Kia ora e te whānau

We want to be a profession keenly interested in what goes on with our next-door neighbour. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 

We have some outstanding colleagues amongst us who have taken the opportunity to truly localise their curriculum and take learning in their neck of the woods, to the next level. 

Case in point is Luke Sumich, Principal at Ormiston Junior College. Most people who meet Luke will first and foremost be impressed by his energy however chasing that impression is one of a sharp mind and brave innovator. You can be sure that at Ormiston Junior nothing happens without a deep connection to the principles on which the Ormiston Junior vision is built. Everything is required to find a home in that vision and so it shouldn’t surprise that the assessment model the Ormiston team has developed is innovative and reflective of the desire to place young people right at the heart of their school. 

Students learning competencies are communicated in ‘student speak’ and are badged. Luke has embedded these beautifully designed competency-based badges in his SMS so that a record of progress may be kept.  Students work towards gaining these virtual badges but here’s the thing: they are not assessed by their teacher but rather are required to present artefacts of learning to their peers in a ‘pitch’ for a badge-a little bit like a Dragon’s Den pitch. It is the student’s peers who judge achievement and award badges. How impressive is that? Not only a process that recognises locally construed ideas about achievement but one that builds learner efficacy at the same time as their peers. 

I don’t think we celebrate enough, the brilliance of our talent in New Zealand schooling. The Ormiston example is one of many extraordinary local approaches to teaching and learning. 

However, despite many brilliant examples of work in schools, I believe our leadership has become too conventional, too bound by rule-based thinking and too timid in our actions.  

Principals are the lead education professionals in schools, and it falls to you to create the conditions for powerful learning to occur. This requires you to be brave. To create a curriculum of possibility not probability. It requires you to exercise your right as the lead professional in your community to do just that, ‘lead’. 

So go on, whether you look over your shoulder and imitate something great that someone else is doing or throw yourself into the unknown as Luke and the Ormiston team have done, I encourage you to reconnect with the essence of kiwi principalship. This is a practice that has always held the welfare of students close and embraced a broad conception of student success. Most of all though, is the confidence that comes from knowing that only you in partnership with your students, staff and community know what is best for the young people in your care. Localisation is a precious gem. So, let’s unhitch the reins from the NZC and our professional practice and let them gallop where they need to go!

NZPF on Facebook

Please take time to visit and ‘like’ our facebook page. We have revitalised it so that it is a daily means of connecting to the work of NZPF.

https://www.facebook.com/NewZealandPrincipalsFederation/

As the year progresses, we will be using the facebook page to share practical examples of outstanding practice. If you have a small vignette of innovation in your school and don’t mind sharing it with your colleagues then do please, write me a paragraph about it and the impact it is having; then email it to me with a small collection of pics. We want to showcase examples of the innovative local approaches to teaching and learning in our schools.

Ngā manaakitanga

Perry Rush
perry@nzpf.ac.nz