in 1993 is even more pertinent today.
• 60% of children in Year 3 will enter careers that do not exist yet, involving technology that has yet to be invented.
• The body of knowledge is growing incrementally
• Engineering and technology knowledge is obsolete within 5 years.
• Students leaving school today can expect to have 6 – 10 jobs, to have 3 – 4 different careers, to spend time unemployed and to be involved in continuing learning.

The area of futurism is of considerable interest to me but I guess the question is, can we predict the future? The answer may be a qualified no, but things we can say with certainty is that:
• Nothing stays the same.
• Predictability is a thing of the past.
• Change is the biggest and most constant issue of our lifetime.

Peter Senge from M.I.T. School of Business gave a brilliant presentation at the ACEL Conference in Sydney 2007. He is a strong advocate for schools to change. We need to get away from the production line approach to school and re-imagine our structures and curriculum to prepare children for a world which hasn’t been invented yet and for a job that doesn’t yet exist. Schools may not exist in 50 years. They began in order to provide workers for the 19th century industrial revolution and will become outdated by geo political internationalization of the world and changes in technology and employment.

There are drivers in place impacting on schools, over which we have no control. What is clear however is that schools need to change and the changes process should be driven by educators. There are major changes in the environment, in technology, in globalization, in the post industrial economy, in cultural and economic shifts (Chinese are now the second biggest ethnic group in Auckland) and in changes to labour markets. Many commentators (Tofler, Senge, Richardson, Rod Oram) are of the view that most people will work for companies employing less than 200 people and that the creative arts will become a major source of employment.

Senge is of the opinion that schools are finite organizations and that as we know them, may only have 50 more years of existence. His challenge is that we need to be thinking about and re-imagining new forms, ideas and curriculums for schools. Interestingly, the new New Zealand School Curriculum, our self managing structure and the concept of personalized learning, may give New Zealand an edge over other countries. Worldwide changes require schools and school leaders to understand the issues and our response to them.
• Technology changes
• Creation of life long learners
• Thinking skills curriculum
• Importance of languages
• Importance of arts
• Networking as an educational and employment tool
• Globalization etc

Some years ago I was dozing through a presentation by an English educator at the NZPF Conference in Wellington. My colleague nudged me awake and told me to write down what was just said, “that we need to change the nature of schools from places of teaching, to places of learning.” This has been my inspiration ever since, to change the nature of our school. Organizations which don’t change, wither and die. Boys Brigade, Sunday School, even marriage might well be examples of this and if Rip Van Winkle came back to life now he wouldn’t recognize hospitals or transport systems but would recognize a school – essentially four walls, children sitting in rows and a teacher at the front of the room, arguably boring children to death. This picture does not inspire confidence to educate children for a future which doesn’t yet exist.

Matipo School is now 4 years down a journey to change the nature of our school and change the nature of teaching and learning. We called our initiative “The New Learning Paradigm” and its purpose was to change the nature of the school from a place of teaching to a place of learning, with children more actively involved in the learning process, and the role of the teacher changing.

We made changes to our timetable, curriculum coverage and pedagogy. The place and promotion of digital technology is well understood and integrated into the learning process. We built new specialist facilities to match the changing curriculum, introduced an adaptive curriculum and inquiry based learning, thinking skills as a major pedagogical tool, a strong performing arts programme and a lot of staff development on school improvement, pedagogy and what we would now term personalized learning. Within the inquiry process, the role of the teacher is changing from the font of all knowledge to the facilitator, the coach, the prompter of learning. We need to get children out of the school and more visitors into the school. We need to seek out more authentic learning contexts such that the learning is more purposeful to children.

Our journey is only yet at the beginning. The major impediment to change is the teachers themselves. Too often there is a reversion to former teaching practices. With some, I have failed to communicate or enthuse the changes in order to create sustainable difference.

Within the above parameters there has been a daunting degree of risk taking. There was no mandate to introduce the adaptive curriculum. I couldn’t data quantify the success of some of the changes. Employment contractual obligations prevent us from terminating staff members unable or unwilling to implement our new paradigm. Political changes in philosophy have seen a demise in self management opportunities for schools. As principal, I need to continue to drive, enthuse and extend the concept on a daily basis.

There is much more to do. The inquiry process needs further staff development. I would like to downsize the curriculum further, to do less but better. We need to seek out alternative funding sources such as private sponsorships in order to rebuild the physical plant and resources for a 21st century education. We need stronger support systems for management and staff. We need to extend networking opportunities for students, staff and schools and cross pollinate ideas from other sectors and businesses. We need politicians to trust the professionals and encourage intellectual autonomy. All schools need to focus on children and their learning outcomes, not systems or compliance. Teacher quality needs improvement with good quality inservice but more especially with better quality pre-service intake. Teacher quality is the absolute key along with vital leadership “you can’t run a school with dead leaders” Andy Hargreaves (2007). We probably also need to be able to more tangibly recognize and reward ability of staff.

I would also like children to develop their own digital portfolios, to move along the inquiry spectrum to negotiated learning outcomes and to develop the ability of children to continue their learning through an online portal. So much of developing a school of the future is dependent on monetary resources but more is about vision and leadership.

We don’t know what the future holds but we do know it won’t be the same as the present.

“No one is less ready for tomorrow then the person who holds the most rigid beliefs about what tomorrow will contain.” Watts Wacker

Conference Report: New Imagery for Schools and Schooling

4 years ago
by admin in
I travelled to this conference with five other colleagues from our Project Koru team and acknowledge the considerable financial support from the Project towards this trip.

