NZARE Ed Leadership SIG Symposium: Day Two

Keynote 2: Kāhui Ako & Collaboration



Dr. Cathy Wylie, NZCER

Critical questions and spaces in education leadership symposium

Cathy asks: why collaboration?


Leadership for Learning - recently leadership has been thrust in the spotlight:

Kāhui Ako

What has changed?
From the educational Leadership practice survey:

Utilising existing knowledge for new knowledge/innovation 

Teaching practice, effective learning, good leadership

Effective leadership, since BES 2009

Deeper understanding:


  • Caring - adults and students

  • Moral purpose - equity - every student being the best they can, how well are we doing this? (shared)
  • Professional Learning - Seashore - organisational learning - coherent - adding within, and outside...way we do things around here, without looking outwardly, adding to what they are doing. We are ALL on this pathway of learning, learning is exciting, why would we be here. Learning is letting go, “habituated” searching, processing and evaluating ideas, incorporating ideas and importing
  • We are moving away from tasks - for example, appraisal seen not just as compliance (Gavin Morgan's thesis - appraisal), rather continuous learning - practice, rather than tick box (Cardno & Robson, 2016)


Implementation of new programme, now there are partnerships - researchers + school - knowledge synergies

PLCs - inward and outward

Sharing responsibility - opening up the 'Avalon' block

Leadership - importance of senior and middle leaders - providing conditions, set of principles, these things matter -
see Middle Leadership Matters.

2007 - 2010 NZC work, focused on leadership support
Collective practices:

NZC - collaboration at the CORE

Local curriculum, values, purpose, whole learner, inquiry lens. However, with the introduction of National Standards - 2010 - 2016, stalled

MoE evidence brief - professional accountability (not compliance - defensive behaviours)

improving teacher practice..teachers accountable to each other


Huge freedom - collaboration - improving what we are doing. Not needing to write a report, mental hurdle - embrace

 ASK: what will your learners and you get something out of? HOW are we going to get the change? What do we want to know that we don’t know? 

 To improve - what is the motivating goal for ALL that brings them together, collectively, HOW do you put this together? Your time and energy - learn from each other, don’t squander the opportunity.
Hekia Parata places learners at the centre - ECE right through to Tertiary
Exciting pathways - progressions through time. More with less. Deep, not shallow.
“Challenge, complex, difficult”
Relational Trust, working together collaborative
Let go - do things differently
Meaningful change
Learner needs?
Be open and share - where we are at? Strengths? Challenges?


  • Learning Journey - need to include voice of teachers, resistance etc - HOW?
  • Talking and understanding - not losing identity, weaving something through…
  • Sharing information ‘data’ - clear protocols - how we will do it? How will we talk about? Who will talk about it?
  • Tensions - nature of AC - initially NZC 
  • Wants measurable - student achievement - National Standards and NCEA - defaults to 19th century curriculum 
  • COL - we want Science, learner agency, wellbeing (formative) 21st century curriculum - 


AIM - Kāhui Ako
  • Good protocols - data

  • Identify threads

  • All learners - not just my school
  • Working with BoT - understand that the resources are shared
  • Joint initiative - principles (governance group)
  • Plus conditions and resources 
  • Lead principal - shared understanding of leadership - best role for this person - what do we give? 
  • TIME - do we have to have the AVALON block? How do we organise learning? Need to build in time for working together
  • Inquiry - superficial needs to be DEEP

Effective collaboration:





  • Accountability to each other - conditions, not attacking, assigning blame - reframing 
  • Remove the person - focus on the issue, practice, Developing the Learning muscle

Collaboration Isn't:

Hargreaves - NOT “collective compliance”, uniformity, an end, an add on


Flaws in individual reasoning - group thinks and talks - better result - cognitive thinking 



Within school - resources - articulate  they gain


Collaboration - common strands coming through different kinds of research



It will increase: Teacher capability, Strong leadership, Improve morale, Grow strong teachers

Rather than this:
This instead - transformation:


Effective Leadership = Co words...
Collective, coherent, connecting, compounding


Unconference Workshops - Day 2

Alongside the Talanoa spaces, further workshops were offered for the rest of the day. These have been collated by Maggie, Osprey Consulting, and can now be accessed: Leadership Symposium

 This included: 

  • Leon Benade's - Effective pedagogy in flexible spaces
  • Deidre Le Fevre, University of Auckland, Complex Problems

Finally...


Have you registered for this year's NZARE conference?

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