The statement below was written by Pasi Sahlberg in his book Finnish Lessons 2.0 (2015):
“The fourth globally observable trend in educational reform is use of corporate management models as a main driver of improvement. This process, where educational policies and ideas are lent and borrowed from the business world, is often motivated by national hegemony and economic profit rather than by moral goals of human development. Faith in educational change through innovations brought and sold from outside the system undermines two important elements of successful educational change: First, it often limits the role of national policy development and enhancement of an education system’s own capabilities to maintain renewal, and perhaps more importantly it paralyses teachers’ and schools’ attempts to learn from the past and also to learn from each other.”
The other four indicators that the GERM is infecting our schools are:
The standardisation of education.A focus on core subjects in school — in other words, on literacy and numeracy, and in some cases science.The search for low-risk ways to reach learning goals.The adoption of test-based accountability policies for schools.Nationally and overseas, there are experts in the field of educational leadership, with proven records of researching what works best, who will work with schools and regional education leaders to help improve leadership skills — leading to better learning outcomes for students. Four such experts, one from Boston’s Lynch School of Education, one from Australia and two from New Zealand, are already booked to come to Gisborne and work with our principals in July of this year.
In conclusion, we should be using the evidence and practices which are proven to improve teaching and learning. Our young people deserve nothing less.
Response from Lorraine Mentz, chief executive, Springboard Trust:
Principals speak highly of Springboard Trust supportSpringboard Trust’s objective is to contribute to the improvement of educational outcomes in New Zealand by helping principals lead their schools even better. We do this through tightly structured, multi-year support that (a) exposes principals to relevant strategic leadership thinking from outside the educational sector, (b) exposes principals to leadership practices from colleagues in NZ and some leading global thinking, (c) provides a high-trust environment for principals to problem-solve together, and (d) provides skilled resource to assist in-school with the execution of high-priority, clearly-defined and measurable strategic initiatives.
We are privileged to have worked with over 162 principals over the past 10 years in our flagship Strategic Leadership for Principals’ Programme (SLPP).
SLPP is key because it provides a framework to guide principals in creating structure and measurable outcomes specific to their individual schools. The programme assists principals in the strategic planning process and stimulates their thinking to focus on three or four impactful goals. The outcome is a strategic plan that is both visionary (involving all stakeholders) and practical enough to guide day-to-day decision-making and resource allocation.
Provision of the SLPP is free and every principal is assisted by a skills volunteer or “capacity partner” who provides support for their strategic plan development.
All our activities are subject to rigorous, independent evaluation. We collect robust feedback from our principals who speak highly of the benefits they derive from the programme. Across the entire “class of 2016” in four different regions, over 90 percent self-reported they are, post-SLPP, more effective and efficient in strategic thinking and planning.
As external evaluator in 2016, the New Zealand Council for Educational Research found SLPP had the following results:
High to medium impact of 93 percent on the leadership of participating principalsImproved leadership capacity among teachersImproved learning opportunities and gains in student knowledgeThis impact report is available at www.springboardtrust.org.nz
We are excited to be offering the programme to a further 62 schools in 2017 with a regional pilot in Wellington; and a secondary school pilot involving a Gisborne high school; as well as six additional Gisborne schools.
Lorraine Mentz
Chief executive, Springboard Trust