The conference was significant in the abundance of world class presenters: Fullan, Hargreaves, Senge, Hayes-Jacobs, Caldwell, Hattie*, Robinson* (New Zealand). The facilities and workshop opportunities were outstanding.

This was a great conference and very significant. The big picture items or themes coming out of it were:
1. Schools as an institution are finite and perhaps within 50 years, won’t exist. We need to be thinking about or imaging new forms, ideas and curriculum for schools.
2. That children, teachers and schools learn better when they work together (in groups).
3. The importance being placed on the Arts and in Music particularly.
4. Of equal importance was the great bonding of our team and the better knowledge of each other and the willingness to work closer together.
5. That we can learn from business, sport etc in terms of systems and organization.

The most important message was the need for schools to change. We need to prepare children for a world that hasn’t yet been invented and for jobs that don’t yet exist. Again, the need to change the school from a place of teaching to a place of learning, the importance of digital technology etc. Our school is well down this path:
• Adaptive curriculum
• Inquiry Learning
• Thinking skills
• ICT
• Performing Arts
• New facilities to match changing curriculum
• Emphasis on pedagogy

The new New Zealand school curriculum gives the opportunity and mandate to change the nature and content of the school. Our school is now four years in to changing the school from a place of teaching to a place of learning and of trying to become a school preparing children for a 21st century life with action learning, learning together in groups, exploring digital worlds and having access to a strong arts programme.

Conferences are a time to think and reflect and a couple of areas of personal learning crystallized.
• The need to visit rooms more often.
• The need to give more feedback to staff.
• The need to recognize and reward ability.
• More opportunities for student voice.

All the speakers touched on leadership and management strategies and talked about various criteria of importance in effective schools which are summarized.

Peter Senge M.I.T was the most powerful speaker and strongest advocate for schools to change. We need to get away from the production line approach to schools and re-imagine our structures and curriculum to prepare children for a world which hasn’t been invented yet and for a job that doesn’t yet exist. Schools may not exist in 50 years. They began in order, to save the 19th century industrial revolution and will become outdated by geo political internalization of the world and changes in technology and employment. For Senge, learning is about thinking leading to acting. It needs to have an authentic context so that it has real meaning to the learner.

Brian Caldwell of Melbourne, was a substantive author of Tomorrows Schools in New Zealand. He gave a very well grounded presentation entitled 8 challenges for school leaders and politicians.
1. Trust the profession.
2. Intellectual autonomy (self management).
3. Re-build schools physically, pedagogically and in curriculum to match the 21st century.
4. Seek sponsorship opportunities in public education.
5. Students must be the centre.
6. Support the leaders with more management and support structures to enable them to be the educational leaders.
7. Alignment of capital (put all together).
- Intellectual capital – the professional capital of staff.
- Social capital – networks, partnerships, grants.
- Spiritual capital – values and attitudes.
- Financial capital – monitory resources.
8. Real governance is the process by which schools build and align their capital to reach their goals.

Michael Fullan ex university of Toronto is now education advisor to the Ontario Premier. He believes in central direction and mandated targets. He is a major world figure in education. He spoke of ‘six secrets’
1. Love your employees, parents, network partners etc, (respect and trust and build partnerships).
2. Connect peers with purpose – peer interaction within schools and clusters.
3. Bullying backfires (as a management tool).
4. Learning is the real work – doing, implementing, trialing etc.
5. Transparency works – sharing practice and resources, observation of each other, comparing results.
6. Systems learning – plugging in all parts of the system to work for the same end.

Andy Hargreaves from Boston is probably the leading world educational thinker. He believes in a bottom up approach. He talked about seven principals of sustainable leadership.
1. Depth and focus on learning – it works.
2. Endurance and change over time – it lasts.
3. Breadth – it spreads.
4. Justice – helping other teachers or schools.
5. Diversity – networking with others for new ideas.
6. Resourcefulness – you can’t run a school with dead leaders.
7. Conservation –honouring and valuing the past as building blocks for the future.
He reiterated Senge’s idea that we can learn from other sectors (business and sport) and from other countries as well as by networking with other schools and partners. His recipe for good schools is:
- Strong vision.
- Focus on learning areas.
- High quality teachers.
- Build strong professional learning communities.
- Networks and partnerships.
- Accountability

What was the personal learning I gained from this conference?
- Visit rooms more often.
- Provide more feedback especially about assessment reporting.
- Advocate for teachers to observe each other and in other schools.
- Recognize reward ability.
- Promote and defend the philosophy and direction of the school.

Schools and the Law

5 years ago
by admin in
Schools are an agency of the government and at last count, at least 52 Acts of Parliament applies all or in part, to schools. We have certain statutory requirements which we are obliged by law to implement or have the legal backing to enforce.
The most obvious one is that children have to attend school regularly from the time the child is enrolled. The school is required to monitor children’s attendance and take all reasonable steps to ensure regular attendance. In severe cases, prosecution for truancy can result.

Children can be excluded from school (stood down) if they have contagious, untreated illness (including lice). If a parent refuses to seek medical treatment or sends a child back to school while still contagious, the law provides for the child to be stood down and for a referral for neglect to be made to CYFS – the state agency charged with protection of children.

When children make a disclosure of physical or sexual abuse, schools must pass on the allegations to CYFS, the Police or the Public Health Nurse. We do not judge the situation or determine its direction or outcome. We simply pass on the disclosure (as is required of us) and the appropriate agency then determines the validity of the allegation.

