Bay of Plenty branch NEWS

The Educational leadership role of school Boards of Trustees

Parents/caregivers/whanau… thinking of becoming a member of your local School Board of Trustees?

The New Zealand Educational Administration and Leadership Society (NZEALS),
in partnership with Eastbay REAP (Whakatane) - an information evening on the educational leadership role of a school Board of Trustees.

Date: Wednesday 17th March, 2010

The programme included key Board of Trustee tasks, the governance and management partnership, how the Board provides leadership for where the school’s going, and how it will know if it’s there yet.

Guest speaker Gail Dobbin
Gail is an experienced principal and director of Ti Kouka Education Management Support. She regularly runs workshops for school Boards of Trustees, appraises principals, mentors trustees and principals, assists with community consultation, helps develop Charters that are real and ALIVE. She also regularly returns to schools as a principal so is very aware of the importance of the partnership between the Board of Trustees and the management team in the school.

Target audience:  Any parents interested in effective leadership in their local school, prospective trustees, current trustees, principals and teachers.

NZEALS breakfast meeting was held 12 December 2009 at the NZARE conference in Rotorua with 12 people in attendance. Guest speakers Prof. Clive McGee & Assoc. Prof. Bronwen Cowie spoke on some of the findings from a collaborative research project between NZCER & University of Waikato into 16 selected schools ( primary - secondary.) who were identified as responding very positively and pro-actively with the new NZ curriculum.  The title was 'Opportunity knocks: curriculum policy, change and responses in schools. The meeting was informal, relaxed and interactive.  Details of the case study research findings can be located via http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz

‘A passion for quality.  Teachers who make a difference’

Professor Christopher Day from the University of Nottingham, U.K.

This presentation focused on the link between passion and teacher quality.  Chris will discuss three inner qualities of good and effective teachers, linking these to research and discussing the implications for school leaders.

Download the presentatio here:
in Powerpoint 3MB
in Adobe PDF 299KB

Thursday, November  5th 2009.
Bethlehem College, Performing Arts Centre (PAC).  Elder Lane, Bethlehem, Tauranga.

Target audience:  This event was aimed to provide high quality professional development for all teachers, middle and senior school managers (primary and secondary), at an affordable cost.  NZEALS is a non-profit, nation wide, volunteer organization promoting educational leadership, scholarship and research across all education sectors.  For more information and details of how to become a member >>

Biographical details of Professor Christopher Day:
Christopher Day is Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Teacher and Leadership Research Centre (TLRC). Prior to this he worked as a teacher, lecturer and local education authority adviser. His particular concerns centre upon the continuing development of teachers, teacher effectiveness, teachers' lives and work, successful school leadership, learning networks, action research and change.

During the last twenty years, he has extended his writing and international experience through national, European and international research projects and consultancy in Europe, North America and Australasia, including keynote addresses and paper presentations at several national and international conferences. He is a member of the Board of Directors on the International Council on Education of Teachers (ICET); editor of 'Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice'; co-editor of the educational Action Research International Journals.

He has recently completed directing a four year DfES (Dept. for Education Studies) funded research on variations in teachers' work, lives and effectiveness; and co-directing a DfES project on the evaluation of CPD. He is currently directing an 8 country project on successful school principalship; a nine country European project on successful principalship in schools in challenging urban contexts; a national project on school leadership and pupil outcomes; and a national project on effective classroom teaching.
His books have been published in several languages and include Teachers Matter (2007) Open University Press; Successful Principalship: International Perspectives (2007), Co-edited, Dordrecht, Springer; A Passion for Teaching (2004) London: Falmer; International Handbook of the Continuing Professional Development of Teachers (2004), Maidenhead, Open University Press. Effective Leadership for School Improvement (2003) (Co-authored) London: Routledge; Theory and Practice in Action Research (2002) (Co-edited) Oxford, Symposium Books; and Developing Teachers: The Challenges of Lifelong Learning (Falmer Press, 1999).

His is Adjunct Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Visiting Professor at the In Holland University, The Netherlands.
Biographical ref: www.nottingham.ac.uk

Leadership in Early Childhood Education

The Bay of Plenty branch of the New Zealand Educational Administration and Leadership Society (NZEALS) in association with Eastbay Rural Education Activities Programme (REAP) warmly invites you and your colleagues to hear Kate Thornton from Victoria University speak on the topic of Exploring notions of leadership in the Early Childhood Sector and supporting leadership learning.

