Effective networks = Collaboration

Collaboration is a key theme in my research question and in my reading I have found it is closely linked and underpins effective school networks. Santiago & Fullan (2016) equate effective networks with collaboration that deepens learning, grows professional capital and is a positive driver for system improvement.
They say that on its own mandated collaboration (top-down) nor grass roots (bottom-up) collaborations will work. Effective school networks need both approaches. 
In the NZ setting you can see CoLs (Communities of Learning) as being driven from the top down; although necessary as they provide the resources, structure and support necessary to sustain long term collaboration. Offset this with grass roots collaborations that have been happening for many years - ICT PD clusters, VLN communities, LCN networks & many more. These have been where the heart of collaborative practice and communities of learning have grown in NZ but have been unsustainable because they have lacked the ongoing systems resources and support.

Dr. Cherie Patel-Taylor

Patel-Taylor (2014) supports this view distinguishing between systems collaboration and a culture of collaboration. 
Systems collaborations are more technical in nature - structures, roles, resourcing - they are necessary but not enough on their own. A culture of collaboration takes place in the the learning spaces within and across classrooms and schools, and involves a focus on sharing practice, co-constructing new learning and evolving cycles of inquiry.  Patel-Taylor (2014) defines collaboration as “the process of sharing learning and engaging in dialogue, to create joint new learning that informs future actions focused on the learning of leaders, teachers, students and/or the wider community, over time” (p 8).

School leaders need to be just as concerned for students in all schools as they are in their own schools - this is indicative of a higher moral purpose and 'Systemness' where people deliberately contribute to and benefit from the larger system (Santiago & Fullan 2016). It can be illustrated as well in this adaptation of Spackman's Model:

Derek Wenmoth - adaption of Spackman’s Moral Scale of decision making

  8 features of effective networks

1. "focussing on ambitious student learning outcomes linked to effective pedagogy;
2. developing strong relationships of trust and internal accountability;
3. continuously improving practice and systems through cycles of collaborative inquiry;
4. using deliberate leadership and skilled facilitation within flat power structures;
5. frequently interacting and learning inwards;
6. connecting outwards to learn from others;
7. forming new partnership among students, teachers, families, and communities;
8. and securing adequate resources to sustain the work."
   
   (Santiago & Fullan, 2016, p 10)

Essential features of effective networks in education - Santiago & Fullan 2016

What features do you recognise in your schools cluster, CoL or network? Where are the missing pieces that would make your network more effective and sustainable? Read Santiago & Fullan's work linked below for a really good overview of this.

Santiago Rincón-Gallardo, & Michael Fullan. (2016). Essential features of effective networks in education. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 1(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-09-2015-0007

Taylor-Patel, C. (2014). Networking – Weaving the net; gathering the pearls. Auckland, N.Z. Retrieved from http://appa.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cherie-Taylor-Patel.pdf
Wenmoth, D. (2013, February 16). Change or Die: vision, trust and support. Retrieved 30 April 2017, from http://blog.core-ed.org/derek/2013/02/change-or-die-vision-trust-and-support.html

The Joint Initiative - A Better Plan

(Wordle based on the Joint Initiative Working Party Report)

Today the NZEI released details of the Joint Initiative - a plan forward with the MoE instead of the IES that was rejected by the NZEI collective.

Communities of Learning instead of Communities of Schools
The aim of this initiative is to give more emphasis on collaboratively improving students achievement outcomes and less on the roles and admin of a system change that was being proposed through IES.

Is it just the same thing but dressed up differently using different eduspeak? I am sure members will be discussing that as they meet to vote on this over the coming few weeks.

Louise Green, NZEI President, tells members, "We believe the new model is an exciting educational development, genuinely shaped by educators. Inevitably, as with any negotiations, we have had to make compromises, but we are confident that the progress we have made will genuinely improve teaching and learning."

Key Learnings from the Working Group were summarised as:

• Communities of Learning should self-identify with clear pathways across the sector;
• Their clear purpose is to improve educational achievement aligned with NZC, though they can define their areas of focus;
• Data, evidence & research is used to target efforts;
• Each Community should determine its own leadership, teaching, collaboration and support functions:
• Some roles will be required for all and these will be appointed in conjunction with an external professional advisor;
• Be flexible and prepared for change over time;
• Each Community will assess it's own resource needs;
• 'Whole of Community of Learning collaboration" is critical to success;
• Commit to second stage - further work on priority areas - Māori, Pasifika, ECE, Support Staff, Special Ed, PLD;
• Community roles will align with career pathways.