Schools do have discretion on whether to pass on a concern for care and neglect matters, but not for physical or sexual assault. For instance, if a teacher was concerned about a child having no lunch for a period of time, the school can decide whether or not to pass on its concern. (It may be that the child had been throwing away the lunch or eating it on the way to school).

Over the last few years Matipo Primary School have offered a number of seminars on anti violence towards women and children and sent home various pamphlets and resources. All staff have had professional development in ‘Keeping our Children Safe.”

In a country with horrific statistics in violence and murder to children and with the huge publicity being given to this area of concern, it should come as no surprise that schools are in the frontline of protection of children. Half of all murders in New Zealand are family violence related. On average every year, 14 women, six men and 10 children die as a result of family violence. Police attended 70,000 calls about family violence in 2006 – one every 7 ½ minutes. FAMILY VIOLENCE IS NOT O.K!

Personalised Learning at Matipo

5 years ago
by admin in
The term ‘Personalized Learning’ has recently achieved “flavour of the month” status and is getting increasing mileage. The Minister of Education, Steve Maharey, is championing the concept as a cornerstone of 21st century learning and the Ministry of Education has distributed a booklet on the subject. For some it is seen as something new but in reality it is an old dog dressed up in new clothes based on work in North America since at least the 1970’s and in the United Kingdom since the 1980’s. In the New Zealand context, many schools with an interest and commitment to pedagogy have been exploring the concept independently of Ministry support or interest and sometimes with impediments from the review agency.
Gwen Gawith did much of the New Zealand pioneering work under the ‘action research’ label and the Living Heritage Project Path provided an excellent model. The ‘action research’ label morphed into the ‘inquiry based learning model’ to simply ‘inquiry learning’. For at least the last decade a number of New Zealand schools have developed and refined the pedagogy of inquiry learning, many based on the philosophy of the Canadian educator, Lane Clarke.

The Ministry view of personalized learning captures the key: changing the learning focus of pupils from passive recipients to active learners who have far greater engagement with their learning which in turn makes it more meaningful to them. The role of the teacher changes from the didactic font of all knowledge to that of the facilitator, the coach, the prompter and encourager. ICT is a very important component which does create home based equity issues.

Personalized learning in its wider form also sits well with the New Zealand inclusive classroom approach. Our individualized approach to both literacy and numeracy based on individual assessment and individual and small group teaching and the New Zealand concept of the generalist classroom teacher being responsible for the inclusive needs of their pupils is also an aspect of personalized learning. Both John Hattie and Russell Bishop stress the importance of teacher engagement with individual pupils as a critical aspect of subsequent school achievement. Jenkins and Keefe in Phi Delta Kappa (Vol 83, No 6, 2002) discuss the six basic elements of personalized instruction in the North American context.

  1. A dual teacher role of coach and advisor.
  2. A diagnosis of relevant student learning characteristics.
  3. A collegial school culture.
  4. An interactive learning environment.
  5. Flexible scheduling and pacing.
  6. Authentic assessment.

The year 2000 Report of the British Columbia Ministry of Education identified three goals of education:

  1. Learning requires the active participation of the learners.
  2. Students learn in a variety of different ways and at different rates.
  3. Learning is an individual and a social process.

This is the rationale for inquiry / personalized learning. We are trying to teach pupils how to learn (not knowledge) and if we are successful, to create life-long learners.

In our school context, we began inquiry learning in 2003. It was in response to a school philosophy of continuous improvement and a belief that we talk a lot about curriculum but not enough about pedagogy. While dozing at a NZPF Conference in 2002, one sentence from all of the presenters awoke me from my slumber “we need to change schools from a place of teaching to a place of learning.” This was the stimulation to investigate how we could do this and how we could things better. Our answer was our ‘New Learning Paradigm’ in which we changed our school timetable and curriculum coverage and introduced school wide inquiry learning of integrated term long topics covering Social Studies, Science, and Technology with aspects of the Arts and Literacy. This is described on our website under ‘Inquiry Learning Project.’

It is based heavily on the work of Lane Clarke and the stages are:

  1. Immersion / Motivation
  2. What We Know
  3. What We Want to Know
  4. Where We Can Find Out
  5. How We Can Present Our Findings
  6. Future Step

The approach is heavy on thinking and research skills, incorporates learning styles and multiple intelligences, encourages learning outcomes to include possible presentation using the Arts (dance, drama, models, performance etc) and changes the role of the teacher to that of the encourager, coach, prompter, facilitator. Does the model work for all children? It works best for brighter and average children but not so well for slower children – but then traditional teaching didn’t serve them so well either. The theory is that the teacher is freed up to work individually with the slower children and that they can be strategically placed within other groups within the room.

This approach allows us to try and create life long learners who know how to learn. There is more indepth coverage of topics and creates excitement and engagement in children’s learning. Individual learning styles are better catered for. There is more creativity and experimentation. Favourite units are those of Flight, Space and the Business / Technology Design and Sell a Product unit. Impediments are largely teachers who can’t let go and still stifle the creativity by reliance on the didactic approach. My concern is that schools should adopt this approach not because it is currently in vogue but as part of a carefully considered school philosophy that place pedagogy and a genuine commitment to improved learning as paramount in the life of the school.

A Void of National Leadership

5 years ago
by admin in

A recent period of absence from New Zealand and a somber article titled ‘Warnings from New Zealand’s Birdcage’ (Time Magazine, July 3rd 2006) have caused me to reflect on the issue of leadership in the New Zealand context.

