New Zealand Principal Magazine

Section

Opinion

School Lines

Lester Flockton

2017 Term 4 November Issue

School Lines Hey, Stupid, it’s raising achievement, achievement, achievement! No, Stupid, it’s making progress, progress, progress! Lester Flockton lester.flockton@otago.ac.nz As I write this article, New Zealanders are awaiting a decision on which political parties will form the next Government. For those of us with a vested interest in education policies, we will each have our […]

Got time for Professional Reading?

Helen Kinsey-Wightman

2017 Term 3 September Issue

Got time for professional reading? Helen Kinsey-Wightman Jan Robertson’s book on coaching has been a long time companion – as a first time principal my appraiser loaned it to me and for 6 months it diligently sat on my bedside table. It was briefly accompanied by a copy of 50 Shades of Grey that a […]

School Lines

Lester Flockton

2017 Term 3 September Issue

School Lines The Rise and Rise of CoLs (Common old Lollipop $yndrome) The Decline and Demise of a Common Sense Lester Flockton lester.flockton@otago.ac.nz Some important Definitions Passion: a forceful driver fuelled by what is believed. Belief: an opinion or conviction that is not necessarily supported by what holds to be true. Polarisation: Division into two […]

A Cup of Tea

Helen Kinsey-Wightman

2017 Term 2 June Issue

A cup of tea . . . Helen Kinsey-Wightman As I write it is the day of our school ball – there is not a hair, make-up or nail appointment available anywhere in town and by tomorrow I predict there will be a local shortage of blister plasters as girls recover from some very unwise […]

School Lines

Lester Flockton

2017 Term 2 June Issue

School Lines Education Policy Dogma and Obsessive-Compulsive Ideology: Wonderful or Wonky? Virtuous or Vexatious? Lester Flockton lester.flockton@otago.ac.nz Wonderful: marvellous, glorious, superb Wonky: not straight; off-centre, lopsided, skew-whiff cause arises out of tensions between intent (often ideological) and reality (or achievability), and the ability or inability to make insightfully critical distinctions between the means to Virtuous: […]

Teaching our girls to speak out

Helen Kinsey-Wightman

2017 Term 1 March Issue

Teaching our girls to speak out . . . Helen Kinsey-Wightman At a pre-Christmas barbeque I was involved in a conversation about the war in Syria and the bombing of civilians and children in hospitals. A group of men present strongly defended this as an act of war – I commented that this was indefensible […]

School Lines

Lester Flockton

2017 Term 1 March Issue

School Lines Lead and dig up the diamonds around you! Lester Flockton lester.flockton@otago.ac.nz When Bill English, architect of his Government’s National Standards policy, gave his first press conference as Prime Minister late last year, he quoted the words above from a poem by Selina Tusitala Marsh. It’s a great pity that ‘and bury all that […]

School Lines

Lester Flockton

2016 Term 4 November Issue

do the most challenging and rewarding work are the special needs teachers and teaching assistants. If we really want to see growth and positive change in our country, we have to start building it from the ground up, brick-by-brick. If we want more skilled workers, we have to upskill our own students rather than importing […]

Why Cools are so Uncool

Luke East

2016 Term 4 November Issue

The easy way to pay info@wrapitup.co.nz www.wrapitup.co.nz Streamline Parent Payments Wrap it Up gets payments in quickly, reduces admin hassle and makes auditing easy. Slash Your Storage Costs!!! Save Thousands $$$ Looking for sliding storage systems? Ex Hire Lundia & Hydestor Systems Now Selling up to 60% off retail Near New – Lundia – Sliding […]

School Lines

Lester Flockton

2016 Term 3 September Issue

feedback, feedforward, Feedup, feeddown  lester.flockton@otago.ac.nz ‘Faster, faster,’ demands Ms H Parata. ‘You’ve gotta raise your achievement data.’ ‘But what can we do that will make it so?’ ‘Believe what you’re told by my MoE and my ERO:’ ACCELERATE! ACCELERATE! ACCELERATE! Acceleration is the name of the game, But alas, for some poor kids it’s all […]

Opinion: Seeing the future through UK eyes

Helen Kinsey-Wightman

2016 Term 2 June Issue

I recently visited the UK to catch up with my family. My sister works in the Careers Department of Priory Community School (a secondary school of 1280 students aged 11–16 years). Ten years ago, based on results and reputation in the community, this school would have been widely viewed as one of the poorest secondary […]