So what will this look like when we come to implement such a plan? 
How flexible will this plan be?
How will this work for the rural and isolated school, will they be able to develop CoL that are geographically distributed?

How do schools select their Community that has clear pathways when the pathways for many of our students are so diverse?

Where will be the tension between roles determined by the Community and roles required by the MoE - and how will resources be distributed between them?

One positive that were raised for me was that there was recognition of the roles across schools as well as within schools - this may provide some support for the role I have occupied across schools for years with no formal recognition, support or career pathway.

Another point to flag in this plan was the inclusion of Professional Learning and Support as an explicit feature to be worked towards in the second stage of the Joint Initiative. We have been waiting for some time as to the outcome of the Professional Learning & Development Review, so this may be the basket it is ending up in.

So still a work in progress, and a space i am watching closely with the hope that the 'Policy Parameters' of this plan are flexible enough to include the work of  the VLN Primary School.

Connected communities: What are the implications for school leadership?

Cross-posted from the NZEALS forum:
"A report by the 21st Century Learning Reference Group entitled Future-focused learning in connected communities (May 2014) refers to evidence suggesting the beneficial impact that collaborating in regional networks and across school communities has on student outcomes.

With this in mind what might principals need to consider in schools’ strategic planning to provide opportunities for school communities to connect and collaborate in ways that are productive and meaningful to staff, students and the wider community?"

I think school leaders need to start developing a collective vision of education that goes beyond their own classroom walls & school gates. Tomorrow's Schools has done a great job of creating a silo system of schools and creating an environment where collaboration is difficult between schools. This post of Derek's is worth a read - we really need school leaders thinking at the top level of Spackman's moral scale and in a schooling system that supports and enables that.

I really like the definition of Learning Communities in the LCO (Learning Communities Online) Handbook :

"-- Learning – this must always be the primary focus of these communities. The emphasis here is on the emerging pedagogical practices that must be explored and adopted in the networked school, and on the outcomes that are sought for learners. This also recognises that teachers are also learners in this system, and that provision must be made for them to access learning opportunities in this way.

* Community – a networked school is more likely to succeed if it acts as part of a collaborative community. The term community here embraces the notions of participation, trust, agreement and purpose. Individual schools may be a part of several communities, and each will be defined differently by its purpose and the roles of those within it. For most it is likely that there will be a primary community, one defined by geography or special character, to which an individual school will belong."

The LCO handbook, although with a focus on online collaborations, is a useful guide to the myriad of considerations communities of schools need to go through from Proposal (Develop a philosopical context; Identify community of interest; Establish purpose; Set goals and principles; Agree on membership; Explore potential funding sources) through to planning, implementation & sustainability. I recommend you take a look, if you haven't already - you can download the whole LCO as a pdf)

The VLN communities of schools (that created this LCO handbook) show that long term sustainable collaboration is possible and it doesn't necessarily have to be geographically based, it can be with other schools with similar learner needs anywhere in NZ. These sorts of successful collaborations need to be seriously considered and supported when looking towards the systems level change that IES will bring the NZ schooling sector.

Investing in Educational Success - Systems change in the making.

Last week this Working Group report was released on the government initiative 'Investing in Educational Success'. All documentation including this report can be found on the Ministry of Education website.

Q & A was held with Graham Stoop on Thursday (advance notice would have been good) Check out the conversation here.

It is certainly encouraging that we are due for some change in our schooling system, the VLN Primary has been asking for system level change that will enable us to work in a sustainable & 'legitimate' way across NZ schools (see our Position paper). The VLN Community have been discussing the need for change going back many years. It is definitely time to move away from the isolating and competitive nature of Tomorrow's Schools and to work more collaboratively across schools. It won't be an easy journey, it will be complex & challenging and one that should be taken with a measured & critical approach.