I believe we have been incredibly poorly led in all sectors of our country, over the last 20 years and we now face a critical malaise of the effects of chronic underinvestment in infrastructure, poor labour skills and philosophically driven governance. At all levels of government; national, regional and local, we are poorly led. Within trade union, employer groups, sector groups, the church and even sports groups, we are poorly led. How many of us could name the current leaders of the union movement, the churches, and the social commentators. Who are our leading academics? How many Cabinet Ministers can we name? Witness the debacle of the Football Kings / Knights, the Warriors, the loss of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Who are the replacements for
Bill Sutch, Dr Beeby, Roger Douglas and the Maori renaissance leaders?

Only one New Zealand company (Telecom) was ranked in Forbes 2005 list of the top 2000 companies in the world. Despite the rhetoric about smart industries and value added exports we have essentially remained land related in terms of our exports. Less than 2% of our exporters produce 74% of our export receipts (Rod Oram, NZ Herald). Our current G.D.P. is close to 10%. Our unemployment figure is lower while the number of people on sickness benefits has doubled. Auckland and Wellington traffic is often grid locked and “sometimes the lights go out in Auckland.” (Time Magazine, 3rd July). There is a critical shortage of skilled trade labour due to cessation of traditional apprenticeship labour and our military hardware (although being replaced) dates back to the mid sixties. Local bodies are projecting concurrent high rate increases over the next decade to pay for historic underinvestment in infrastructure. Arguably the most influential social commentators and stimulants of debate and change in New Zealand currently, are business writers like Rod Oram and Fran O’Sullivan.

Why are we experiencing the trend of poor leadership and the absence of leaders over the two decades? In the same way it becomes the chicken and the egg situation. Because of our comparative poor economy and low wage structure, high tax rates and a perceived lack of opportunity, many of our potential and aspiring leaders leave the country. Our strong sense of egalitariasm leads to some tall poppy syndrome where no one is perceived to be any better than anyone else. (As a nation we don’t seem to value excellence, except in sport). Economy only air travel means that you might be seated next to a Chief Executive or Cabinet Minister as you might at any reasonable restaurant. Leaders are not held in ‘awe’ as such. M.M.P. government has certainly changed the political landscape and the make up of a multiplicity of boards, trusts and other government appointments. The expediency of M.M.P. sees first term M.P’s become Cabinet Ministers and ‘dance of the desperate’s made government appointees to boards and trusts as a price for coalition partnership. Where is the quality leadership stemming from this?

In arguing about an absence of strong leadership and the detrimental effects this is having on our country in terms of poor decision making, what then are the qualities of the leaders we are lacking? Any number of management books will list the traits of leadership. I offer my own characteristics of effective leaders. Essentially, leaders need to ‘lead’ and not be afraid of leading or making decisions. Good leaders will be decision makers, they will be decisive, they will have (and value) intellect, they will be innovative and risk takers and they will back their own judgments. They will be charismatic and be able to take people with them. Our political leaders can not continue to be compromised as they are now, such that there is little or no vision.

In every sector or our society – business, education, church, politics, ethnic groups or sport, we need stronger, more effective leadership. Lack of strong leadership is impacting on our economy, our opportunities, our standard of living and the quality of our lives. We need to be led out of the quagmire of mediocrity and become innovative, exciting and progressive as a nation.

Values Education

6 years ago
by admin in

The 2006 New Zealand Draft Curriculum statement identifies eight core values to be taught in New Zealand schools. New Zealand students will be encouraged to develop and appreciate the following values:

  • Excellence
  • Innovation, inquiry and curiosity
  • Diversity
  • Respect
  • Equity
  • Integrity
  • Care for the environment
  • Community and participation

Interestingly, these are not so much traditional moral values (apart from integrity and respect) but more reflective of the present government’s political values and philosophy.

Australia has also been going through a similar process under their charismatic Federal Minister of Education, Brendon Nelson. This is seen by some as an extension of fervent nationalism rather than reflective of common human values or Judeo-Christian values. The common Australian values identified are:

  • Care and compassion
  • Doing your best
  • A fair go
  • Freedom
  • Honesty and trustworthiness
  • Integrity
  • Respect
  • Responsibility
  • Understanding, tolerance and inclusion

Loosely, four of the values are the same or similar. In Australia, an $A29 million program to propagate these values is planned.

Promoting social justice – type values in schools is inherently dangerous. An example would be the valuing diversity / promoting tolerance and inclusion area prompted by immigration led changes to the Australian and New Zealand societies. Acceptance without question of diverse cultures and cultural practices, can also be acceptance in some cultures of abuse of women and children, of genital mutilation and of straight out barbarism. Tolerance of such situations is just plain dangerous.

An important role of the school in any civilization is not so much the promotion of the government of the day’s political philosophy, but of the transmission of the heritage and culture of our society – a handing down of our history and values. Many New Zealand schools have adopted the Cornerstone Values Programme, developed by John Heenan. He argues it is possible to define a core of universal moral values which are common to all cultures and religions arising from traditional understandings of a “centuries old consensus” of what is right and what is wrong. The Cornerstone Values are:

  • Honesty and truthfulness
  • Kindness
  • Consideration and concern for others
  • Compassion
  • Obedience
  • Responsibility
  • Duty
  • Respect

These values are not politically driven but more traditional moral values arguably at the core of all cultures and societies. These values do not promote one culture or religion over another.

