NZ Principal Magazine Term 1 2015

March 2015 Volume 30, Number 1

THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF WAKEFIELD Wakefield School, Nelson

Also

featuring

• The Leadership Sweet Spot • NZPF Farewells Two Exemplary Members

• Middle Leaders Development • Neuroscience and Education • Positivism and Negativism

CONTENTS

Editor Liz Hawes Executive Officer PO Box 25380 Wellington 6146 Ph: 04 471 2338 Fax: 04 471 2339 Email: esm@nzpf.ac.nz

March 2015

2 EDITORIAL 3 PRESIDENT’S PEN 6 Middle Leaders Development in Christchurch Liz Hawes, Editor

Magazine Proof-reader Helen Kinsey-Wightman Editorial Board Denise Torrey, NZPF President Geoff Lovegrove, Retired Principal, Feilding Liz Hawes, Editor Advertising

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Digital Learning Carolyn Stuart

The Leadership Sweet Spot

David McKenzie

Farewells to NZPF Executive Members

Liz Hawes, Editor

18 Wakefield School, Nelson

Note The articles in New Zealand Principal do not necessarily reflect the policy of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation. Readers are welcome to use or reprint material if proper acknowledgement is made.

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by Cervin Media Ltd on behalf of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation and is issued four times annually. For all enquiries regarding editorial contributions, please contact the editor.

Liz Hawes, Editor

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Phonics Programmes: What they can and cannot do Keith Greaney

30 Can ‘Neuroscience and Education’ Bridge the Is-Ought Gap of Theory and Practice?

Associate Professor John Clark

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OPINION: Positivism and Negativism – Tools of Mind for Leading Educators Lester Flockton

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OPINION: Education for all

Helen Kinsey-Wightman

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18 Wakefield School, Nelson

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Editorial Liz Hawes

Editor

Schools never cease to surprise with innovative ideas principals to form more clusters and this initiative can only and approaches. I recently visited Wakefield School in Nelson look to expand. (see p.18) and discovered a curriculum based on democratic These are just two examples of the way in which the New principles where children lead their own learning and make Zealand teaching profession is constantly responding to decisions about their daily school affairs through a voting contemporary challenges. Their courage is seemingly endless process. Everyone gets a say and the majority vote decides the as they repeatedly stride out into unknown territory to try outcome. something new.

It’s a system that is bedding in very successfully as step by step It is a great privilege to bring some of these stories to you the children grow in confidence and teachers take on new roles; through this magazine. It is also important that the magazine not of leading so much as participating alongside the learners, provides the balance you want and that the contents are always asking probing questions, empowering the children to take relevant. At the end of last year we sent out a readership survey ownership of their learning and I want to thank all 515 of and monitoring their progress. I have no doubt that 2015 will reveal you who responded.

The children in this It was greatly encouraging d e m o c r a t i c m i l i e u a r e just as many interesting leadership to find that 93.8 per cent of optimistic, cooperative, feel and school innovations as I have you read NZ Principal, 90 per valued and have a strong sense cent find the editorials and of what is fair and just. They found from visiting schools in the past. president’s column relevant may not always get what they and 75 per cent find the balance voted for but they do respect that in a democracy, the majority between research articles, stories of good school practice, rules. They accept the decision without complaint as if it was a information and human interest is almost always about right. consensus.

Compared to other publications that schools commonly The democratic approach lends itself to the modern learning subscribe to, you rated NZ Principal as either better or of equal environment where two or more classes share a large space with quality. two or more teachers. This environment easily accommodates Of special importance was the feedback you gave on ideas children operating in large or small groups or alone depending for future topics and features for the magazine. I will take on the particular activity. It also lends itself to children learning your suggestions on board and certainly follow up with stories at different paces for different subjects – thus further empowering reporting on international conferences, MLEs and special them to own and control their learning. It also means that education. And I got the message loud and clear that cross-words teachers are constantly observing each other’s practice, sharing and cartoons are not required or desired by the majority of you. ideas and learning from each other.

Thank you also for your encouraging comments about the It’s an exciting era for Wakefield School but Wakefield is not school profile stories. They will continue and keep an eye out the only school taking huge leaps with innovative approaches for the second issue this year which will feature Stewart Island to teaching and learning.

School.

The profession has also responded to the call to lift the I have no doubt that 2015 will reveal just as many interesting achievement of Māori children. Through professional discussions leadership and school innovations as I have found from visiting within the NZPF executive, led by the three Māori executive schools in the past and I look forward to continuing to share members, a professional development model emerged. NZPF these with you through the columns of NZ Principal reached out to Te Akatea, the Māori principals’ organisation, and to the Ministry to launch the Māori Achievement Collaboratives.

These are clusters of school principals each led by a facilitator who supports them to develop a deeper and richer understanding of Māori tikanga and to make the necessary cultural changes to better connect with and engage the Māori students in their schools. An independent evaluation of the clusters already indicates encouraging progress. There is high demand from

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President’s Pen Denise Torrey

National President, New Zealand Principals’ Federation

As 2015 gets underway, I am hearing from many quarters that and as we grapple with our ever-increasing responsibilities, principals want a year in which they can be free to concentrate on compliance issues and community expectations we are becoming helping their children realise their learning goals, strengthening more vulnerable. Our roles are highly complex and as if it isn’t their teacher capability, making their school communities proud enough to manage the every-day demands and challenges and feeling optimistic about the future direction for education that children and staff bring, we also face the unreasonable in New Zealand. They know that it is quality teaching and expectations of politicians and the public to solve every social ill. leadership that can and does make a difference for children’s It is time to put ‘principal support’ back on the table. Although learning and they want to get I have only briefly discussed on with it. this issue with the Secretary for I consider myself privileged to Quality teaching and Education he seems willing to leadership arises when principals have mentored and coached listen and help. and staff are operating in a high To have a truly effective support trust environment; when they are principals post Christchurch mechanism for principals we thoroughly engaged with their earthquakes. need local associations working children and their communities; alongside the Ministry. The when relationships are strong; when they are motivated, focussed, Canterbury region is grateful to the Ministry for supporting a committed and well supported; and when they are stimulated through collaborative practice, sharing their best ideas with each other. There is no room for undesirable distractions when you are striving for quality.

AQUILA BOOKS Regrettably, we have had a flood of unhelpful policy distractions Tel 07 8821447 | Fax 07 8821449 | aquilabooks@xtra.co.nz | www.aquilabooks.co.nz in the past few years including national standards, charter compliance requirements, the IES, charter schools, and of course how could we ever forget the most scandalous of all – Novopay!

Neil Mackay Total Teaching 2015 Tour These policies have all negatively affected the morale of our profession. They just kept coming at us one after the other.

Neil Mackay, the internationally renowned dyslexia expert is returning Perhaps the most demoralising aspect of all was that principals for a speaking tour in 2015. In the climate of ever reducing support and and teachers were given no opportunity to contribute to the ever greater pressure on classroom teachers, Neil presents strategies development of any of these policies. Consequently they do not which close the gap between thinking, reading, writing and equips sit comfortably with the profession and neither do they provide teachers to take “notice and adjust” when students are stuck. a springboard for raising student achievement.

Neil will be exploring his concept of Total Teaching, and students will A 2014 review of 680 principals appointed for the first time benefit when their specific needs are identified and addressed in the between 2006 and 2008 showed an attrition rate of 30 per cent. unsupported classroom.