There is a lot to digest in this report & it's background papers and it is worth looking at in more detail. Some of the points that were raised for me were:

• Really worthy goals around schools collaborations, and working together to improve student achievement (this is what the VLNP is all about).
• There seems to be a competing rationale or tension between the development of new professional pathways & rewards for school leaders, raising student achievement and changing the system to structure collaboration. What is the main intended purpose of this strategy? What will be the spin-offs?
• Specialist positions (& accompanying release time & salaries) seems to be being held out as a carrot and one that the unions are picking up on, with the danger of stepping up the old boys network another level. It is already noted that the PPTA & NZEI have included their separate position statements within the report. 
• Communities of Schools (CoS) - it is interesting to note this term being used; it is a main descriptor in the VLN Community charter. How will existing collaborations such as the VLN Primary & VLN Community be supported in the new educational landscape? Will they just be swept away with the changes?
• N4L - has been highlighted as an initiative that would support this change. The N4L has been tasked to create a managed network for schools & also an internet portal Pond. The analogy for me is like asking your school server and website to join your BOT - how does that work? The N4L would need to be developed as a people network such as the VLN groups has become.

Attribution: http://allthingslearning.wordpress.com/

• Collaborative action doesn't happen through good intentions alone, it needs to be strategically approached, led and driven in an ongoing way. Working across schools, even the willing and engaged, is still akin to Herding Cats. There will be a lot of facilitation support (PLD) in the early stages of setting up CoSs.
• 250 CoSs will be created - for some school clusters this will be a no-brainer; for others really challenging. How do you go from competing with the school down the road, to being expected to work really closely with them? One of the successes of the VLN Primary collaboration is that schools have more freedom working outside of their geographic locations, there is less concern about competition between schools. How will this work for schools of different sizes/ demographics/ community needs? How will this work for our rural & remote schools? How can schools participate in more than one community? Where will schools decide where they fit and for some schools will it be like 'choosing sides for basketball'?

I feel very positive about the prospect of meaningful changes to our schooling system that will enable greater collaboration, although I have some reservations about potential design & implementation of a huge undertaking such as this. It is a bold move based on a small local body of knowledge of schools collaborations. I am also wary of the different political levers that surround a restructuring of our system and am concerned schools can have a genuine voice in the process.

Next steps in the process - work streams on Communities of Schools; Professional Standards; Selection, Appointment & Appraisal. (All things that the VLN Community has discussed and developed over the years in our own CoSs).

Join the conversation and make sure your voice is heard #iesnz

Riding the Taniwha!

Introducing our new Minister – L@S 2012

Here is the updated link

Learning for Leadership – Time Management

“You may delay but time will not” Benjamin Franklin

Another great Learning for Leadership session with the Mahi Tahi group. Some notes & links below.

Time management is not just about being busy and ‘doing stuff’. Really identify what your purpose is, what is expected in your role, recognise your strengths & weaknesses, delegate, surround yourself with inspiring people. Plan your time around what’s important – now & in the future.

Is your leadership style – transactional or visionary? Visionary requires headspace & time for thinking. Need time to think to be creative & progress. 

Getting things done – Practical strategies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

Quadrants – Steven Covey – Habits of Highly Effective People – Important/Urgent

image from http://www.teal.org.uk/sv/timemgnt.htm

Focus on goals to help stay on track with what is important.

Thanks Chris for leading this session with us – it helps us to take the time to examine our work (& life) practises, to take a stock take on our priorities and to make more conscious decisions about how we are organising our time.

Coaching eTeachers

We had another excellent leadership session with our eMentor Sue. Today’s session was focussed on ‘Coaching eTeachers’. Though what we discussed would be relevant to any professional coaching situation. Sue has done a lot of work in this area and believes that coaching is the most powerful professional learning tool we can utilise. Here are some of my notes from this session:

Two Coaching Tools – Shadowing & Reflective Questioning

Shadowing write a record of what the person you are shadowing is doing, suspend judgement.
Follow up as soon as possible with reflective questioning

Reflective Questioning
is holding up the mirror & getting someone to see themselves from someone else’s perspective, and to make their own judgements & decisions about what they might do differently. Sue modelled this to us as Carolyn interviewed her following this process. This is really a process of active listening & facilitating someone to reflect on their actions. Three levels of questioning:

1. clarify the details
2. clarify the purposes or reasons for their actions
3. reflect on the consequences of the action

Assumptions of eTeachers

• all have a unique style
• professional growth is ongoing & never complete
• development is due to professional learning
• student learning is enhanced

Strategies

• Professional learning should be based in the ‘classroom’ (not just in a VC lesson but in all of the online teaching space & communications)
• Encourage eTeachers to observe other eTeachers (peer coaching is highly effective but needs facilitating)
• Encourage eTeachers to seek feedback from learners, teachers & parents
• Encourage eTeachers to enlist peer support
• Use both reflection in action, and reflection on action (Schon)
• Each eTeacher will develop their own philosophy

“Coaching Leadership: Building Educational Leadership Capacity Through Coaching Partnerships” Jan Robertson (recommended reading)

Sue facilitates these sessions so well – to help us frame where to next we were asked to think in light of our discussions what we would do next week, next month next year? I decided that for next week i would focus on revisiting Learning Design, next month i would ensure that VC staff meetings encompassed professional learning discussion and not just nuts & bolts and that for next year i would redesign our eteachers PD to enable more of what we talked about today.