Along with many other New Zealand schools, the values promoted at Matipo Primary School had already been identified from the more traditional cultural transmission field. They are unashamedly moral values:

  • Honesty
  • Trust
  • Kindness
  • Fairness
  • Care
  • Truth
  • Compassion
  • Respect
  • Reliability
  • Friendship
  • Responsibility

Overriding these traditional values we have four value concepts which also reflect our unique New Zealand culture:
WERO - To accept the challenge of learning and living (which also incorporate two of the 2006 values; excellence and innovation, inquiry and curiosity)
AROHA - Love and care of each other, of the school and the environment (2006 care for the environment)
MANA - Having pride, dignity and values
KIA KAHA - To stand tall, respect yourself and be proud

The definition of school values is a relatively easy task. Teaching them is best done by example, reminder and reinforcement but is not the province of the school alone. Parents, the community, the media and New Zealand leaders also have a crucial role to play. At a time when traditional value institutions such as Scouts, the church, marriage and the home are changing or being minimized so rapidly, the promotion of traditional values has never been so important.

Report on the World Principals Conference 2005

6 years ago
by admin in

Over 2000 delegates from 37 countries attended the 7th World Principals Conference in Capetown, South Africa. Because of the location, about 1200 delegates were African. The next conference will be held in Auckland in 2007. The theme was about the notion of expanded leadership particularly for social change. Principalship is about transformation, the kind that changes individuals and that changes attitudes of sexism, racism and materialism. Through collectivism on a local, regional, national and international scale, principals can effect social and political change through their advocacy and leadership.

The notion of expanded leadership was quite reaffirming to me. I have long advocated that principals need to lead educational debate and direction. Principals need to develop a school culture that is positive and inclusive of all. The conference promoted the school and school leadership in a wider context as an agent of social change – that we can make a difference in our communities. Obviously, this difference will be greater in the eye-opening shanty towns of South Africa and the remote and destitute regions of the African continent. But I reflect and am proud of our innovative and proactive efforts in our community with our support groups, targeted parent education themes, our links with community groups and our advocacy on behalf of our community.

Our school can learn from the successes of education systems in various parts of the world.

Finland

  • Top OECD educational results 2000, 2003
  • High expectations
  • Strong student engagement
  • Positive disciplinary climate
  • Home / school share similar values

England

  • Improved educational outcomes by targeted focus

Singapore, Japan, Korea

  • Top maths nations
  • Homogeneity of society
  • Very high parental expectations
  • Status of principals

United States

  • Underpinning of new Bush Policy is the research that it is not class size, but school size that matters.

Principals and teachers should not defer to the alleged “expertise” of others. We need to be inclusive and holistic (major components of our school culture). Our engagement and relationships with pupils are what makes the difference. No child remembers their Year 6 P.A.T. result – they should remember their teacher’s positive reaction to that result. Actions such as a promise kept, an interest shown, praise given, a kindness shown, compassion and encouragement, these make a difference, touch the lives of others and may change them. In summary, the conference theme is that the school and principal has a wider role of humanity, community and responsibility.

Some specific sessions considered the school’s role in values and ethics in terms of moral leadership in social and political areas particularly in combating sexism, racism and materialism. The inclusive agenda extends also to special education (wonderful session by Loretta Giorcelli from Australia).

A major session of note was “Leading Connected Learning Communities” by Prof. Louise Stoll of the University of London. She defines a learning community and its purpose “in a fast changing world, if you can’t learn, unlearn and re-learn, you’re lost.” Characteristics of an effective learning community include:

  • Shared vision and values
  • Collective responsibility for pupils learning
  • Collaborative focus on learning
  • On-going professional growth by teachers
  • Reflective professional thinking
  • Inclusive practice
  • Mutual trust, respect and support
  • Engagement with parents
  • Reflective inquiry learning

Characteristics that help you learn in school are:

  • Clear learning objectives and explanations
  • Group work
  • Making learning active and enjoyable

Other keynote sessions of value were from:
David Hopkins, Specialist Schools Trust, United Kingdom on “Transformational Leadership”
Pam Christie, University of Queensland on “Leadership in Education”
Andy Hargreaves, Boston College on “Sustainable Leadership”
And Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu

An excellent session by Andy Hargreaves who talked about growing leadership in schools – “distributed leadership”. I gained several ideas from this to expand our present practices. It is also evident that inquiry based learning is at the forefront of a new learning revolution. Another strong trend is the importance of strong engagement by teachers with pupils. Finally, a synthesis of several speakers has given me the concept of the “new professionalism” – a new collective of expectations and standards for teachers.

What are the ACTION STEPS that will result from my attendance at this conference?

  1. Reinforcement of our New Learning Paradigm initiative, the importance of engagement with children, of staff self driven professional development and our engagement with our community.
  2. Some specific papers to share with specific staff members.
  3. School wide development in the Louise Stoll material.
  4. The development of Best Practice Modules in literacy, numeracy, Inquiry Learning, Formative assessment, Benchmark standards, school vision and a new area, New Professionalism, to be used to induct new staff and for periodic reminders to existing staff.
  5. Some smaller but specific management practices eg: more rigorous appraisal goals, IT audit, collective professional development initiatives.
  6. Develop a School Improvement Team.