It is little wonder that principals are leaving in droves. Many are exhausted from fighting incomprehensible policies while others Neil will be holding seminars in: are just disillusioned. Most are in continuous ‘brace position’ AUCKLAND 4th and 5th FULLY BOOKED May awaiting the next policy bombshell to hit. How pleasant it would HAMILTON 6th May be to have a year without the threat of another Government WELLINGTON 7th and 8th FULLY BOOKED May initiative.

CHRISTCHURCH 12th and 13th FULLY BOOKED May DUNEDIN 14th May I consider myself privileged to have mentored and coached INVERCARGILL 15th May principals post Christchurch earthquakes. While undertaking this important work my role changed from one of supporting Whole School Events – Neil is available to attend schools from 18th principals to fulfil their school leadership roles, to coaching to 22nd May to speak to the teachers in your school or group of schools. principals in how to protect themselves from oppressive and Price and details on application. at times quite unjustified external pressures. An analysis of the NZPF Helpline calls shows a similar trend, a nationwide problem. www.aquilabooks.co.nz/total-teaching-tour I have come to realise just how vulnerable we are as principals

ED K O O B Y L FUL

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mentoring network in the wake of the earthquakes, and we are thrilled that the Secretary for Education responded to NZPF’s call to appoint advisors in Northland. The reality is that principals in all regions of the country need this type of support.

Research, including the Ministry’s own 2010 workforce report, shows that professional mentoring of principals is the most effective form of principal support. I would agree and add that the best people to take on such a mentoring role would be highly skilled principals who have professional credibility and are trained in coaching and mentoring. Local associations would be well placed to play a key role in the appointment of mentors.

We also need to review the processes for principal appointments and leadership training. These issues are too important to leave to the Ministry or the School Trustees’ Association`. Principals must own these processes and the only way to achieve that is to involve them right at the start.

Principal appointments are the domain of Boards of Trustees.

The Schools’ Trustees Association recommends that when appointing a principal, an advisor should be involved. I agree and in my view, another principal would be the best person to advise a Board because they understand the complexities and breadth of the role and the capabilities required to lead a successful school. I believe this is another area where local associations could assist the Schools’ Trustees Association to identify suitable candidates for the advisory role. It is an area of concern long overdue for review.

Leadership training is another area in need of examination.

Given the high attrition rate of first-time principals it might be time to revisit the First Time Principals’ Programme to ensure its relevance, rigour and effectiveness in training our fledgling leaders. Aside from the first time principals, I believe it is also time to look at what professional learning development opportunities are available for our experienced principals. I suspect very little.

I will be following up on these ideas with a view to establishing at least the beginning of a sustainable and comprehensive nationwide support system for principals by the end of my tenure as president.

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Developing Middle Leaders Liz Hawes Editor

We cater for aspiring leaders through the ‘National Aspiring Principals’ Programme’ and support newly appointed principals through the ‘First-time Principals’ Programme’ but what about the leaders in the middle? Where is the professional learning development (PLD) for them?

Middle leaders have sometimes been described as the ‘engine room’ of the school. They work closely with other classroom teachers and thus have the potential to make the greatest difference to student achievement. They are most likely to be full time teachers in a classroom and although they constitute a diverse group, they quite possibly will be leaders in a curriculum subject. They are usually team or syndicate leaders and in some cases might have whole-school responsibilities such as information technology, literacy, mentoring or special education. Their leadership role may cover both pedagogical and administrative domains and they may well have volunteered for these roles to gain experience to apply for higher leadership positions.

Denise Torrey, principal of Somerfield School in Christchurch, and currently national president of the New Zealand Principals’

Federation, recognised the PLD gap for middle leaders and was determined to fill it. Her own sabbatical studies led her to examine the literature on middle leaders and especially to investigate New Zealand based research and the ‘Best Evidence Synthesis’. Denise found that one of the most effective forms of leadership to achieve pedagogical change, improve outcomes for students and engage parent communities is to share responsibilities. Nurturing middle leaders is one way of achieving these important goals. She also found ample confirmation that middle leaders can indeed have the most direct impact on teacher practice thereby influencing student achievement.

Armed with this information, she embarked on a series of school visits from which surfaced practices that are most strongly linked to student achievement. These included using achievement data to improve teaching practice, peer coaching, sharing best practice through professional conversations, being consistent in planning and having the time to plan, observing one another’s practice and having robust learning assessment practices.

She then developed the basis of a programme to develop

Middle leaders listen intently at the group inquiry presentations

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Mel Stockforth, Sue James and Maire Bowler, the three facilitators for the programme

middle leaders and used her own school to trial her ideas. Her programme was based on a ‘leadership inquiry’ model and asked teachers and leaders to inquire into their practice. This meant de-privatising practice, having teachers question each other, holding honest professional conversations about practice, reflecting on the observations of colleagues and accordingly, making changes to practice. Ultimately, the measure of success was whether the programme would have any significant effect on raising children’s achievement levels.

Encouraged by the progress in achievement the trial generated in her own school, Denise was determined to share this success with the wider community of schools in the region. Some four years later Canterbury schools now have a credible and well supported middle leaders’ development programme.

‘The programme is funded by the Canterbury Primary Principals’ Association (CPPA) and we now have twelve schools involved,’ says Denise.

There are two directors, Denise herself and Jenny Washington.

Jenny, alongside Denise and a third Cantabrian principal Mel Stockforth worked together to further develop the initial trial programme. ‘We had to have a more structured approach if other schools were getting involved,’ said Denise.

One area they identified as needing strengthening was facilitation. To address this issue, Maire Bowler and Sue James who had both been involved with the Somerfield School trial, joined Mel Stockforth to assist other schools in their critical facilitation work. The three now share their growing expertise with all twelve participating schools by coaching them in how to facilitate their own school middle leaders’ groups.

‘It is critical that each participating school involves all of their middle leaders in the programme. That way they are all involved in the changes that the programme inspires,’ said Denise.

Schools pay for the release time out of their PLD budgets so that their middle leaders can attend four meetings a year to share their inquiries with the whole group. They also fund release time for teachers to observe each other at other times

within the school.

I visited one of the Canterbury group’s quarterly meetings to see first-hand how the programme works and whether the children are making the expected gains in their learning outcomes.

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The Rangiora Borough School’s visual plotting of children’s assessment data

Chris Walsh opened the session on behalf of the Rangiora Borough School middle leaders. With the brief introductions over, the Rangiora School group broke into a light-hearted ditty which they had collaboratively authored and which celebrated the Rangiora community. It was a novel way to contextualise the audience.

She summarised the work of the Rangiora Borough School group of middle leaders saying that their goal was to lift the achievement of a target group of children not succeeding in mathematics. To identify the group, they used cross class data, collected through a process of triangulation which added strength to the validity of the data. They concluded that some twenty-six percent of children consistently and across time, were not succeeding in mathematics as expected.

The triangulation initially involved focussed classroom observations, examining books and tasks, peer and selfassessment; secondly, it involved learning conversations, questioning, explaining, discussing, observing the children’s contribution to group work and practice activities, and finally formal assessment results. A range of formal assessments using different tools for different year groups were applied including PAT (Progressive Achievement Test) in Maths, GLOSS – strategy (Global Strategy Stage), E-asTTLe (electronic – Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning), NumPA (Numeracy Project

Rangiora middle leaders examined the ‘Basic Facts Knowledge’ base to analyse where each of their children should be placed

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Assessment), JAM (Junior Assessment of Mathematics) and IKAN (Knowledge Assessment for Numeracy).