"Role Conflict - the expectation gap"

We had another good “Learning for Leadership” PD session yesterday with our eMentor Sue.

I really like the way Sue facilitated this session – posing questions to us ahead of our session and then guiding our discussion through a round robin of speaking, reflecting & responding to others in the group. One for my facilitation tool kit – thanks for modelling this so well Sue :-)

Underlying the discussion was the idea that the role of ePrincipal is still new & unique that for many in our schools that there are not clear expectations of what this involves. There is no previous point of reference. As we began in our role we were a little unsure ourselves until we developed into the role and as we fostered relationships with others in our clusters and our wider group and as we began to work towards achieving our cluster goals. I think every ePrincipal has a very clear idea in themselves now what their role is and the challenge is now to communicate this to others in our cluster.

Some of us experienced similar conflicts when it came to the expectations of others (& sometimes expectations of ourselves) about what was & was not their role. For a small few this was further complicated as they had other roles in their clusters and home schools (such as running EHSAS contracts, or some teaching duties).

Here are my reflections on my role:

What are all the roles that you currently carry out in your current position?
Consultant & advisor, elearning leader, staff development (eteachers mainly); pastoral care eteachers, students; negotiator & advocate; community spokesperson & liaison; connector & information conduit/filter between schools & the wider sector; researcher, questioner.

Are there any roles which you do not currently carry out but you do feel under some pressure to include them in your current position?  If so, what are they? Hands-on ICTPD with classroom teachers and technical work.
I haven’t got time to be a PD facilitator except for with eteachers, but do work in a consultative role with schools & lead teachers to organize & target PD opportunities – occasionally running workshops but not one-on-one – you can be continually chasing your tail doing that.
I am not ‘the computer person’ but will do some necessary stuff if it helps reduce the barriers to achieving immediate outcomes for what I am currently trying to achieve.

National College for School Leadership

Today we arrived at the National College for School Leadership in Notttingham, UK.

This is a purpose built facility to provide professional learning pathways for English school leaders & Principals. We are here for three days of pre-conference activities and school visits before we move onto “Seizing Success” conference in Birmingham. This centre not only provides residential professional development, but has a research programme & develops resources to support school leaders. I guess the closest we might have come to something similar in NZ would have been the PDPC which was closed at the end of last year. Leadership development has been identified by the NZ MOE to be an important area with recent developments in the change from LeadSpace to educational leaders website, Kiwi Leadership for Principals

Leadership in An Environment of Uncertainty

We had our second Learning for Leadership VC with our Mahi Tahi group & eMentors Sue & Maurie today. Thanks Maurie for sharing your wisdom & experience with us :-)

The focus of today’s session was “Leadership in an Environment of Uncertainty”. This topic is important at all times i think, and for our group, especially now as the Virtual Learning Network & elearning clusters determine their way forward to a sustainable national network beyond eLCL funding.

Important notes for me were:

Know who you are & be yourself I thought these things were important as a leader: Have a clear vision & purpose Understand the bigger picture Make a difference Effect change – influential Walk the talk

What Leadership Style? Visionary Affiliative Commanding Coaching Democratic Pace Setting

 

Support for Educational Leadership:

Kiwi Leadership for Principals

http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/

Leading Learning Module from Core Ed

Keep students at the forefront
Be prepared to use the moral high ground – whose interests are being served?

Relationships 80% of your job
Emotional intelligence is important
Listen to listen & not to talk
Manage & practise difficult conversations
Manaakitanga
What do you truly believe? This shapes your actions
Keep professional learning conversations going beyond the ‘nuts & bolts” (move beyond task focus to pedagogical focus)

Don’t water the rocks – don’t spend time worrying about things beyond your control.

Put your own oxygen mask on first!