Indulged Child Syndrome

6 years ago
by admin in
A plague-like virus is becoming increasingly prevalent in children and young adults aged between 6 – 21 years +. The symptoms usually exhibit themselves firstly in the home but also at school. Doctors and researchers were at a loss to understand the virus to begin with but now have a far better understanding of its causes and symptoms, although treatment options are still being developed
The medical terminology for the disease is I.C.S. – Indulged Child Syndrome although its common term is “Adidam” – All Day I Dream About Myself. Early research has shown strong linkages of I.C.S. with the corresponding growth in both parent working homes, mass advertising by multi national labels, ownership of text enabled cell phones and hormone feeding of chickens leading to early puberty. The disease seems to strike girls first at a considerably younger age than for boys. Although there have been recorded cases of girls as young as 4 years old, it is more common to strike at around the 9 – 11 year old stage. Interestingly, for boys it doesn’t usually inflict them until late teens.

The effect on families of this disease is, understandably, quite devastating. Formerly placid, polite, obedient nice young children transform into the child from hell. The usual treatment method by parents is a financial one – buy them whatever they want or better still, give them the money to go out and buy it themselves. Bed times and curfews are suspended because of course, no other child has these. A common remedy is to let them stay on the phone as long as they like, usually in the bedroom with the door closed. Staying at all night parties where both boys and girls are both sleeping over is another good remedy. Under no circumstances should parents attempt to curtail the freedom of the child to do as they like because this will further aggravate the condition by causing stress. Stress will mean the child can not go to school and may even have to give up school altogether.

Naturally, the stress of having a child with this condition impacts quite heavily on parents. Some parent’s marriages are strained by the condition as mother and father start to have different ideas on how to treat the problem. In some severe cases, parents actually divorce because of this disease. Anecdotal evidence suggests it is usually the father who breaks first.

Amongst the more perplexing symptoms is the problem of the role confusion and identity crisis. In its fully developed form, the virus leads children to hallucinate about their identity and role in the family. Many actually believe that they are the parents, and the parents, the children. This being the case, they make up all their own rules for their life and have their parents, wait on them, hand and foot. This particular stage of the disease can be fatal but if not, certainly has dire consequences. This disease gets worse when children are treated as adults with adult rights, equalities and freedoms.

  • As with any disease, prevention is better than cure and early identification and treatment can help stop the virus and its effects, from becoming more serious. Some of the early symptoms include:
  • Long, secret phone calls behind closed doors.
  • The need to have Nike, Roxy, Quicksilver, Rusty and other similar brand named clothes (but not Bodyglove as it comes from the Warehouse!)
  • Frequent reference to the fact that all other children have them / will be going / are allowed.
  • Pressure to increase bedtimes / curfew.
  • Answering back.
  • Refusal to take no for an answer.
  • Absolute refusal to credit parents with having any sense, experience or use (except to provide money and food).
  • The rules of the house, road or school do not apply to them.
  • Inability to study without the phone, T.V, and MSN all being simultaneously available.
  • Unable to set table, or clear dishes from the table.
  • Inability to clean dishes, put washing in washing machine or tidy bedroom.
  • Lovely (sickly) smile and nice tone when they want something.

Treatment options only really work if applied at the early stages of manifestation of the symptoms. Once the disease is established, known remedies are not very effective. Parents need to seek or apply rigorous treatment at the first signs of this virus. Remedies include:

  • Establishing reasonable rules and responsibilities.
  • Sticking to these rules.
  • Being proactive rather than reactive.
  • Both parents having the same rules and standards.
  • Both parents back up each other, not the child.
  • Parents setting deadlines and curfews.
  • Pocket money provided at $1.00 per year of age, in return for jobs completed around the house.
  • Clothes provided at age appropriate monetary values.
  • Applying the concept of working towards a goal or saving up for a consumer item (sometimes with parent subsidy).
  • Parents being parents and children being children.
  • Ring other parents to check on permission, home times etc.
  • Rewards provided for consistently good behaviour not for brief cessation of poor behaviour.

Indulged child syndrome poses serious risks to our future society and family structures as we currently know it. It needs to be identified, confronted and treated. The first step is to make a start. Extreme situations call for extreme remedies and sometimes “Cold Turkey” or “Tough Love” prescriptions will be required. To avoid “Indulged Child Syndrome” children need to be treated as children. Rationalization is an adult concept and does not work with children. They do not have cognitive development or maturity to understand. They need consistently applied boundaries, simple rules and explanations, duties and expectations and meaningful consequences when they disregard the rules and expectations.

Foundations of a Quality School

7 years ago
by admin in

The philosophy and principles that are the foundations for the creation of a successful school committed to children and to the provision or quality educational programmes.

Academic excellence
The core purpose of a school is to foster academic excellence such that each pupil can achieve to the best of their ability. This school strives for academic excellence both individually and collectively.

Aims
The aims of this school are inherent in our systems, our philosophy and our approach. They are contained specifically in our charter and vision. Basically our aim is that each child should achieve to their maximum potential.

Annual plan
Each year we develop an annual plan detailing the key events of the year and the curriculum coverage, outline of professional development etc. This is a broad stroke picture or outline of the year.

Avoidance
Things to avoid include:
- Excuses
- Pettiness
- Associating with negative people – life is too short to waste with whiners, complainers and drainers

“you get from others what you expect, demand and model”

Balanced curriculum
This school takes pride in ensuring balanced coverage of the state curriculum and within each curriculum, balanced coverage of the strands. Additionally, we provide balanced coverage of extension areas and also in meeting the needs of children in physical, social and emotional areas.

Basics
The argument over emphasis on the “basics” and the recent concentration on numeracy and literacy was a non-event for this school because we never left them. From our original Charter, our main community goal was an emphasis on the academic basics.