Monday 31st August 2009

This is a wonderful professional development opportunity to learn more about leadership in Early Childhood Education and to build your professional networks among colleagues in the Bay of Plenty.

Kate is a lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington and has a teaching background in the secondary, early childhood and tertiary sectors. Kate recently submitted her PhD which focused on the use of ICT to support leadership learning in the New Zealand ECE sector.

Download Kate Thornton's ECE Leadership paper >>

NZEALS BOP branch meeting Wed. 18th March 2009

The BOP branch held its AGM at Te whare wananga o Awanuiarangi, Whakatane on Wed. 18th March, 2009, 6-8pm.

Our small meeting was attended by ten people, mainly local educators in the Whakatane area. Our Guest speaker was Distinguished Professor, Graeme Smith, who presented an excellent overview of the past, present and future developments of the wananga both in the eastern BOP region and overseas.

Ideas for future guest speakers and venues were discussed. The meeting concluded with delicious kai kindly provided by our hosts.

Alaster Gibson
President BOP branch NZEALS

THE FOURTH WAY: The inspiring future of educational change Thursday 26 February 2009

Speaker: Professor Andy Hargreaves, the Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education, Boston College
The Fourth Way : The inspiring future of educational change.
Organised by NZEALS National Executive in partnership with ACEL.
Location: Bethlehem Tertiary Institute, Elder Lane , Tauranga.
Coordinator: Alaster Gibson

This full-day workshop was attended by just under, fifty delegates. Andy's presentation was very well received. His points were supported by school based and business sector research. His concluding remarks were to encourage the development of networks of collaboration amongst educational institutions rather than competition. He also advocated the need for moral purpose and process in the pursuit of sustainable educational improvement.

Special thanks to Dr. Annie Henry and the National Executive, for arranging this unique opportunity, and to Juliette Hayes for coordinating the events around the country.

Bay of Plenty Branch meeting Thu 27 Nov 2008 Rotorua

Speaker: Dr Margie Hohepa, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, ‘Best Evidence Synthesis: Educational Leadership - He Toa Takitini’
Location: Ihenga, Tangatarua Marae, Waiariki Institute of Technology - Whare Takiura, Mokoia Drive, Rotorua
Chair: Reynold

Margie was a member of the team (with Vivianne Robinson and Claire Lloyd) commissioned by the Ministry to conduct a systematic review of national and international research that linked leadership to learning. The Best Evidence Synthesis of Educational Leadership - Schools is currently in press. Margie has kindly agreed to explain the main findings with special reference to leadership in Mâori settings.

You are most welcome to attend this priviledged briefing and to bring colleagues you believe will be interested. The Leadership BES is clearly a world first and will inform research and practice in the years ahead. It is a 'must know'.

Margie’s presentation will focus on three important features of the concept of educational leadership presented in the BES Leadership – Schooling; (a) positional leadership, (b) distributed leadership, and (c) leadership embedded in specific tasks and situations. In the everyday context of schooling, the BES will emphasise that both positional and distributed forms of leadership are compatible with maintaining a strong focus on the principal. Why? Because the principal’s key tasks include not only leading a team but also building and sustaining the leadership of others.

Margie will also show that the three features are significant when considering Mâori educational leadership. Both traditional and contemporary Mâori leadership involves recognition of mana, which is partly related to position. By including distributed leadership the BES recognises how leadership may be exercised by anyone whose ideas or actions are influential in the context of specific tasks and activities. The approach to leadership explained will include the critical leadership roles of Mâori parents, whânau and other community and iwi members in the development of Kaupapa Mâori educational sites. This approach also echoes the importance that Mâori place on leadership that gets things done.

Bay of Plenty Branch meeting Thurs 13 March 2008

NZEALS BAY OF PLENTY MEETING 6 FEBRUARY 2008

Venue: St Georges Early Childhood Centre, Whakatane
Speaker: Caterina Murphy – NZ Childcare Association

Caterina’s address to the first Bay of Plenty branch of NZEALS meeting for 2008, presented a stimulating overview of the parameters of NZCER as an organisation and the services provided. Caterina also shared her personal perspectives on a number of aspects of early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand. She provided fertile ground for thought and debate, particularly in her visioning of ECE in the future.