The data gave a robust indication of what stage and competency level each child had reached for the different mathematics skills.

A visual representation of the mathematics profile of the children was then constructed. Competency levels included advanced, proficient or beginning and these were attributed to each mathematical skill within the child’s stage level. An individual student may be assessed as being quite advanced in certain skills at a particular stage and at a beginning level for others.

The next challenge was creating the right conditions within the school so that teachers would be receptive to using this data for improving practice. That meant a culture change, achievable only with expert facilitation. It was the middle leaders’ job to lead the change since they were the ones working most closely with the teachers.

The Rangiora team explained that some teachers held preconceived notions and expectations that had to be addressed honestly through rich and reflective conversations before progress could begin. Parents also had expectations that were not always reflective of reality and sometimes not based in truth.

Unrealistic parental expectations could create fear in teachers about how to engage with the parents to help them support their children’s learning at home. Beliefs such as ‘I teach all the lowies’ or ‘That’s just typical . . . all of that family have learning problems’, or ‘How am I going to explain these results to that family?’ were unhelpful and created barriers to making a difference for the children’s progress.

Middle leaders played a critical part in changing those beliefs and modelling a new kind of questioning which led to richer and more constructive conversations amongst the teachers.

The middle leaders asked questions of the data such as ‘What does this tell us?’

‘What are our concerns?’ ‘Who are our concerns?’ Children were then grouped according to their needs, their strengths and their weaknesses, which were carefully defined. The middle leaders then discussed with their teachers how to focus attention Triangulated data contributed to the Rangiora on strengthening the identified areas of Borough School’s assessment process weakness. for identifying just where each child was functioning

The Rangiora Borough School middle leaders team presents to the wider group

Middle Leaders receiving certificates for successful completion of an inquiry

The Rangiora group told us that this is where the conversations to use them. The Rangiora group engaged CORE Education to between teachers, observations and feedback came into play. support this learning.

They said it was a gradual process of de-privatising practice.

As the teachers came to trust the process and feel comfortable It was about opening the classroom door and sharing practice in the new teaching culture they were more inclined to call on with other teachers rather than shutting the door, operating in each other where and when they needed help. The more this isolation and keeping problems hidden. It was about welcoming happened, the more the culture change at Rangiora Borough observation from colleagues and learning to embrace their School accelerated. Teachers and middle leaders together took feedback. It was leading teachers to see constructive criticism the responsibility for the successes that followed. The process is as a learning opportunity to improve their practice and not an continuous and the role of the middle leaders remains to keep exercise in fault finding. It was about teachers feeling more valued, the culture on track as new teachers come on board and as new more engaged and part of the decision making process. The children present fresh challenges.

Rangiora group found that planning became a more collaborative Each of the twelve schools undertaking the PLD for middle activity and teachers started using ‘Google Docs’ to share leaders had similar success stories to tell. Without fail, they their planning ideas. all spoke of culture Sometimes teachers change within had to adopt new their schools, and teaching approaches like Rangiora and group children B orou g h S c h o o l differently so that they were celebrating decould have optimum privatised practice opp or tu n it i e s to and high levels succeed. To achieve of collaboration, all of this the teachers irrespective of the needed the time and subject of inquiry. the support to adapt Denise Torrey is to the new ways optimistic about the of pl an n i ng an d programme’s future teaching and it was and its capability the middle leaders to r ais e stu d e nt who provided that. achievement.

The group also ‘My dream is to explained the further have the programme dimensions required adopted countryto achieve this culture wide,’ she smiles, A group of middle leaders gathers round to share in another school’s inquiry change and ensure ‘so that all schools its sustainability. They included setting realistic goals and in New Zealand can share the success and optimism we are expectations for individual children’s progress and recognising experiencing in Canterbury,’ she said. that some children may need extra time to acquire the necessary The successful Somerfield School trial and subsequent success skills to move on. It also meant evaluating the way teachers were of the programme for twelve Canterbury schools does makes a currently teaching and re-examining the existing mathematics compelling case for extending the programme’s reach. curriculum. It meant managing resources and recognising that to achieve progress extra help might be needed in the classroom in the form of parent helpers. Some teachers needed different teaching tools and a learning development programme in how

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Extending innovative leadership to better student outcomes in primar Carolyn Stuart, Brendon Henderson, Anne Lye, Trevor Jeffries, Keith Rickard, Peter Simpson, Julie Mackey & Niki Davis

In the final 2014 issue of NZ Principal there was an article discussing six keys for digital leadership (Stuart, 2014). The article mentioned a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) which informed several of the keys including emerging ideas about strategies for creating and sustaining the conditions for digital leadership (see Figure 1). This article highlights elements of the TLRI project with each participating principal describing how they and their schools benefitted from being involved in this research.

Figure 1. Creating and sustaining the conditions for digital leadership

The project was entitled “Extending innovative leadership to enable e-learning for better student outcomes in primary schools” and ran over the 2013/14 school years. The project involved a group of principals partnering as co-researchers with a research team from the University of Canterbury (see Figure 2) to collaboratively research a case study of digital leadership at Tawa Intermediate and to contextualise their findings within their own schools. The first year focused on gathering the case study data and using this to identify a digital project in each school for 2014. In the second year the research focus shifted to the implementation of these projects. The group met once a term and over the course of the two years a strong professional community was established.

Participating principals were Carolyn Stuart, Keith Rickard (in his role as Acting Principal at Tawa Intermediate), Brendon Henderson, Peter Simpson, Trevor Jefferies and Anne Lye, in partnership with University of Canterbury e-Learning Lab researchers Dr Julie Mackey and Professor Niki Davis. What follows is a brief account of each participating principal’s story.

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Tawa Intermediate School – Brendon Henderson (& Keith Rickard) As part of the TLRI project I participated at two different schools due to my change from Newlands Intermediate School to Tawa Intermediate School in mid-2013.

In 2014 Tawa Intermediate School introduced a school-wide reporting document that was digital in format and that was part of our student digital portfolio. We were combining both as we had made a recent change to our SMS and this dovetailed nicely with our student digital portfolios. The reporting implementation went well with staff PD sessions held to reinforce the process.

We received good feedback from our community about this.

The interesting thing for us came out of our separate parent focus group who were not convinced of the merits of our digital portfolios. They were concerned with it being time consuming for teachers and it didn't add greater value to their understanding of where their child was at with their learning. The parent focus group valued the one-to-one parent teacher conversations more.

The weekly teacher emails that are sent home were also seen as more valuable by the parents. As a consequence we are looking at our digital portfolios and student-led conferences with a stronger lens in 2015 and in particular what support leadership can provide for everyone to be successful.

Being part of this particular TLRI group has confirmed to me what good leadership is about – being involved in learning initiatives at the school but also giving others the opportunity to contribute in a full and meaningful way so outcomes are

Figure 2. The authors on one of their early site visits to a participating school.

enable e-learning for y schools

enhanced. I was lucky enough to work with a group of colleagues who were rich in experience and ideas and they were happy to share.

Belfast School – Peter Simpson At the start of 2014 we were involved in two projects as a school. The MOE/NZPF and Te Akatea project around the Māori Achievement Collaborative and this TLRI. As part of our Charter we had set some targets for children who were below their expected achievement level and I, along with our ICT lead teacher, decided to bring both projects together around these children in her class, a few of whom were Māori. The concept was to give these children full access to a digital device to support their learning and monitor their engagement and progress.