Best practice
We are consistently involved in whole school professional development, engage in professional reading and participate in professional and curriculum bodies to identify and develop best practice in all areas of the curriculum.

Ceremony & celebration
It is important for organizations to have structure, ceremony and celebration. We celebrate our school successes in various ways and have ceremonies, which are part of our school tradition – Poetry Competitions, Speech Competitions, Essay Contests, Sports Day, Cross Country, Concert, Picnic, Helpers Morning tea and Prizegiving.

Challenge
An important part of success at school and improved achievement is facing and succeeding at challenge. An integral part of our classroom, sports, cultural, outreach and G.A.T.E programmes, is giving children opportunity to successfully face challenge.

Child Centered
Matipo is a child centered school. We advocate strongly for children. We individualize instruction as far as possible and have regard for individual learning styles. We provide a strong and extensive education for children. We are here for children.

Child Protection
We have a number of systems in place to protect children and to be proactive in assisting children. We use a behaviour monitoring system, Touch Base, Public Health Nurse, Pacifika Health, Counsellor, Youth Aid and a school Lawyer to help and protect our pupils.

Commitment
This is a major focus of our school. We demonstrate a strong commitment to children and their learning. A strong commitment by staff to the school, the children, to improvement and to their own personal development is encouraged and fostered.

Communication
In any organization, this is vital. We have excellent communication systems including annual, termly, weekly and daily to staff and a weekly newsletter to parents. Various other notices and -Help Your Child- newsletters are also sent home. We offer open access to the school and twice yearly interviews and reports are done. We also offer curriculum support meetings and a range of parent help options.

Consequence
Our disciplinary approach is proactive as far as possible. We have lots of programmes and activities in place for children. However, when children do transgress it is important for them to know that there is a consistent system of consequences in place. If they do something wrong, there will be a consequence.

Core Purpose
The core purpose of this school is to meet the needs of our pupils to the best of our ability and to foster academic excellence and discipline. We foster self discipline and strong personal values in children and encourage them to aim high.

- Academic Excellence
- Discipline
- Improved Pupil Achievement

Curriculum Extension
We offer a number of opportunities for curriculum extension, for challenge and for broadening the scope of a child’s education, by attending this school. The range is broad and includes sports, culture, music, social and language opportunities.

Discipline
Our approach is to be proactive rather then reactive. We have a number of progammes and systems in place to promote proactive measures. Being well planned and prepared as teachers, having strong expectations and consequences and treating children in a fair, consistent and dignified way are the ingredients of our strong success in this area.

Endurance
Nothing comes easy. Success comes in small pieces. We need as teachers to keep chipping away, to refining, to improving our teaching and to make endurance part or our commitment to children. If children -don-t get it- then we need to break down the learning task and keep enduring until the child does “get it”.

Enjoyment
It is critical that children enjoy school. Our programmes need to be enjoyable, interesting, relevant and presented with flair. We need plenty of things for children to do and plenty of things to look forward to. We need to provide opportunity for all our pupils to experience success. We also provide fun days for children and fun activities through our Outreach Programme.

Expectation
A major factor in improving achievement and in behaviour management is expectation. All staff are encouraged to have the highest possible expectations of every single child. It is indefensible to have a pre-determined expectation of failure. If children are not achieving, then staff need to look at themselves first.

“Race, home circumstances and poverty are poor excuses for low expectations.”

Faith
We need to have faith in our systems, our leadership and our instincts. As teachers we need to have faith in ourselves, our colleagues, our children and our mission.

Formality
Matipo School has a lot of formality. It is part of our emphasis on structure and routine. It provides predictability to both staff and pupils. There is safety in formality. Our treatment of children, our expectations, our planning and preparation are all very formal and ordered. Our formality is the basis of our success.

General Goals
1. To provide the best environment, equipment and materials to enable children to learn.
2. To provide a balanced curriculum with variety, enrichment, encouragement and challenge to meet the needs of all pupils.
3. To provide all children with opportunities for success and enjoyment.
4. To develop self-esteem, social and cultural awareness in children – self-discipline, manners, tolerance, respect and co-operation.
5. To encourage community support and involvement in the school.

Improved Learning and Teaching
We have an absolute commitment to improved learning and teaching. The key to improvements in learning achievement of children is the quality of teachers and teaching. If we improve teaching outcomes we will improve learning outcomes. Our Matipo Achievement Project is a simple means of improving our teaching and learning.

Inclusion
We try and be as inclusive as possible in our teaching of children. All children are treated with dignity and respect. We try hard to include all children having equity and access to the full range of school resources and programmes. We spend a lot of money to support inclusiveness in our special programme assistance.

Innovation
Because of our commitment to continual professional development and to best practice, we also have a commitment to innovation. We trial new approaches, methods and resources. We have been a pioneer in the areas of ICT, Child Management and our Value Added Programmes. We promote our own research and in 2001 are involved in a Spelling Resource trial and a Reading Resource trial by the University of Auckland. We have led a number of district, regional and national initiatives.

Leadership
Leadership is the most critical factor in school improvement and learning improvement. A leader must lead. The leader needs to stimulate and provide the vision, the energy, the ideas, to take risks and to advocate strongly for the best possible resources and finances. The leader must be the “leading learner leading learning”. The leader has to keep abreast of curriculum and methodology developments, read widely, network strongly and make a strong commitment to their own on-going professional development and to be clear that their first role in the school is to be the -instructional leader.- A leader must be able to make decisions.

