Allan Rumble: Let's help school leaders get best training possible

Professor Mason Durie made some interesting comments about the future of secondary school leadership. But although he highlighted some areas of need, one gets the distinct impression that he is setting the scene for establishing a New Zealand Academy of School Leadership, while many of his comments reflect the impractical and woolly thinking that has seen other such ventures gain little support from the profession.

One wonders when he last worked in a secondary school, as some of his statements reflect a lack of feel for what is presently happening in New Zealand schools.

It is an undoubted fact that there has been a dearth of leadership training for New Zealand principals, middle managers, and aspiring principals.

This does not mean that today's principals are a mediocre lot who are not able to cope with the present and future requirements of the job.

Many of the leadership functions Durie implies are deficient are indeed being carried out by principals who have risen from classroom teachers to CEOs of dynamic organisations.

Key to leadership is the need to clarify the real functions of today's secondary schools.

Are schools primarily there to develop academic skills of students?

Or is it that the schools, parents, students and community work together to ensure that our young people develop intellectual, social, physical, and (dare we mention it?) spiritual skills, that will ensure the young person is equipped to live successfully in today's changing world?

Schools require leaders who know that the essence of success is what happens in the interactions between teachers and students.

The principal's skill is in ensuring that the community, students, and teachers work together toward the common goal of achievement.

This requires mutual respect of all concerned. To suggest that an unpopular administrator can fulfil this function is, to say the least, imprudent.

The world is shrinking, and global experiences are increasingly accessible.

Yes, we can make the most of the internet, share courses, qualifications, expertise and so on. This is happening now - how many New Zealand students sat Cambridge International examinations last year?

New Zealand secondary principals are already taking giant steps and are recognised around the world as skilled practitioners. International experience is a must for the leaders of the future.

The National College for School Leadership in England is a superb institution which provides brilliant leadership training, headed by professionals who are respected worldwide. This institution provides an excellent model, but was set up with enormous capital and ongoing resources.

New Zealand could save money by joining forces with such institutions, sending principals and aspiring principals overseas to take part in professional experiences, while gleaning ideas from best-practice principals in other countries.

New visions come from such experiences and our leaders would be at the cutting edge of successful innovations. In this way we can promote the best professional development, while avoiding the capital and long-term salary costs for New Zealand "experts" of dubious quality.

Future schools will still need to be places where young people will gain the security and support needed during their sometimes tumultuous years of adolescent development.

International learning will develop further through the advent of technologies and transport opportunities that we know nothing about at present.

However, Durie's suggestion that students go to different schools for different subjects defies the present chaos experienced in travelling anywhere in our busiest cities.

Yes, we need more leadership training in secondary education. Our educational leaders need to have the skills to develop schools with a heart and soul, where individuals feel valued, feel that they are part of a team, and will give 100 per cent to striving for individual and communal excellence.

Principals concerned only with management will not succeed in a future that will require resilience, vision, integrity, optimism, enthusiasm, commitment, a sense of whanaungatanga, and aroha.

These are the key attributes required, all of which are also key attributes of a successful classroom teacher.

The challenge is to give successful teachers the knowledge and experience to expand their sphere of influence beyond the classroom, if that is what they wish.

Make use of overseas experts and institutions and provide more opportunities for our leaders to observe global good practice.

Train our aspiring leaders, but be sure to keep our feet on the ground and keep in mind the true purpose of secondary schools in today's society.

Our future depends on it.

* Allan Rumble is the recently retired co-principal of Western Heights High School in Rotorua.