The concept was explained to the class and they were in total support of the plan and understood why a small group of children had a device all the time. As principal my leadership role was to firstly supply the devices and work through with the teacher what the project would look like. Support from the University of Canterbury researchers and their assistant identified the parameters for the research and provided an outside expert voice. The outcome exceeded our expectations with initially the engagement of the children towards their work, their improved behaviour and their progress academically. All the children made significant progress with two of the seven children moving up two years in their reading ages, all the others raised their ages by one year., even though the project only ran from term 2 through to the middle of term 4.

Whilst it was a very rushed project it has reinforced to me what good leadership involves in allowing others to be part of the planning process and consequently giving real ownership.

However, as a leader, it is often the principal who has to lead and enable others to join. This year we intend to expand the research across two classes and due to the success of the project we intend exploring ways of getting more devices into the hands of our learners.

Levin Intermediate – Trevor Jefferies An interesting aspect of Levin Intermediate’s involvement in the TLRI has been an increased awareness of the advantages in collaborating with other local schools when thinking about IT decisions for our own school. Understanding their digital learning philosophies and IT strategies has impacted on our planning from device selection through to our IT policy and guidelines.

It seems wise for an intermediate school to seek as much local

coherence as possible with contributing primary and secondary schools. Surprisingly, this was not apparent to us at the outset when it came to IT and digital learning. In the past we had acted independently, as had our neighbours, blissfully unaware of a bigger picture. Once we sat down with the other local schools we found that some of our IT plans could have become barriers for our students and families when they transitioned into or out of our school.

By talking with the decision makers in our neighbouring schools, not only were we able to pre-empt some of these issues, we also began to see the possibilities collaboration might provide for all across a wide range of areas – procurement, teacher professional development, addressing equity issues through involving the local community, and ultimately providing better learning opportunities for all the students in our town.

Principals, senior management and boards from all the schools in town are now engaged in a far reaching discussion about improving learning outcomes for our students, and the role IT will play in achieving that. As well as learning from Tawa Intermediate, we have drawn inspiration from the Manaiakalani Project and a similar initiative just down the road in Otaki. All of us have committed time to talk, share and learn from each other as we work to develop a shared IT vision which will work for all students in our community.

My involvement in these discussions has made me more confident in the decisions I am making (around MLEs, Wireless SNUP, 1:1 BYOD, 24/7 Learning) as we move towards a seamless teaching model through Y1–13 in Levin.

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The TLRI project was timely as it provided opportunities to discuss key issues and to hear about how others were leading digital initiatives in their schools. We were able to compare the Tawa Intermediate case study with our own contexts and to draw on international examples too through our project’s critical friend Lynne Schrum’s research in the USA. While every context is a bit different, and definitely as a learner in this area myself, it is reassuring to share successful strategies and principles of effective leadership, and to really discuss the complexities involved in leading digital change in schools, especially when embarking on a significant project like our BYOD implementation. While having a very definite picture of where we needed to go, it has also been crucially important to be flexible about how we get there. As a leader, allowing teachers to share their passions, their enthusiasm, at times their frustrations, and support their learning has been an exciting and worthwhile journey, which is still continuing.

Churton Park School – Anne Lye The start of the TLRI project was timely for Churton Park School, as we were in the early stages of considering BYOD implementation. As Principal, I wanted this initiative to enhance the teaching experience, without teachers getting “bogged down” dealing with technical issues around the devices. Identifying some key staff to trial the selected devices so challenges could be worked through and supported was a strategic starting point.

The clear focus was always on ensuring that the planned BYOD implementation would enhance learning and so over time, and with a range of opportunities for professional development, a shared vision and understanding was developed. On reflection I can see that one of the advantages has been taking our time, rather than jumping in straight away, allowing teachers to initially explore without feeling too pressured.

The implementation of the BYOD project extended across the life of the TLRI project and I tapped into the collective experiences and expertise of the project group, as well as researching technical and device options, and consulting with others about how they managed the practicalities of 1:1 devices.

The willingness of our Board of Trustees to take the time to listen, to further explore, to ask questions and to provide finance allowed us to move forward in a planned and supported way.

The implementation has been very successful. We have developed effective processes, including teacher and year level expectations, with a supportive focus on professional development to help teachers realise these expectations and to use devices effectively in classrooms. It’s been really important to reassure teachers that it’s ok to say, “I am not sure about this.”

All teachers set related ICT goals documented through their appraisal. Teachers use personal blogs or websites and every term teachers provide feedback collaboratively about what worked well, what didn’t and what was interesting.

In 2015 we will continue to build teachers’ confidence and expertise, manage the pace of change and provide ongoing support and mentoring, including for new staff to the school.

Developing awareness of the digital footprint, including cybersafety issues, we recognise as an absolute necessity so a very comprehensive teaching programme has been developed. Our ICT learning pedagogy drives our decision making and, as we go forward, we want to find ways to further differentiate and personalise learning for students through the use of their individual devices.

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Conclusion This brief article provides a glimpse of the rich learning and experiences of the TLRI project team over the past two years as well as further illustration of the six keys for digital leadership introduced in this magazine in 2014. The central spindle of authentic relationships was a key for the project as well the principals’ leadership actions in their own schools. We look forward to ongoing innovation and to sharing more insights which emerged from the time spent together on the project.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge that this project was funded through the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) managed

by NZCER. They would also like to acknowledge the contribution of all the participating schools, their staff, students, communities and Boards of Trustees. The project’s critical friends Lynne Schrum and Bridget Somekh are also thanked for their guidance and support.

Further reading: Davis, N. E., Mackey, J. & Stuart, C. (2015). Leadership strategies for a future focused intermediate school – A case study. Paper to be presented at the American Education Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago. 16–20 April.

Lye, A., Stuart, C., Henderson, B., Jeffries, T., Simpson, P., Rickard, K., Davis, N. & Mackey, J. (2014). How can school principals effectively lead equitable e-learning in collaboration with their school communities to improve student outcomes? Presented at NZEALS, Wellington, 29 April–1 May. http://www.nzeals.org.nz/ pdfs/Mackey.pdf Schrum, L., & Levin, B. (2013). Technology-rich schools up close.

Educational Leadership, (March) 51–55.

Schrum, L., & Levin, B. (2012). Evidence-based strategies for leading 21st century schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Stuart, C. (2014). Six keys for digital leadership. New Zealand Principal, November 2014, 6–8.

Note: This project is on the TLRI web site here http://www.tlri.org. nz/tlri-research/research-progress/school-sector/extendinginnovative-leadership-enable-e-learning

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The Attributes of the Leadership Sweet Spot and its Five Secrets David J.C. McKenzie

In golf you hit the ball with a club that is specially designed with a sweet spot. The sweet spot is the specific area on the head of the club where, with the right technique, the golf ball will go further, faster and easier. The club and ball connect in a deliberate manner that maximises the power of both. There is a joy and purity in the stroke.

Leadership is like that. There is a sweet spot – a place where the actions of leadership go further, faster and easier.

This leadership sweet spot is a unique compendium of eight internalised, higher order, refined qualities, understandings and beliefs. The leadership sweet spot is . . .

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Altruistic: There is a genuine care for others. This goes beyond direct defined leadership responsibility. It spans all people. It seeks the best for all. It works on the philosophy that all boats rise on a rising tide and it works to rise that tide for all. The antithesis of this is a bias, aggressive, competitive spirit.

