We now know principal leadership makes a difference to school improvement and that innovative schools have effective leaders. Leadership is somewhat a paradox in that we want ordinary, humble leaders but we demand from them extraordinary results. The challenge then has been identifying which aspects of leadership make a difference. What lessons have been learned as a result of recent New Zealand research into successful school principalship?
school type, size and location. Inclusion was based on positive external reviews (ERO) and being acknowledged by one’s peers as being successful in their role. New Zealand’s education system was subject to significant change as a result of the educational reforms (Tomorrow’s Schools) of the late 1980s. While most countries have undergone similar reforms, in comparison, New Zealand schools have seen greater devolution of decision-making and been subject to increased marketisation, contestability and accountability Therefore, of particular interest to the New Leadership is somewhat a paradox measures. Zealand research team was the influence of self-managing schools on successful principal leadership. While there is in that we want ordinary, humble no one model of leadership, from the international and the leaders but we demand from them New Zealand research literature we were able to identify a range of educational values, personal and interpersonal extraordinary results. qualities, competencies, decision making processes and strategic actions which effective principals engage. The International Successful School Principals Project (ISSPP) commenced in 2002 and involved countries including Australia, What practices do successful New Zealand principals Canada, China, Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden and the use and which factors gives rise to successful USA. The focus for the ISSPP was to investigate practices across New Zealand principal leadership? these countries. In the wider international context researchers set The New Zealand case study findings confirm the importance about identifying the characteristics and practices of successful of personal factors, leadership style and leadership skills and principals and sought answers as to how these are influenced. strategies that contribute to successful principal leadership. The project commenced as a result of educational leadership researcher, Kenneth Leithwood asking a straightforward a Personal characteristics question, ‘What do we know about school principals in a range Principals bring to their position a range of personal characteristics of different national contexts?’ that include values and beliefs, social justice and working with the Even though there were contextual differences related to community. Personal traits included their passion for education schools, political systems, economies, education policies and the and ensuring that children were always their centre of interest. make-up of students, a common feature across all countries was Pride, work ethic, eternal optimism, excellent communication that the principal was seen as the crucial figure in the school’s skills and the ability to work collaboratively were also noted. success. The most exceptional feature noted was the enthusiasm Successful New Zealand principals: and passion principals exhibited and their devotion to education, ■■ Have a passion for education – desire and enthusiasm for students and the community. It seemed that principal leadership wanting to make a difference. practices that united countries were far greater than those that ■■ Have pride and self-belief – positive self-belief and divided them. engagement with school and community. The New Zealand context New Zealand became involved in the ISSPP in 2008 and the writer as a member of the New Zealand research team set about seeking answers to two simple questions. 1. What practices do successful New Zealand principals use? 2. What factors gives rise to successful New Zealand principal leadership?
Initial research investigated successful school principals and built on findings from other countries. A range of schools and principals were involved in the research which was based on
Undertake critical self-reflection – reflect on their leadership, performance and contribution. ■■ Have a positive work ethic – sense of positive purpose, can do attitude and hope for the future. ■■ Have previous life experiences – bring life experiences to the principalship. ■■ Develop levels of resiliency – confident, assured, ability to bounce back and creative ways of coping. ■■ Portray the human face of the principalship – exhibit warmth, loyalty to the school and community, approachability, ethics of care and lack of pretentiousness.
Leadership style and leadership skill Capacity building in New Zealand schools is an important aspect of the principal’s position and involves creating the conditions, opportunities and experiences for collaboration and learning in order to bring about effective change. Core factors identified for success included developing collaborative cultures that are collegial, supportive and people orientated. Factors identified for principal success include: Management – having the technical skills in school management processes and procedures. ■■ Communication and consultation – listening, articulating ideas and facilitating development. ■■ Knowing when to lead – striking a balance between leading and letting others lead. ■■ Reflective capacity – reflecting on making schools and communities stronger and healthier. ■■ Interpersonal connectedness – high levels of interaction, personal involvement, trust and loyalty.