One whakatauākī I have had above my desk for many years that inspires me in my professional work & relationships is:

“Before you speak, listen.
Before you write, think.
Before you invest, investigate.
Before you criticize, wait.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit, try.
Before you retire, save.
Before you die, give.”

William A. Ward

Learning for Leadership

Today we had our first “Learning for Leadership” VC. eMentors are facilitating a programme of workshops throughout the year for ePrincipals to support us in our leadership role. Today’s topic was ‘Difficult Conversations’ focussing on the preparation and strategies for conversations which are necessary but have the potential to be difficult.

It was great to get together with our Mahi Tahi team and focus on specific professional learning topics beyond the daily nuts & bolts of our work. We had lots of opportunities to discuss & share examples from our personal experience and to learn from each other. Thanks Sue, Maurie, Grey & Chris for your excellent work as eMentors.

Engaging Teachers in Reflective Discussion

As I prepare to have conversations with eTeachers around Performance Appraisal & Goal Setting I have been reading through some Leadership PD material from www.interlead.co.nz about 'Conversations for the Professional Teaching Career'

It discusses how to align conversations with the different stages of a teacher's professional career leading from more Direct Conversations with Novice teachers to more Reflective Conversations with Expert teachers, with reference to John Hattie "Distinguishing Expert Teachers from Experienced & Novice Teachers." This is particularly important for eteachers as though they may have many years of experience & possibly be an expert classroom teacher, with the change to being an eteacher they may find themselves feeling that they are right back at the Novice stage. 

One of the challenges for me is how to engage teachers in reflective practice without being judgemental while at the same time reinforcing the requirements of their unique teaching position and motivating them to change their teaching practice to better meet the needs of our elearning students.

Interim results from an NZCER research project highlight that from our student's perspective eteachers generally have not adapted their teaching strategies from the face to face environment. (unpublished)

There is a lot of work to continue with eTeacher PD & the development of their online classes. ePrincipals are currently beginning collaborative work on creating a shared framework for eLearning Design.

 

Picture courtesy http://www.conversationthatmatters.com/conversation-meter.htm 
(more explanation there)

Thought Sheep

"If everybody thinks the same thing - somebody's not thinking!"
I was reading David's recently pulled post about how uncomfortable he feels to be considered a 'thought leader' and i wanted to comment but found that post has disappeared... Another whip of self-censorship which we all do ;-)
We all need 'thought leaders' someone who opens us up to new ideas, questions our attitudes & beliefs but that shouldn't make us thought sheep. I don't think anyone is innately a thought sheep but have been moulded that way - i think of many of our teachers (being very generalistic here) who as a product of their own schooling, colleges of education & then the dictates of the MOE have become thought sheep to the ideas of others. We are putting such an emphasis on developing critical thinking skills in our students we also need teachers who are critical thinkers. At no time in our education history has this been so important as we develop & implement a new curriculum in our NZ schools.
We are all thought leaders & need to recognise this in ourselves and in others.

AsTTLe

The PD focus for our leadership workshop today was asTTLe. Thanks to Kelvin & Richard for leading this session :-)
A Point to Ponder for me is the learning conversations we engage in when we work together using this tool as being more powerful than the simple use of the tool itself. That was evident today as the team discussed their experiences within their own schools that had been the result of using asTTLe.
Something about asTTLe that I didn't know about was a part of the programme that links online to a trail of learning resources that were were directly targetted at the next steps learning intentions as identified by the asTTLe results. Very cool.

"What data are we collecting and what has changed in teacher practice and children’s learning as a result of the data collected? and
If it has changed … how do you know?"

Kelvin's notes can be found on Interact (you need your Log On to access or contact Kelvin for a copy)

"Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning (He Pūnaha Aromatawai mō te Whakaako me te Ako). It is an educational resource for assessing literacy and numeracy (in both English and Māori) developed for the Ministry of Education by the University of Auckland.

asTTle provides teachers, students, and parents with information about a student's level of achievement, relative to the curriculum achievement outcomes, for levels 2 to 6 and national norms of performance for students in years 4 to 12.

asTTle is a tool that operates in both personal computer (PC) and Mac environments. Teachers can use asTTle to create 40-minute paper and pencil tests designed for their own students' learning needs. Once the tests are scored, the asTTle tool generates interactive graphic reports that allow teachers to analyse student achievement against curriculum levels, curriculum objectives, and population norms. Research and development over 2003–2004 has extended asTTle into years 8–12 and curriculum levels 5–6.