Learning Styles
In this school we accept that children learn in different ways and also that variety of material and methodology is important. We engage in whole class, group, paired and individual instruction. While a lot of learning is linguistically based, we are also aware that some children do well in other learning areas and we try and provide opportunities for this to take place.

Magic
Teachers are also performers. The classroom is also a stage. Each day we need to perform for children. We need to inject passion, humour and enjoyment into our teaching. We need to enthuse children for learning. We need to inject magic into our learning. At times we will act as if we are angry, sad, excited and over the moon. Children must enjoy school and enjoy their learning.

Methodology
Formal, focused, teacher directed, instructional learning with variety of material and approach is the basis of our methodology. There is an expectation of good planning and preparation, varied and interesting programmes, opportunities for challenge and success and emphasis on high expectation, presentation and output. There is no “one way”. The “way” is anything that works.

do whatever it takes.

Mission Statement
The purpose of Matipo School is to educate the children of our community to the best of our ability. We do this in a positive, caring, learning environment and aim to develop the whole child – physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially and culturally. Children are seen as individuals and we aim; that each child may grow to be the best person that they can be; and that they may help others to do the same.

Modelling
Teacher’s dress, deportment, punctuality, care, attitude, language, expectation and enthusiasm are powerful and significant models to children. What you give out, you’ll get back.

Partnership
The staff and principal work with the Board and community for the betterment of the school while not losing sight of the core purpose of the school. Parental involvement and communication is encouraged. We have a number of joint Board / Staff / Parent Sub Committees and working groups which give concrete expression of partnership.

Passion
Teachers need to have passion for teaching, for children and for subjects. They need to enthuse children with their passion. If teachers are passionate about reading, then so will their children.

Planning and Preparation
Our planning requirements are quite formal. Teachers are expected to be well planned and prepared in advance – long term planning, unit plans, weekly planning book. Good planning equates with good management, good teaching and “good” learning.

Positive Feedback
Another factor in raising achievement is for children to get positive feedback of their work. If the marking of work in cursory or non-existent, then very soon, so will be the effort. All children-s work must be marked and wherever possible, commented upon.

Positivity
It is expected that staff should focus in all aspects on the positive rather then the negative, on what is possible rather than not possible and on how to make something work rather than why it won-t work.

Prime Time Teaching
Wherever possible, the 9.00 – 12.30pm timeslot should be the prime time teaching slot for the core academic subjects. The sports and cultural subjects should occur in the afternoons. Both common sense as well as research, supports this concept.

Pro-activity
We try to be proactive rather than reactive. We engage in early identification of children with academic and behaviourial needs and have many programmes in place to try and eliminate problems before they occur.

Professional Development
Our professional development programme is a feature of the school. Having looked at many models, the best model is whole school, task oriented, purposeful professional development. We also have a professional reading component and staff are encouraged to develop self reflective and self reviewing processes.

Professionalism
All staff are expected to act in a professional manner towards their children, colleagues, parents and others. Normal conventions of teaching behaviour should be observed as a matter or course. Respect and adherence to the school corporate, its governance, leadership, policies and practices is mandatory. Professional ethics should be adhered to in all aspects of school life.

Purpose
Another factor is raising pupil achievement is for children to understand the purpose of learning. If they understand the purpose of each unit and of each lesson then it will have more relevance. Relevance is a motivating factor of learning.

Quality
We are a quality school in the breadth and depth of our curriculum coverage, our values, standards and expectations. Children at the school receive a quality education and we try and do everything in a professional and quality driven manner.

Risk Taking
Part of progressive organizations and of leadership is risk taking. This is part of being proactive, of advocacy and of being innovative. We need to push the boundaries and take risks in advancing learning and the school.

Routines
Strong routines are a feature of the school. These give children certainty, predictability and security.

Self Review
We have a strong process of self review of systems, policies, curriculum areas and of teaching review. Teachers are encouraged to take part in a continual self review and self reflection system. From our formal self reviews we engage in a process of continual improvement.

Sequential Learning
Children learn sequentially and we need to have regard to both the stages of learning ie: concrete, abstract etc, and to the sequence of learning eg: oracy comes before written. Within a learning task it may be necessary to do a task analysis of the learning and present it in a smaller sequence of learning tasks.

Standards
We aspire to have the highest standard of behaviour, attainment, presentation and output. Having high standards and values is an integral part of the school.

Strategic Plan
The school is required to have a strategic plan. It outlines in broad terms our goals and objectives based on the National Achievement Goals and anticipated projects and developments for a 3 year period. It also outlines our review process.

Structure
This school has strong structures and our foundations are firmly embedded in structure, routine and predictability. Such structures and routines are well established, well communicated and well practiced.

Success
All children at this school must have opportunity to experience success. They should experience success in the classroom, in the playground and in our various extension and added value options. We should acknowledge their success as much as possible and also celebrate and acknowledge school successes. Our emphasis must always be on the positive.

Teaching
This school is about teaching and learning. Teaching is about transforming children-s lives. It is about giving them challenge, learning, knowledge, routine, structure, order, predictability, consistency, discipline, consequence, guidance, reward, hope, fun, laughter, love, respect, and a future.

Technology
We must prepare children for the future. They already live in a world full of technology and this is increasing and expanding daily. We need to equip our children with the skills and processes necessary to utilize the technology available to them and to enable then to enhance their learning by access to the information technology tools available.

Values
Our school values are widely disseminated, displayed and practiced. We include value teaching in our assemblies and in our social studies programmes and in our treatment of children.

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