Leadership strategies Successful school leaders improve teaching and learning and thus pupil outcomes indirectly and most powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment, teaching practices and through developing teachers’ capacities for leadership. Strategies employed by successful principals include: A focus on student achievement – vision for learning and developing all-round achievers. ■■ Community and staff consultation – inclusiveness, community and educational leadership.
Strong leadership team and quality teaching staff – collaborative and complementary staff. ■■ Continuous school improvement practices – willingness and desire for innovation. ■■ Vision and purpose – a clear shared and realistic vision for the future of the school. ■■ Student achievement and meeting needs – vision for learning and a student-centred school. ■■ Growing other leaders – shared decision-making, collaborative and being a role model. ■■ Finger on the pulse – involvement at the grass roots level, active listening and networking. ■■ Cultural integration – fostering cultural diversity and inclusiveness in school life.
The above findings are firstly, indicative of both a principal’s capacity and capability to engage in self-reflection and secondly, their ability to be responsive to the changing educational environment while maintaining connectedness to both their school and community. During the second phase of the research personal factors e.g. leadership style, leadership skills and strategies contributing to successful principal leadership were further investigated. Further in-depth case study research of exemplary NZ principals was undertaken and the findings were analysed to discover how they sustained success.
• • •
Successful principals focus on core leadership activities It was found that successful principals consistently focussed on core leadership activities associated with the following. A focus on the fundamentals of teaching and learning. Using a variety of familiar leadership strategies. ■■ A strong bias towards people-centred leadership. ■■ The ability to engage in critical self-reflection about their leadership role and future direction. ■■ Maintaining and growing leadership success. ■■ Dealing with challenges and tensions associated with professional and personal lives. ■■ Being a multidimensional leader, e.g. mediator, advisor, professional leader and building contractor.
Bringing out the best in students, teachers and the community requires principals who are not fainthearted or shrinking violets. To the contrary, successful leaders weave webs of inclusion and are innovative. What this research has shown is that while there is no one single model of the practice of effective leadership, there are a range of practices that successful principals engage. We are now able to identify a comprehensive collection of personal and interpersonal qualities, dispositions, educational values, proficiencies, strategic actions and decision-making processes which effective NZ principals use. What is clear in the New Zealand context is that a significant deceptively simple factor at the heart of successful principal leadership, often downplayed or overlooked is collaboration. It is at the core of developing effective pedagogical leadership and
the research has shown that leaders who develop and support practices that encourage the sharing of teaching and learning strategies are at the cutting edge of leadership innovation. A simplistic definition of collaboration infers working and consulting with others. However, it should not be seen only as teamwork, partnership or being cooperative. It needs to be viewed in the wider context where the collaborative leader is required to re conceptualise their role of as leader. What is inferred is significant engagement not only within their own schools but also with other schools and the community at large. Greater engagement known as ‘systems leadership’ suggests considerably more engagement with other schools in order to bring about change. ‘Specifically, a system leader may be defined as a school leader who is willing and able to shoulder wider system roles and in doing so is almost as concerned with the success and attainment of students in other schools as they are with their own.’ The New Zealand research has shown that the qualities, leadership values and actions of the principal in successful schools has developed beyond professional standards to a focus on teaching and learning, personal and professional growth and to relationship building in the wider community. In many ways the job description requirements of the average New Zealand school principal defies reasonable logic. The ability to walk on water comes to mind, as does the motto of being six foot tall and bullet proof. The expectations required of them know no boundaries. NZ principals are required to be responsive to government demands at a moment’s notice. Furthermore, they regularly take the brunt of unfair criticism when it comes to student progress and from a political perspective they are often between a rock and a rock and a hard place. Nonetheless, what requires to be acknowledged is that successful New Zealand principals are shaping the future direction of education. Through a mix of leadership strategies, values, qualities and actions, they are positively influencing teaching and learning and reshaping educational leadership as we know it. References Day, C, P Sammons, D Hopkins, A Harris, K Leithwood, Q Gu, E Brown, E Ahtaridou and A Kington (2009). The Impact of School Leadership on Pupil Outcomes. Nottingham: Department for Children, Schools and Families, National College for School Leadership, University of Nottingham. Notman, R and D A Henry (2009). ‘The human face of principalship: A synthesis of case study findings.’ Journal of Educational leadership, Policy and Practice, 24(1): 37–52. Notman, R (2011). ‘Building leadership success in the New Zealand educational context.’ In In R. Notman (ed), Successful School Leadership in New Zealand: Case studies of schools and an early childhood centre. Wellington: NZCER Press, pp. 135–49.