Borderless: There are no defined physical or intellectual borders to this sweet spot. It expands beyond workspace and classroom. It expands beyond the gates and fences. Sweet spot leadership draws in a wider group of influencers. It knows no borders and is deliberately unsuspicious. It reaches out trustingly. It believes that together is better. The antithesis of this is protective siloism.

Aspirational: Sweet spot leadership genuinely looks into the future and sees something transformational. It has a powerful, forward, optimistic belief in what is possible. It always hopes.

The antithesis of this is bleak, cynical, worn-out negativity.

Sacrificial: There is a 100 per cent commitment in time, energy and resources. This sacrificial work ethic includes a relinquishing of personal priorities to see the greater good.

Sweet spot leadership does the jobs no-one else wants to do because it sees the bigger picture. The antithesis of this is selfish, myopic, personal gain based ambition.

Courageous: There is courage in the sweet spot to push forward and overcome the continual obstacles that are thrown up when leading. This courage takes the flack, weathers the storms and keeps on moving in the face of resistance. The antithesis of this is a fearful reluctance to offend anyone at all.

Present-Continuous: Sweet spot leadership, whilst being informed by the past, operates in the present-continuous tense. It makes the most of today and looks constantly into the future to ensure that today’s decisions help make tomorrow’s decisions better. The antithesis of this is rigid, entrenched, status-quo thinking, that harks back to years long passed.

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Emotionally intelligent: To be in the sweet spot for leadership a leader needs to be highly aware of their emotions to the point that they allow themselves to experience them but do not allow the emotion to manipulate them. The antithesis of this is emotional dependency with a need for continual validation from others.

Values based: Sweet spot leadership is governed by a set of deep values that ensure interactions between people and decisions are kept at the highest level. These values permeate all that is done. They are explicit and lived out in the lives of leaders. The antithesis of this are decisions and interactions based on negative, momentary feelings.

The development of the sweet spot compendium of attributes takes time. Each has its own unique journey. Some come from experience. Some grow in strength through trials, testing and tribulation. Some require honest personal and professional reflection. Some are drawn from a deeper well where the metacognitive meets the meta-physical.

When all eight sweet spot attributes align within a leader they become the engine room for growth. The work of that leader will go further, faster and easier.

The sweet spot is on the head of the club, but how that club is swung is crucial to the utilisation of this sweet spot. There are five secrets to this.

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Secret Number One: A sweet spot is more than words.

Without actions, words are empty intentions that might sound grandiose but are effectively worthless.

The sweet spot is powerful due to the congruence, consistency and continuity between actions and words. The sweet spot is believed with passion, articulated intelligently and lived out clearly. In essence, the sweet spot is expressed, into the world, through the deliberate and conscious actions of leaders. You cannot have an oral sweet spot alone. It must be backed up with on-the-ground actions.

Secret Number Two: It only takes one. One individual (Figure 1) can achieve a significant amount across many people and continued pg16

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down through time. The sweet spot is rare, few attain it but those that do see their power and influence increase. Think of people like Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela. They did not seek their own glory or personal greatness. They were motivated by something bigger and more powerful – an altruistic, borderless, sacrificial, courageous, aspirational goal.

Both individuals impacted the world in their own special and unique way. They led from the sweet spot.

Secret Number Three: It takes time. The leadership sweet spot is like daily compounding interest. Each day leadership operates from within this powerful compendium of eight attributes, is a day that interest is added to the organisation’s actions. The leadership sweet spot is a long term investment.

With any long term investment the great rewards will not be there in the short term. A leader needs to be in this for the long haul.

As Principals, the combination of Secret One, Secret Two and Secret Three is powerful. One person, leading a school, over a prolonged period of time, aligned with the sweet spot in word and deed, produces positive progressive appreciating change.

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Secret Number Four: As well as being expressed within an individual, the sweet spot can also be expressed collectively as a ‘oneity’ across people. When the right people, in the right places, with the right authority, all functioning within the eight attributes of the sweet spot, come together within one organisation, a synergetic sweet spot emerges that produces exponential growth. This corporate cooperative sweet spot can change a community, a province and even a nation.

Secret 4 – There is a ‘oneity’.

In a school setting, when the leadership of the principal (management), Board of Trustees (governance) and parent support group leader (fundraising) comes together in the sweet spot ‘oneity’ the school is in a strong position for swift effective growth.

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Secret Number Five: The final secret is deeper and more hidden. It is directly related to Secret Four and is often missed.

It is ‘onus’. Onus is the internal initiative to get things started without external pressure or compulsion. The onus for a collective ‘oneity’ always comes from one person who often works patiently, quietly, often in obscurity as an unassuming catalyst to bring things about. This person, functioning in the sweet spot, seeing the big picture, seeks to draw like-minded people in. Without this first catalyst person, the fullness of the ‘oneity’ sweet spot cannot be realised.

Sweet spot leadership leaves a lasting legacy. It is a powerful and attractive force that draws others towards it. It is essential for long lasting growth.

Sweet spot leadership is not an accident. It is a conscious expression of deliberate thought. Sweet spot leadership understands the fulcrums of change and utilises these for the good of all around them.

Margaret Mead, a 20th century American anthropologist gives us a great conclusion. She is once reported to have said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

As Principals, let us be those ‘thoughtful, committed citizens’ that go about changing the worlds where we are.

NZPF FAREWELLS TWO EXEMPLARY MEMBERS Liz Hawes Editor

PAUL DRUMMOND Ever y exec utive memb er brings fresh ideas, insights and experience to their work for New Zealand principals. Every now and then a member also brings the ‘X Factor’ and for Paul Drummond, that doesn't mean musical entertainer!

From early on Paul demonstrated an acute intelligence for seeing through rhetoric and spin, interpreting complex political arguments and helping his colleagues to form a view that would best represent principals across the nation.

It’s a rare gift and one that was highly valued by his colleagues on the executive.

He stood as Vice President to Peter Simpson in 2011 and became President in 2012. The overwhelming endorsement from colleagues is testimony to the calibre of leadership that he brought to all of his work.

As President he quickly became an influence in the media and never failed to front the cameras whether Breakfast TV or the last current affairs programme of the night and sometimes did both in one day, whilst responding to radio and print reporters in between. His commitment and dedication to supporting his colleagues by taking the message to the public, was exemplary.

It seemed the more interviews he did, the more the media came to him for comment. They too recognised and appreciated that Paul would always give them good sound analysis and a fresh approach to an issue. On many occasions he became the news leader, the breaking news on issues like Novopay for which the Campbell Live programme kept returning to NZPF week after week to highlight the plight of principals throughout the country. The pressure was relentless and it soon influenced the policy makers.

Connecting with the members was his other strength and he prioritised invitations to speak at regional conferences at every opportunity. He was also acutely aware of the pressures on principals when it came to ‘reading time’ whilst also aware of the importance of keeping them informed and updated. To this end he instigated a redesign of the weekly Federation Flyer to make it easier for principals to get the messages without reading through long passages of prose.

His influence is what Paul’s Presidency will be remembered for most. He made an outstanding contribution to the national organisation and a positive difference for colleagues everywhere.

We wish Paul and his family all the very best in his well-earned retirement.

PETER WITANA A member of the executive since 2007 Peter brought his own style and special skills to the executive and was always the strongest advocate around the table for his Māori principal colleagues and their work with Māori children. He recognised that if the national executive was to share his aspirations, they too needed some professional development experiences to better understand things Māori.

