Section
Practice
Practical guidance for the day-to-day work of leading a New Zealand school.
About this section
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.
Life-Giving, Caring Leadership: He Totara
Introduction Leadership literature often focuses on the role of the principal as an individual, and the effects of their work on student learning, but there is growing recognition of the relational work of leaders (Hilstad & Moller, 2013). An appreciation for the interconnectedness of people, things physical, spiritual, social and intellectual, not only transform principals, […]
Linton Army Camp School
EDITOR If a person armed with a rifle was spotted in your school playground, you would probably call an immediate lockdown. When a squadron of men, carrying rifles and backpacks sprints across principal Geoff Frank’s school playground, the kids call out and wave to their Dads. That’s because Geoff Franks is principal of Linton Army […]
Eight Principles for Principals
Edendale Primary School – Southland Running a school is not a solo expedition. There are simply too many different roles bearing down on the one position for anyone to be able to do everything, flawlessly, on their own. We lead our staff, manage a breadth of physical and financial resources and through our membership on […]
How the Educational Leadership Capability Framework can Strengthen School Leadership
Chief Researcher at NZCER 2020 should mark the start of a new era for school ■■ Embodying the organisation’s values, and showing moral leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand. We have a long overdue purpose, optimism, agency and resilience national Leadership Centre being established within the ■■ Contributing to the development and wellbeing of education Teaching […]
Team Teaching
Team teaching can be both an incredible privilege and an immense challenge all at the same time! One teacher recently described team teaching as going on a blind date and getting married! And it can be like that. However, with some simple structures and strategies team teaching can be the best teaching years of your […]
Recruiting the right Teachers for your School
Recruiting the right teachers for your school . . . Helen Kinsey-Wightman So I am back in the Acting Principal chair, this term is 8 weeks long and my to do list feels like it would take 10 weeks even if I only left school to sleep . . . Top of the list is […]
The Benefits of a Coaching Approach for Teachers
Deputy Principal, Whakarongo School Coaching is fast becoming a key instrument in the coaching reflective teaching’ (p. 269). By working one-to-one educational sector as a professional development tool to improve with staff, from a coaching stance, we hoped that we could teacher reflective practice. Literature has been generated in improve teachers’ reflective practices. New Zealand […]
Coaching Transforms Whakarongo School
EDITOR ‘Isolation is the enemy of improvement’. So says the message on Principal Jaco Broodryk’s office wall. This is not just some random aphorism to fill a space. At Whakarongo School, it is an underlying tenet by which teachers and students structure learning and teaching. Learning and teaching is a collaborative team effort. As the […]
The Forty Hour Principal
Timaru principals, David Armstrong and Steve Zonnevylle are taking time out over coffee at a quiet cafe away from the bustle of their schools. They’re contemplating the ongoing journey that’s resulted in the publishing of their first book, The Forty Hour Principal. On the face of it, the process from writing to publishing seems remarkably […]
Looking after yourselves: A Survival Guide for Principals
– A Survival Guide for Principals Geoff Lovegrove Geoff Lovegrove, a previous president of the NZPF 10. NEVER allow surprises at Board meetings. Thank the person for raising the issue, then only respond when you’ve had time (1999–2001) wrote an article for principals, following a survey to properly investigate it. on principal stress levels in […]