New Zealand Principals' Federation eNewsletter

President's Message

He aroha whakatō, he aroha ka puta mai.

If kindness is sown, then kindness is what you shall receive.

Kia ora e te whānau

This is my first Principal Matters newsletter for the fourth term mainly because I have been attending the International Confederation of Principals’ (ICP) Council meeting and Convention (conference) in Shanghai, China. Alongside me I was privileged to have the President of Te Akatea, Myles Ferris, and Leanne Otene of the Te Akatea executive.

International Conferedation of Principals (ICP)

I have talked about the importance of our international relationships in this newsletter before and especially through the ICP. NZPF has been a member of the ICP since 1988 and in 2001, the NZPF President, Nola Hambleton, was elected President of the ICP, a huge honour for a New Zealand representative. Some forty-two countries are now full members of the ICP and in recent years it has grown in strength to now include several African countries as well as those from Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania.

The ICP represents over 200,000 school leaders across five continents and, as such, commands a unique global position as a major voice for school education. Each year the ICP holds a Council meeting and every two years, a convention or conference for member countries.

It is surprising that despite the diversity of countries represented, school leaders face very similar issues across the globe. These include principal health and wellbeing, equity of learning outcomes for all students and the threats of standardised assessment and the creep of privatisation. Hearing from other jurisdictions about how they approach these threats is enormously helpful.

As we in Aotearoa New Zealand look towards the release of the Tomorrow's Schools Review and the launch of the promised Leadership College, we can learn so much from our international colleagues who have faced similar issues. I thank our Canadian colleagues and those from Singapore, the UK and Ireland for sharing their leadership centre initiatives with us and convincing us that the best location for the College is the Teaching Council. In my remaining months as President, I will be lobbying hard to have the Leadership College located within the Teaching Council and I know that the Minister and Ministry will be looking for leadership from NZPF in establishing the parameters of this new College.

Our Australia based Oceania ICP representative was elected at the Council meeting and I look forward to establishing a strong connection with Michael Hall and working jointly on supporting the Pacific countries in our region.

NZPF Awards

As you know NZPF underwent a complete reorganisation of its national conference three years ago, so that any surplus funds from conferences might be shared more equitably across the membership. We established new awards including grants for Principal Associations and Tauri Morgan awards, and increased the number of awards for the Don Le Prou and Rural awards, to allow principals from smaller schools to attend conferences and other PLD opportunities. The deadline for the Rural awards is upon us now (see notice below), so I urge you to get your applications in.

I trust your last term of the year has started well and continues apace. Remember, taking a breather for yourselves is not a treat, it’s an essential part of your job if you want to perform well.

Ngā manaakitanga

Whetu Cormick
whetu @nzpf.ac.nz