To this end, together with his executive colleagues Keri MilneIhimaera and Whetu Cormick, he planned and organised a weekend trip to Te Tii Marae at Waitangi where the executive were immersed in the cultural practices of the north. This full immersion experience including staying overnight on the Marae and ‘living’ the culture was deeply affecting for everyone and had a major influence on their understanding of an alternative Māori world view. The choice of Te Tii Marae, the site of so many political struggles over many years, was poignant and fitting for the national body’s professional learning.

Back at the executive table, Peter’s influence continued as discussions began on how best to lift the achievement of Māori students. Out of these discussions came a ground breaking initiative called the Māori Achievement Collaboratives (MACs).

This initiative is a professional development opportunity for principals committed to supporting their Māori students to succeed as Māori and for all students to have a greater understanding of what biculturalism and treaty partnership really means in practice. The intention is to have all schools producing culturally informed, sensitive and tolerant students whose attitudes will in time change the attitudes of the nation for the better.

Whilst no one would disagree with the intention, there are many principals who simply don’t have the cultural knowledge or experience to fully understand what an alternative world view might look like and especially what a Māori world view might entail. The collaboratives are led by principals who do have that knowledge and understanding and can share their expertise with the rest. They have been established now for two years and the demand for more is growing.

We thank Peter for his transformational work on our behalf, for his undying passion and advocacy for his people and the strength of his leadership in establishing the MACs. This legacy will endure long after his retirement.

Our very best wishes go with Peter and his family in his retirement years.

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THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF WAKEFIELD Liz Hawes Editor

A richly eloquent, vaguely familiar voice transcends the babble of Nelson’s airport lounge. It is Peter Verstappen, here to bustle me off to his school in the little town of Wakefield, just a half hour drive from Nelson city.

The trip gives us time to have an informal chat and solve the mystery of ‘the familiar sounding voice’. It turns out that school teaching was not Peter’s first career. He had been a television broadcaster, associate producer for the youth television show ‘What Now’, and in the `80s was briefly a presenter for the popular kids' show ‘Playschool’. Of course his voice sounded familiar. My own children were at the time ‘Playschool’ devotees.

‘What mattered to me most about the television days,’ he said, ‘were the educative aspects of the programmes I worked

on. I liked the idea that children were learning something from watching them.’

This notion of educating children gnawed at him until eventually he gave in to its needling. He said good-bye to his television career and headed off to Teachers’ Training College.

‘That was the best decision of my life,’ he proclaimed with a satisfied smile. ‘I can now devote all my energy [to] leading an education system for children based on sound values and pedagogy and give every child in my school the best start we possibly can.’

At the school, we continue the conversation in Peter’s very colourful and spacious office. Walls are papered in a series of topographical maps. ‘I’m a bit of a map freak,’ he says laughingly.

The staff enjoy a good laugh at morning tea time

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Peter Verstappen, leading living democracy

He has a cabinet of curiosities which would draw delight from the it during the daytime to have small group story time and it is most reticent child, and it is impossible to ignore the ostentatious open to the students and parents during the summer holidays. brass trombone draped elegantly over a bench edge.

‘We also run a special summer reading programme targeting ‘I teach that learning is for life,’ says Peter, ‘so it’s important that children at risk,’ says Peter. ‘Those children have a contract and I model those values. That is why I am learning the trombone. agreed reading goals and if they reach their goals, they can win The kids keep me on task,’ he says. There is a brief pause before he a voucher, sponsored by Paper-Plus’, he said. Parents bring their continues in a lowered tone, ‘I have to play ‘Mary has a little lamb’ children along to get new books every Wednesday afternoon in at assembly this week and I’m not very good at it,’ he confides. the summer holidays and teachers who volunteer, are rostered to There is another reason for choosing the trombone and that supervise and support the children on the reading programme. is to participate in the horn section to back the school rock band. Music is important to Peter’s school community and children have many opportunities to learn an instrument and participate in various school music groups.

Wakefield is a very connected small community. Parents are both willing and able to support their local school and do so with great generosity. They take much pride in the school which has been developing, changing and growing since 1843. Although the original buildings have long been replaced and replaced again, the original school bell still occupies a prominent position in the school yard as a symbol of the school’s long heritage. Wakefield is after all the oldest school in continuous use in New Zealand.

Many Wakefield School activities extend beyond the school gate. The library, for example, is open to the community in Preschoolers enjoy story time at Wakefield school library different ways. The local pre-schoolers use N Z Principal | M a r c h 2 0 15

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IN the MLE children work in small groups and smaller groups

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‘It’s a great opportunity for ‘at risk’ kids to practise their skills and keep reading over the holidays,’ said Peter. ‘That way they will be far more confident readers when school starts again,’ he said.

The library isn’t the only facility Wakefield School shares with the community. The school also boasts substantial indoor aquatic facilities which parents can buy access to over the holidays. My two senior student tour guides, Sophia and Paige explain that parents can buy a key so that families can use both the big swimming pool and the smaller shallower pool over the holiday period. This is a very popular option and parents line up in droves to buy the keys. This summer 250 keys went out the door. The revenue goes a long way in helping to keep the pool in excellent condition.

‘We are so lucky here,’ says Peter, ‘Just look around you at this environment,’ he challenges. ‘There are absolutely no excuses for us. If we can’t succeed here, we can’t blame anyone,’ he said.

I get the strong impression that Peter is not a leader who intends to fail either himself or his children. He is delighted that his school has drawn the attention of the NZ Principal magazine.

He wants to share his vision to turn Wakefield School into a ‘living democracy’. The idea consumes and excites him and he is eager to talk about his dream and inspire his colleagues nationally.

He describes democratic education as an amorphous movement, the essence of which is that students take increasing ownership of their learning. He is not a person to subscribe to particular ideologies so democratic education suits his thinking.

It attracts him because from its inclusiveness, he can pluck and apply those aspects that fit comfortably with his school. All the same many would question how true democracy could possibly

Children give and receive feedback on their work

work in a primary school. Isn’t it placing too much responsibility as personalised learning,’ he said. He uses the symbol of a on young children’s shoulders to expect them to behave continuum to describe what he means. ‘At one end you have a democratically about everything that goes on in the school? highly teacher directed curriculum and at the other, the students Should children be exercising freedom of speech and freedom lead and own the curriculum,’ he explains. Peter believes that a of choice at such a tender age? Once given the power to decide successful school today needs to comfortably occupy a broad would children be capable of making reasonable decisions? range of the spectrum to meet the needs of all students. ‘We ‘This [Democratic Education] is not a new c o n c e p t ,’ s a y s P e t e r.

‘Already there are New Zealand schools applying the democratic principles.’

He cites ‘Discovery School’ and ‘Unlimited School’ in Christchurch as examples. ‘ T he e ss e nc e of t h i s approach is placing the child at the centre,’ says Peter.

‘This gives the child the responsibility of discovering and owning t heir own learning. It is student-led learning. It is moving the power balance their way and allowing them to create their own place in the world.’

He refers to an idea Steve Maharey promoted way back when he was Minister of Education. ‘It is the same The school swimming pool is popular both during term time and at weekends

N Z Principal | M a r c h 2 0 15

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created from two original classrooms, incorporating several smaller breakout spaces.

Children work in the larger classroom-type spaces for large group work, in smaller spaces for smaller group activities and sometimes they work alone. What becomes immediately obvious in the MLE is the absence of sets of desks. The children are just as likely to be working on bean bags at low tables as sitting at a table or desk.

The environment is light and airy and very busy.