The asTTle CD-ROM is available to New Zealand schools free of charge. The latest version (asTTle V4) of the asTTle CD-ROM can be ordered by completing the order form on this website. http://www.tki.org.nz/r/asttle/orderform_e.php"

Paengaroa Regional Meeting

Thankyou Lorraine & team for organising such a worthwhile meeting.

The agenda for the day went like this:
"What is a Learning Community"
"How do we develop it?"
"What are the barriers?" and
"What do we want to sustain?"
This culminated in the development of Action Plans - "Towards Sustainability"

You can read more on Lorraine's blog & pick up files from Centre4

I enjoyed the day because we talked all day long! It was great to have such a focussed exchange of ideas. And the big focus of the day was Sustainability - for many of us third year clusters - sustainability after the contract. Out of all the regional meetings we have hauled ourselves around in the last 3 years i really wish our whole team had been at this one. Our team have started talking about 'sustainability', read Mel's research & floated ideas around since this time last year but we have not actually formalised any 'where-to-next' plans.
I know from having read Mel's work that sustainability is not a carbon copy of the 3 contract years - it is not about continuing on exactly the same (Ha - who can afford to without the funding...). It may not even involve a 'cluster' or the cluster as it previously was.
The key questions for me are "What do we want to sustain?" (& why) & "How are we going to do this?" Things we need to talk about at our next cluster meeting.
OK another key question for me (as it was for other facilitators of 3rd year contracts) was "What am i going to do next year?!"

The Vision Vacuum

A must read article by Gwen Gawith in the latest Good Teacher Magazine.
Gwen discusses educational vision in the light of the 'new curriculum' and in reference to Bruce Hammonds comments on the Ministry's vision (or lack of it) for education in NZ.

Gwen defines vision as "being able to see clearly:

• why we want learners to learn in our schools,
• how we want learners to learn in our schools,
• what we want them to learn to equip them for life now and later,
• how we want them to be taught.
  

Simplifying it to seeing the critical WHAT, WHY, HOW of learning is NOT simplistic"

She argues passionately that the WHAT of children's learning is very important and has been neglected by those who think that simply learning to learn is the most important thing regardless of topic or context. Gwen encourages us not to wait for the MOE to drop their vision on us but to "Simply articulate and share your OWN school vision of learning, focus your own school curriculum, and work to achieve it."
Yes i agree with her it's not rocket science, just do it, but i wonder in how many of our schools that are developing their own vision for learning (talking the talk) how much of this translates into practise in the classroom (walking the walk). And how many of our schools have not even begun to talk the talk let alone walk the walk.

Principals' Leading

We had a good meeting and workshop day today with cluster Principals. We meet once a term to go over nuts and bolts of management of the PD contract & to share a PD focus. Though not all could attend it was a valuable PD session - I think in the main because it was facilitated by our own Principals for our own group. Some topics and issues directly relevant to our own schools and educational leadership. Thank you Kelvin & Rae for sharing your expertise & experiences. Just some notes from today:

Rae – Feedback on Principal’s PD:

A week in Wellington. Very rigorous, long days. 6 Principals involved as well as facilitators some are Principals who have been through this PD themselves. Recommend for experienced Principals not beginning Principals because it is so challenging. You apply for this PD, keep applying if you are interested and don’t get selected the first time. A range of strategies and focuses that ‘unpack’ what it is to be a Principal. Things such as role plays, presentations, group & individual activities, psychometric tests, input from school community (BOT, parents, teachers), debriefs from PD Facilitators. Completed with a report back, an Individual PD plan and when approved access to further funding to follow up on PD. Short period of ongoing support from Facilitators. Rae found this, though challenging, to be an affirming process. Kelvin supported this by saying this Principals’ PD programme has become more sought after as it has changed from being Principals’ assessment to a developmental model.

LeadSpace has a resource section on Principal Professional Development

Look out for Principals' PD in the NZ Gazette.

Rae also briefly discussed having attended a recent Catholic Principals’ Conference – look out for a new programme called ‘Literature for Life’ along similar lines to ‘Seasons for Growth’ – which focuses on values, support for children dealing with difficult times (grief, change, loss) & implemented through the English Curriculum.

Kelvin shared - Professional Learning Communities, Educational Leadership (from Best Evidence Synthesis), TXT bullying, SPS Literacy Initiative.