Caterina was a passionate speaker, clearly committed to early childhood education and to children’s welfare. She is exceedingly optimistic about the future of early childhood education and focussed on the importance of quality leadership in this sector of education. We look forward to reading Caterina’s future paper entitled “From Playcentre to PhD”.

Follow up enquiries welcomed by Caterina.Murphy@nzca.ac.nz

MINUTES NZEALS MEETING 18 OCTOBER 2007 GREENPARK PRIMARY SCHOOL, TAURANGA

In Attendance: Gloria Abernethy; Dallas Collett, Kathy Colville, Ruth Fletcher, Alaster Gibson, Ruth Gorinski, Judith Honeyfield, Anne-Marie Hunt, Lyn Lewis, Graeme Lind, Reynold Macpherson Chantal Phillimore, Merle Ramsay, Susan Shaw, Ngareta Timutimu, Babette Voss

Apologies: Carol Stovold, Erita Kingi, Beryl Harvey, Mere Berryman, Jan Hausman, Olepa Ki-Korenhof, Tangiwai

Grateful thanks was extended to Greenpark Primary School for opening their staff room (and wonderful coffee machine) up for the NZEALS meeting and for Principal Graeme Lind’s warm welcome to the group.

During the meeting the following items were discussed:

• NZEALS – clarification of NZEALS purpose, aims, services
• NZEALS Conference 2008 and call for papers
• Membership
• BoP Branch – further discussion on what we want our local branch to offer members? Meeting frequency? Time? Venue?
• Election of officers
• Wenger, E. article “Communities of practice….what do we want ours to look like?”

Overview of discussion with regards to what attendees wish to gain from NZEALS in addition to ideas put forward at meeting 13 September 2007:

Responses included:

• Invitation to stimulating dynamic speakers – not too heavy
• Some humour desired in meetings
• Desirable to attract more Maori into future NZEALS membership
• Focus on: school design; education for the future – e-learning
• Development of quality learning circles for problem solving and group reflection activities
• Mentoring & coaching
• Discussion/speakers on managing stress and resiliency
• Consensus that BoP branch have a steering committee to be involved in decision making and administration around branch activities
• Suggestion that steering committee work to map out themes for 2008 for meetings, ensuring representation of ECE, primary, secondary ,and tertiary sectors
• Rotating venue – it was agreed that we trial 6 meetings per annum. Two in Tauranga, 2 in Rotorua and 2 in Whakatane with different venues i.e. tertiary, school etc.
• Time of meetings. Meetings to continue 5.30-7.30pm with a Potluck dinner on a THURSDAY evening.
• Focus on developing abroad understanding of leadership – all layers of teachers/leaders not just CEOs, principals, DPs etc.
• Guest speakers who can include all educational sectors
• Research focus
• Research links i.e. identifying what research people are involved in and provide opportunity for collaboration and networking
• Book critiques/debate e.g. Bottery
• Panel debates on common professional reading/article/book etc.
• Building on the uniqueness of our BoP community and learning from each other.
• Mini conference of local research activity
• Sharing from the range of educational communities in our region – e.g. BoP Polytechnic, schools, wananga – have sharing evening/s where each organisation shares their vision, culture etc so all can understand the role and function of the various organisations
• Visiting opportunities to one another’s o9ragnsiations to build collaboration
• Having a theme to advertise meetings – catchy title as a draw card
• Acknowledging local expertise as invited speakers –vs. importing speakers

Wenger article

Reynold Macpherson introduced the Communities of Practice reading. Following this, attendees split into plenary groups to discuss the article and how it could inform the future direction of the BoP branch of NZEALS.

Election of Officers:

The following folk were elected:

• Co-Presidents: Ruth Gorinski & Reynold Macpherson
• Secretary: Alaster Gibson
• Treasurer: Anne-Marie Hunt
• Steering Committee members: Judith Honeyfield, Cheryl Stephens, Suzie Shaw, Ruth Fletcher, Kathy Colville, Tim Burns

Attendees agreed that the BoP branch of NZEALS would support an evening meeting with Tim Burns as guest speaker 22 May 2008.

Next meeting: Proposed meeting date late January 2008 TBC.