The children tell me they raised money to buy a pet for their new MLE but they had to choose democratically.

The bank is currently out of bounds but has a great future Nominations for the types have been deficit thinkers,’ says Peter, ‘but now we see that the of pets that would be suitable for the classroom space were called children are capable of managing their own learning and we for and the children voted. The winner was a pet rat. ‘I didn’t vote expect them to do that.’ for the rat,’ said my informant. ‘But the majority wins so that’s So what does Democratic Education look like in practice? I visit okay with me because that’s democratic. Most people wanted the recently established ‘Modern Learning Environment’ (MLE) the rat and I’ve got quite used to him and actually quite like him where sixty children and two teachers occupy one large space now,’ he said calmly.

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Not everyone voted for rat, but he got there democratically

Wakefield School tour guides, Sophia Radcliffe and Paige Gallacher

Astonishingly, there was no sense of resentment that his own preference didn’t win on the day. There was full acceptance that a fair and just process had been applied and so the outcome was adopted.

The MLE provides an important impetus for advancing the democratic ideals and during the summer holidays Wakefield School has built two more MLEs comprising four traditional classrooms including a student kitchen.

‘It’s a gradual process,’ says Peter, ‘and we have to make sure we enable our community to keep pace with the changes.’

He knows that innovation such as this will not be successful if he doesn’t have his parents with him. He holds ‘open days’ to engage them and help them feel a sense of ownership, focus groups to get greater understanding and ‘big picture’ discussions to help the parents see the virtues of this approach.

Another group of children in the MLE gather to discuss their next moves in the restoration of the school bank project. There are concerns that the vegetation on the bank is getting damaged from overuse so it is currently out of bounds to rejuvenate. The process of choosing future activities for the area, like everything else, is done democratically.

‘We go around all the classes,’ says the group’s spokesperson, ‘and get them to vote on the ideas we think up. Tree huts and rope swings are the most popular. Some of the other ideas are the obstacle course, puppet theatre, outdoor stage and skate park,’ she said.

Last year was general election year. This provided an excellent

opportunity for practising democracy right across the school.

The election became a very real event at Wakefield. The children conducted a parallel election at the school. Children chose parties to affiliate to, created policies for the school and presented them. Everyone got to vote for their chosen candidates. Post-election, one candidate was heard to say ‘I’m glad I wasn’t elected because I had promised things we couldn’t afford!’ The winning party governed the senior syndicate for a day to implement its policies and spend the budget. The Prime Minister admitted at the end of the day that governance was an exhausting business.

These learning experiences are incredibly powerful as is the day to day learning going on in the classrooms. As part of the school’s emerging democratic curriculum, the school last year held two market days to give the children opportunities to develop financial literacy and raise money for real causes of their choice.

One class wanted to donate their share of the profits to a charity. By democratic voting, Greenpeace was chosen. The pre-vote discussion raised a number of other worthy charities and the children (democratically of course) agreed that orphan children in Africa could do with some books. Having already given the funds to Greenpeace the agreed solution was to make books themselves. I was privileged to watch the completion of some of these story books entirely created, written and illustrated by the children.

Children in the MLE space are now into their second year. I was eager to speak with the teachers to find out how they were

N Z Principal | M a r c h 2 0 15

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Putting the final touches to a story book for African orphans

adapting to the MLE environment and whether there were any for example branched away from having instructional reading advantages from adopting the democratic approach to learning. I groups.’ wanted to know how learning was progressing and how children One of the key factors was learning to trust the children and could judge their own learning and their judgements and giving them time. work out their own next steps when ‘We learned we could rely on them and they couldn’t know what they didn’t for us we had to learn how to relinquish know! control to help them be informed and I asked one of the two teachers, Julie skilled,’ said Julie.

McIntosh how successful the approach The current goal is that the children had been so far. will set their own learning goals.

‘It is my second year with these ‘As teachers we do a lot of modelling children,’ says Julie. ‘There has been and give lots of feedback,’ says Julie. ‘We enormous development through ask a lot of questions. The children mark the change in style of teaching and each other’s work and give feedback learning,’ she said. to each other and also give out credits ‘The children respect each other’s towards school awards.’ ideas and value everyone’s contribution.

There are some controlled choices They are also very accepting of majority such as the boxes of reading material. decisions and quite capable of making ‘We get the appropriate levelled books those decisions.’ and mix of genres and the children then ‘They are also good at listening to choose the books from that collection,’ each other’s ideas but in the end still she said. make their own choices.’

‘What we have now become,’ says ‘The key has been not rushing into Julie is a community of learners and it. We’ve been gentle and careful and anyone in the community could be the actually began with an instructional teacher. We are all learning together, approach, then moved to inquiry based going through the same process. We learning and then multiple things as teachers just have different levels were happening as the children built of knowledge and experiences and The original Wakefield school bell is a constant up their skills. Writing and reading different responsibilities,’ she said reminder of the school’s heritage

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A class of children practise a Christmas song accompanied by . . .

. . . this band

As my day at Wakefield comes to a close, I am more and more confident that Peter Verstappen’s dream to turn his school into a living democracy is well on the way to fulfilment. Democratic education, the Wakefield way is a visible success story. With the children taking ever more responsibility and decision making for their own learning, teachers are relinquishing their traditional roles as directors, leaders and managers. Their role is now more facilitative. They are monitoring and offering feedback and asking good questions whilst the children are thriving in their new roles as leaders of their own learning. Of course teachers remain mindful of the NZ Curriculum and its requirements, not to mention all the other compliance issues. The great joy is that at Wakefield you can achieve all of that and still empower your children.

Peter insists that his school is at the beginning of the journey and has a long way to go. ‘I wouldn’t call us experts by any means and we certainly do not have all the answers,’ he said Role reversals are part of the landscape at Wakefield and I suspect it won’t be long before Peter Verstappen can step back from having any concerns about whether his community is on board with him. The children will be doing the promotions for him. They know they are valued in this system, that everything is fair, everything is just, everyone contributes and everyone’s engaged. The school is driven by positivity and participation which is infectious.

It would be hard to imagine kids more ready to take their place in society as participating, responsible citizens than the kids from Wakefield School.

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Phonics Programmes: What they can and cannot do Keith Greaney

Massey University, Institute of Education

Schools are often required to make decisions about whether or not to purchase particular commercial resources and/or professional development initiatives to improve teaching and learning. Decisions need to be made about various aspects including the costs, the appropriateness and the purported effectiveness of such programmes and/or initiatives. As teachers become more aware of the importance of including phonicsbased teaching in their literacy programmes there has been a tendency to sign up for professional development courses and/or to purchase such resources. While such initiatives may result in improved literacy performances for many students, it is important that schools are also aware of some of the limitations of these programmes and initiatives.

Phonics has a bad name mainly due to some misconceptions The main purpose of any phonics programme should be to help children become better readers and spellers. Phonics is a method of instruction that teaches students about the relationship between how the letters and spelling patterns of written English match up with the speech sounds they represent. In order to effectively instruct children about the letter-sound relationships requires that teachers have an understanding of the roles that ‘cipher’ knowledge, ‘lexical’ knowledge and knowledge of the ‘alphabetic principle’ (explained later) play in relation to helping students become fluent readers and spellers. The extent to which these understandings are promoted within any phonics programme or professional development course should also form the prime consideration regarding their likely effectiveness in any school.