Shared readings: What is a Professional Learning Community? Useful to guide us in our own schools and in a sense this is what we are developing through our own cluster. Further resources can be found here - http://www.ncsl.org.uk/networked/networked-research.cfm

“Putting Education Back into Educational Leadership” Professor Viviane Robinson – a summary adapted from BES – (email Rachel for a hard copy – can’t find it on the web J)

Discussed the Ministry of Education Report on Text Bullying & how we can address this in our own schools.
Kelvin also discussed the Literacy Initiative at SPS, as although addressing specific needs, is proving to be a good model for creating a learning community within their school – a model that is based on teacher reflection (literacy logs), teacher conversations and based on analysis of evidence based data focussing on school wide improvement.

Plagiarising Richard - Bruce Hammonds

I hope you don't mind Richard but I borrowed your notes from your site
(they were so much more refined than the original ones you sent me)
I have been a bit under the weather of late, working at a snail's pace and finding it really hard to keep up with stuff. And this was important stuff so felt it needed to be on BardWired.
So: "Don't ask for permission, Ask for forgiveness!"
Thanks Richard @ Toko School

In the morning the Management team and anyone else that was able to get there listened to and talked with Bruce Hammonds. An excellent mornings discussion. Big messages for me were:
We are not curriculum delivery boys and girls... we make the icecream! IN other words we design the curriculum for the kids we have. We are best placed to do this and distant unmanagable curriculums from Wellington are not part the answer.
We are the curriculum experts! The untapped wisdom is ours!!!
We need depth not coverage! Fewer things well...
Realistic meaningful units are memorable for children.
IEP's for everyone...... personalised learning is the future for learning. Just a bit scared of this one....
Portfolios are shot, (always were) Children's exercise books, valued an cared for are the best samples of children work.
SO we have to look after them and not let them disappear!!!! Even staple two together to get a feel over time. Kids will value their books.
Children need to be taught shown modeled layout and design. They don't learn it through osmosis. Design is an essential skill.
Handwriting and book layout and care and attention and measuring, and planning , are vital skills and we need to be more tenacious with our children's exercise books. They are the standard we expect. They reflect our teaching.
Developing relationships is key to success. Collegiality not necessarily congeniality. A school with new ideas and direction and belief wont always be a smooth path.
Literacy numeracy and learnacy... do they still want to learn! LEARNACY what a good word. Do our children still want to learn... If they don't they will certainly fail.
The very word teacher implies a series of promises to children. What do we promise?
Questions to think about.
What is working well at our school?
What is not working well?
What do we need to do?

Just to add to this some recommended reading:
Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point - ditto
Re-imagine - Tom Peters
In the Early World - Elwyn S. Richardson
Simplicity - Edward de Bono
Developing Teacher Leaders: how teacher leadership enhances school success - Frank Crowther

Blink

For anyone who has ever been in the throes of analysis paralysis - which is coming up for me with the results of the ICTPD online survey. Impending ERO visits, annual reviews, MOE requirements (of any flavour). You would do well to read Malcolm Gladwell's 'Blink'
He talks about the 'Perils of Introspection'
Relate the experiences of a successful military commander to how we operate in schools...
"The overall guidance and the intent were provided by me and the senior leadership, but the forces in the field wouldn't depend on intricate orders coming from the top. They were to use their own initiative and be innovative as they went forward...Once the fighting started, Van Riper didn't want introspection. He didn't want long meetings. He didn't want explanations. "I told our staff that we would use none of the terminology the Blue Team was using. I never wanted to hear that word 'effects', except in normal conversation. I didn't want to hear about Operational Net Assessment. We would not get caught up in any of these mechanistic processes. We would use the wisdom, the experience, and the good judgement of the people we had." This kind of management clearly has its risks. It meant Van Riper didn't always have a clear idea of what his troops were up to. It meant he had to place a lot of trust in his subordinates. It was, by his own admission, a "messy" way to make decisions. But it had one overwhelming advantage: allowing people to operate withoug having to explain themselves constantly...enables rapid cognition."

“I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation.Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class etc.Interest can produce learning in a scale compared to fear as a nuclear reaction to a fire cracker!

Stanley Kubrick

Visit Bruce's Blog!!! Thx Richard
Looking forward to Bruce joining us in a few weeks to challenge our thinking more & to move us from just thinking about things to taking action & making real change...