He nui maunga e kore e taea te whakaneke, he nui ngaru moana mā te ihu o te waka e wāhi.
A great mountain cannot be moved, a giant wave can be broken by the canoe’s prow.

Tēnā koe

I want to begin by acknowledging the outstanding work our Nelson colleagues, school leaders, teachers and staff have done to support students and whānau through the weather events that have hit the region.  You have taken daily logistics planning to a whole new level. As with the pandemic, we sincerely hope you are now through the worst of the winter weather.    

Managing self and mental health:

This week I had the privilege of attending the AIMS Conference in Taupo.  The conference team did a great job, lining up a series of expert speakers.  Professor Richie Poulton spoke about the ‘Dunedin Study’ which started 50 years ago.  This longitudinal study is regarded as one of the most important in the world. He highlighted a key finding from the study, which is that self control is the most significant predictor of success in life. 

From as early as two, children’s levels of self-control were evident.  Taking into account socio-economic factors and context, tracking 1007 participants over 50 years has shown that participants’ EQ has mattered more than their IQ.  Over time, participants who had stronger self management from an early age were more focused, found it easier to make friends, did better at school, had positive relationships as adults and generally have made choices that helped them lead positive, successful lives.

When we consider this finding in the context of a pandemic and a general societal increase in anxiety, stress and trauma, mental health is another learning area we need to understand and know more about.  In doing so, we will better support the mental wellbeing of students coping with disrupted learning routines, lost learning time, emotional upheaval, isolation from friends and unfiltered social media influences. 

Some schools have initiated some excellent ways to create a safe, welcoming environment that caters for students with increasingly diverse needs.  These include trauma-informed practice PLD;  mindfulness and how to integrate mindfulness techniques within the school day;  yoga; counselling for students staff and/or whānau and individualized programmes for vulnerable students.
  
Dr Michael Carr-Greg, a renowned child and adolescent psychologist, challenged school leaders to get creative and initiate solutions to build students’ resilience.  He suggested teaching students strategies to manage their anger, to make and maintain good friends and to engage in learning based upon their strengths, interests and talents.  

What support would help?

To support students’ mental health, we need to think at school level and systems level.  While schools create the mental health initiatives, systems support needs to include

• Stabilization of the 2023 staffing, so excess teachers could be used to develop and lead initiatives in this area
• Funding of the next tranche of LSCs
• Regional MOE community navigators to support schools to find specialist support needed for our most ‘at-risk’ students and whānau
• Mindfulness PLD, resources and activities for schools

We need to invest in our tamariki now because “While children may be 20% of the population, they are 100% of our future”. (Tony Blair)

Leadership and the ‘Professional Growth Cycle’ – A PLD offering:

NZPF and NZEI, through the ‘Ariki Trust’ and The Teaching Council of Aotearoa, New Zealand have been working on a joint Leadership PLD project for principals.

To support principals to learn more about the ‘Professional Growth Cycle’ being used to underpin principal appraisals and leadership PLD, we have engaged Dr Lyn Bird to facilitate a webinar session for school leaders. 

This will take place on Wednesday 21 September, 11.30 am to 12.30 pm.

The webinar will include

• An introduction to Te Ariki Project
• A panel sharing initial thoughts and experiences of leadership PLD (NZEI, NZPF, Ariki Trust member)
• From the Aotearoa Teaching Council - a 5-minute overview of the PGC, leadership

Development and its links to Ariki leadership and values

• Panel responses to challenging questions about the PGC and leadership development from principals
• A final word from the webinar facilitator

The webinar will be recorded, so people who cannot attend in real time, will be able to view it.  To register your interest please follow the link 

A Collective Bargaining Update:

We are now officially in the season of ‘Collective Bargaining’ with both PPCB and NZEI have initiated bargaining with the MOE.  The MOE will be negotiating with each union separately. 

To support all NZPF members in the collective bargaining process, at our recent NZPF Executive meeting, the team voted to accept the NZEI offer to have a NZPF Representative at the NZEI bargaining table. 

Each bargaining team will be doing all they can to ensure all principals get the best possible outcome from this collective bargaining round.  We wish them well.


Relief teaching wins and the complexities of coding

The Bulletin this week provided more information about relief teaching support for schools.  Thank you to those principals who highlighted the need to be able to use different codes for relief staff funding – and thank you to the MOE Workforce Team, who have worked hard to resolve as many of the issues raised as possible.

There is still work being done to resolve the teaching principals’ dilemma of no release because there are no relievers. 

If you need support to interpret the information about relieft funding that has been provided please contact resourcing@education.govt.nz.