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‘Mum, I’m feeling socially awkward . . . ’ Helen Kinsey-Wightman As regular readers of this column might remember, I have whānau in the UK. Their experience of Covid-19 has been significantly different to my own and not in a good way. Writing this on Waitangi Day, yesterday the UK reported 60,578 new Covid cases […]
Associate Professor Louise P Ageing Well National Science Kia ora ki ngā tumuaki o Aotearoa Associate Professor Louise Parr-Brownlie Department of Anatomy, University of Otago You’ve had two years demonstrating unwavering, strong, kind leadership to support staff, students and whānau through the challenges that Covid-19 has brought. No one could have predicted – let alone […]
This week we dropped my eldest son down to Wellington to move into his first ever flat. The 27 steps up to the front door are not for the faint hearted, so I was pretty relieved that he has embraced minimalism and moved out with 2 bags of clothes and his gaming PC (which he […]
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz As I write, the Waikato has just joined Auckland in Level 3 general throws you a curveball which is common enough in lockdown and it seems things are about to get messier as Covid these Covid times. travels widely through the country. For the time being, I’m so I know there are numerous discussions […]
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz I have a new love in my life, a bright red fully-electric Mini! which there will be many. For instance, there are the people Marika, my wife, has called it Clifford, after the Big Red Dog. who have already brought EVs, our household included, who I’ve tried to tell her that a car being […]
On Breakfast this week I watched John Campbell interviewing Supreme Court Justice Joe Williams (who has just become Sir Joe) the youngest-ever Māori judge appointed to the Supreme Court and the first Te Reo Māori speaker on the Court of Appeal. John Campbell’s first question was, ‘What were you told as a child about what […]
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz I’ve been thinking for a while now, that I would like to write a column about parents, because dealing with unhappy parents often falls to principals and I think it must be one of the most difficult parts of the role. Don’t get me wrong, many parents are nearly always wonderful and can be […]
Getting beyond the tick box . . . Helen Kinsey-Wightman Having returned from a year of study leave, I find my job looks different and not just because of Covid. Part of my role was to review teacher portfolios prior to renewal of practising certificates, with a staff of 100 that meant more than 30 […]
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz I have been thinking about initial teacher education a lot lately and so I read Perry Rush’s last President’s column in this magazine with great interest. Perry argued that New Zealand’s teacher education providers – many of which are universities – are not serving the teaching profession well, and that the quality of programmes […]
New Zealand principals operate within one of the most devolved education systems in the world. Because of this, our roles are complex, made more so by a challenging political landscape, the diversity of contexts in which we work and because of the diversity of leadership learning opportunities we access, as we move through our careers. […]
Does white fragility exist in Aotearoa? Helen Kinsey-Wightman A few years ago I was at an excellent workshop on communication, led by a facilitator I respect. Our task was to give an impromptu speech – I spoke on racism. I talked about my grandfather – whom I adored – who had been in the British […]
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz Term Four is always so busy, but are you planning to do some more professional reading once the year winds down? If so what will you read? It’s a daunting task to get to grips with the educational leadership literature. There is a lot of it and from many perspectives too. So here are […]
