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Practical guidance for the day-to-day work of leading a New Zealand school.
Articles in this section share how-to advice on the operational and relational aspects of principalship: navigating employment law, writing letters of expectation, talking to parents about ERO reports, enacting Te Tiriti o Waitangi in school life, mentoring future leaders, and supporting equity in the classroom. Contributors are working principals, sector specialists, employment lawyers, and education consultants drawing on lived experience in New Zealand schools. Use this section to find tested approaches to common challenges, build your professional toolkit, and learn from the practice of colleagues across the country — from country schools to large urban primaries.
Feelings of shame are powerful. As school leaders we work in a range of situations where levels of shame are high. In my first term as tumuaki of a Y0–6 primary school I have spent time supporting a group of children struggling to regulate their emotions. As I have talked through incidents that have led […]
It’s been a regular theme of my columns that as educators not all of our focus should be on our own schools and communities. Rather a lively interest in the wider world can reap many rewards, including for those who follow the daily news. The much reported blunders of some of our central government and […]
Performance appraisal is no longer mandatory for teachers and as of 1 February 2023 for principals. The Teaching Council has replaced it with the Professional Growth Cycle (PGC) which is now a requirement for every teacher’s registration. The PGC is built around the Council’s five ‘elements’ (do you know what the 5 elements are?), with […]
The way we live, the way we work, and the technology we use is rapidly changing. This means that the rules that govern the way we operate must be flexible enough to allow for change, and they must be regularly updated. School policies are no different. Policies are the agreement between the school and the […]
With its fervent drive to address inequities for principals, the NZPF national executive is acutely aware that principals in some areas of the country feel their voice is not heard. They say specialist resources don’t reach them, no one is advocating for them, and their unique circumstances are not recognised. One of those areas is […]
On Monday, I was welcomed as the tumuaki hou | new principal of Ruakākā Primary School. In my culture, starting well is important. I was raised with sayings like, ‘Start as you mean to go on . . . ’, and ‘You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.’ In Māori culture beginnings are […]
Editor In recent decades, housing has become a symbol of inequity in Aotearoa New Zealand. It clearly signifies the haves and the have nots. So entrenched are the inequities that stories of families living in garages, caravans, tents, cars and vans no longer make headlines. Governments of all shades have weathered blame for housing issues. […]
EDITOR It is no secret that Aotearoa New Zealand has a long history of racism and inequity. Like so many colonised countries, the real intention of colonisation was not so much to protect the rights of indigenous peoples, their language, culture and lands, but to assume power and sovereignty over them. of Māori would be […]
Principal, Edendale School, Southland It is often said in any organisation, business, club or association, that you need to have the right people in the right places. I would go further and say that you need to have the right people, with the right thinking, in the right places. It’s crucial. In an education setting, […]
Over the last year or so it’s become a feature of our university staff meetings for one or two people to do a pepeha, followed by a few minutes of explanation in English of the various points made. It’s both a way of building staff confidence in using te reo Māori and of understanding and […]
‘Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini’ The pandemic years have presented Principals with enormous and ongoing challenges. It wouldn’t be surprising if you were sick and tired of ‘the R word’. Exhortations to ‘be resilient’, focusing exclusively on the individual, sound suspiciously like ‘take a concrete pill and harden up’. […]
Senior Advisor, Teaching Council | Matatū Aotearoa What is Unteach Racism? The first iteration of Unteach Racism was released in May 2021 with an aim to help teachers, identify, confront, and dismantle racism in education. The Teaching Council | Matatū Aotearoa partnered with the Human Rights Commission’s Give Nothing to Racism campaign to create conversations […]