About the author
Dr Darrell Latham is a senior lecturer at the University of Otago College of Education. He works in the Centre for Educational Leadership and Administration. His research interest includes teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of school leadership and the politics of education.
Mobility Printing or ‘Bring Your Own Device’
Winners named in League in Libraries competition
Konica Minolta’s Cloud printing software PageScope One Community ambassador Jerome Ropati thrilled a Mobile is now available for all digital devices enabling group of Dominion Road School pupils when he arrived Konica Minolta multifunctionals to connect to smart- unannounced to tell them their school and one of its phones or tablet PCs with either Android or iOS operating students Mackenzie Adams were winners in the 2012 systems. League in Libraries story-writing competition jointly Konica Minolta’s PageScope Mobile app basically has run by Konica Minolta and Vodafone Warriors One two functions: printing from mobile devices and receiving Community. scanned documents from Konica Minolta multifunctional Mackenzie’s story, based on peripherals (MFPs). Be it a smartphone or a tablet, every her favourite Vodafone Warrior WiFi-enabled device can be used, as long as it runs on Ben Henry, was judged the best iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, or — and that’s of a total of 328 entries from 22 new — Android, Google’s widespread equivalent to iOS. classes at schools across the PageScope Mobile can also be used to establish a Auckland area. Titled ‘Room secure printing environment using the bizhub authen- 22 Saves the Day’, it’s a story tication system that provides functions such as user about how her class fills in authentication and account tracking. for the Vodafone Warriors at PageSope Mobile thereby contributes to the reduction a game due to their team bus of printouts at the workplace and enhances security. breaking down on the way to Furthermore, the app can connect with services such the ground. as Evernote or Google Drive to download stored data For the first time last year, from the Cloud to mobile devices and print it on nearby Konica Minolta published the bizhubs. winning entry by Khodaysa Rajabi in illustrated book ‘One of the latest trends in IT is “Bring Your Own Device” form and Mackenzie learnt that she, too, is set to become often referred to as BYOD where students and staff bring a published author at the age of seven. their smart phones and mobile devices into the school Ropati also presented Mackenzie with a Vodafone environment,’ says Jeremy Lane, Product Manager at Warriors jersey and she and the rest of the class erupted Konica Minolta Business Solutions New Zealand. ‘By when they were given tickets to the Vodafone Warriors’ following this trend and releasing PageScope Mobile, we NRL match against Brisbane at Mount Smart Stadium. want to provide the ultimate wireless print experience.’ Apart from Dominion Road School, the other winBenefits of PageScope Mobile ning schools were Wainui • Print from anywhere to your Primary, St Ignatius, Wesley Konica Minolta is dedicated to school’s printers Primary, Marist Catholic, • Supports both Apple and Downs Primary, Te promoting reading and writing Chapel Android internet-enabled Matauranga Primary and as valuable life skills that devices Devonport Primary. • No need to install print drivers League in Libraries capneed to begin development on your web-enabled device tain Ropati is passionate • Secure authentication for users early in a child’s life. about supporting the pro• Choose print jobs settings and gramme. see the cost before printing ‘The ability to read and write is critical,’ he says, ‘It opens so many doors and For more information contact expands knowledge. If our kids don’t learn to enjoy education@konicaminolta.co.nz reading, there are far-reaching effects.’ Konica Minolta is dedicated to promoting reading and writing as valuable life skills that need to begin development early in a child’s life. Through its strong relationships with many schools in the Auckland region, Konica Minolta is able to support education by giving year four and five kids a hand to develop these vital skills.
N Z Principal | J u n e 2 0 12 www.konicaminolta.co.nz