Even the word ‘phonics’ connotes negative thinking among many teachers irrespective of their prior experiences with such programmes. Some see it as representative of ‘old ideas’ that have no place in 21st century classes. Some misconstrue phonics as an approach that teaches students to sound out every letter of every word. While phonics programmes do focus on the teaching of the relationships between the letters and how they (singly and collectively) can represent the sounds in words, this does not mean that every letter of every word should be taught as always representing a single sound. There are some very basic words that can be ‘sounded out’ letter-sound by letter-sound (e.g., c/a/t, p/e/g/, w/e/n/t) but most words (e.g., mother, house, penicillin, chlorophyll) require that the developing reader has more sophisticated word identification strategies beyond having basic letter-sound awareness before the word is recognised by sight.

Phonemic awareness and phonics Before children are able to grasp any understanding of phonics instruction they must first have a reasonable level of phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness involves having a conscious awareness of how words are made up of separate units of sound.

If children are not able to hear and identify the difference (and similarity) between the sounds in even simple CVC words such as cat and bat for example, then they are not likely to gain anything from being asked to ‘sound out’ these words in a reading situation.

Most children require explicit instruction and experience to help them to understand the relationship between letters and how they map on to the sounds of English. Reading researchers refer to this as the ‘alphabetic principle’. Furthermore, some children

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require more instruction (and for longer periods) than others before they are able to fully understand the alphabetic principle.

The level of explicitness and duration of phonemic awareness instruction required depends on each child’s literacy-related knowledge and skills at school entry. We now know that children who come to school with high levels of literate cultural capital (e.g., alphabet knowledge, basic phonemic awareness, rhyme awareness, concepts about print) are more likely to learn to read quicker and with less difficulties than are those who enter school with limited levels of literate cultural capital. To ensure that instruction is relevant to individual needs also requires relevant assessment. Focussed assessments enable the teacher to ascertain which students require more or less phonemic awareness at the outset. Phonics programmes seldom include any focus on either the assessment or the teaching of phonemic awareness.

Cipher and lexical knowledge, spelling rules and the limitations of phonics programmes There is no phonics programme that is able to teach every English letter-sound combination because there are hundreds of these.

Juel and Minden-Cupp (2000) refer to this as the ‘orthographic avalanche of print’. However, what phonics instruction does do is introduce the reader to some of variable spelling-sound combinations that make up words. While there are only 26 letters in the English alphabet and approximately 42 sounds, most of the sounds can be represented (in written form) in more than one way. For example the vowel sound represented in even basic words such as the a/ in; cat, ate, was, saw, car are all different.

Sounding out every letter in these words would clearly not be an

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effective strategy without cipher and lexical knowledge.

While basic cipher knowledge involves the understanding that many words are able to be decoded using direct lettersound relationships, this strategy soon becomes inefficient for irregularly spelled words. A higher level of knowledge is necessary and this is called lexical knowledge. An example of this is the sound that the a/ vowel represents in each of the following words: cat, skate, water, watch. The particular sound is determined by the letters surrounding the vowel. There are also a large group of words that have identical spellings (homographs) but are pronounced differently depending on the context in which they appear within sentences, (e.g., He wound the bandage around the wound). In this second example, the pronunciation of the word (wound) was determined by the surrounding context.

To determine the correct pronunciation of irregularly spelled words requires that the reader uses a flexible decoding strategy known as a ‘set for variability’. This strategy involves the reader being able to try several pronunciation approximations (based on English orthographic-phonological probabilities) if they are uncertain of the correct one. These approximations, when used in conjunction with sentence context cues, are usually sufficient for the word to be successfully decoded, (provided the word is in the reader’s listening vocabulary). However, because of their ‘stand-alone’ method of delivery (such as learning of isolated letters and letter sounds via worksheet or workbook tasks that constitute most phonics programmes), such methods do not allow the students to develop cipher knowledge awareness. While phonics programmes do not specifically focus on the teaching cipher or lexical knowledge or the ‘set for variability’ decoding strategy, they at least expose the readers to the alphabetic principle by encouraging them to look closely at the spelling patterns in words.

Many phonics programmes also tend to focus on teaching spelling rules. However, many of these rules are presented as explicit statements (e.g., when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking) and a problem with this (and many other rules) is that they are not always accurate. Words such as eat, mean, boat, and bait for example, do conform to the vowel rule, but there are many occasions where the rule is not correct (e.g., great, heard, board & said). In these examples it is not the first vowel that ‘does the talking’. In fact, often neither vowel has a specific vowel sound but a completely different sound altogether. While phonics rules are explicit, cipher and lexical knowledge develop in a more implicit way where the reader needs to initially induce the correct pronunciation via trial and error approximation attempts. Phonics rules are also rather slow and laborious to learn and apply whereas the implicit nature of cipher and lexical knowledge means that such knowledge is best learned and integrated during regular reading by using metacognitive and flexible word identification strategies such as the ‘set for variability’ strategy.

Phonics programmes are also generally very teacherdominated. This is because many of the skills and concepts tend to be taught via rote learning measures using a lock-step series of lesson sequences. Many phonics programmes have also often been described as ‘skill and drill’ approaches that rely heavily on fixed and rigid sets of lessons and dominated by lots of workbook and/or worksheet tasks.

Given that the development of phonemic awareness is a critical precursor component of cipher and lexical knowledge (which in

turn positively impacts on later reading development) any early literacy programmes should include both relevant assessments that focus on these skills and instructional components that encourage the metacognitive strategy development for improving both reading and spelling skills.

Maybe some phonics is better than no phonics, provided that the relevant assessment data indicates that there is a need for such a programme in the first place. However, ascertaining the relevant instructional needs requires that teachers have access to relevant assessment tools, and currently, these are not freely available for most schools.

Whole language plus phonics: the myth of a ‘balanced’ approach While it is often claimed that most schools use a combination of both whole language and phonics approaches under the guise of a ‘balanced’ reading programme, the reality is not quite that simple.

Having 20 minutes of a stand-alone phonics programme followed by 20 minutes of regular guided reading does not constitute a ‘balanced’ approach. Moats (2000) argues for example that “a lot of people who have a casual acquaintance with the research have persuaded themselves that balanced reading instruction means a little of this, a little of that. Take a cup of phonics from one cupboard and add a half pint of whole language from the fridge, and the resulting blend will succeed with children” (p.iii).

As Moats further argues “It doesn’t work that way” (p.iii).

There is now sufficient research evidence demonstrating that children who enter school with high levels of literate cultural capital including phonemic awareness, learn to read more quickly and more efficiently than do those who enter with minimal levels of such awareness. The evidence also shows that in order to benefit from any phonics-based instruction requires a satisfactory level of phonemic awareness first. Stand-alone phonics programmes tend not to include any focus on either the assessment or the teaching of phonemic awareness. Rather, they tend to focus directly on the teaching of spelling-to-sound relationships in the printed words.

The rationale behind most phonics programmes includes the expectation that all children will somehow learn how the alphabetic system works by receiving a ‘teach-by-exposure’ instructional approach where letters and spelling patterns are continually presented in the form of activities like card games, workbook and worksheet tasks. Some children (e.g., those with already high levels of phonemic awareness) may improve their knowledge about the English spelling system from such instruction alone. However, most children who develop early reading difficulties tend to be those who enter school with minimal levels of literate cultural capital, and involvement in phonics programmes for these groups will not be particularly effective unless attention is first given to the assessment and teaching of the precursor phonemic awareness skills.

classes. Furthermore, such teachers are also less likely to need to rely on stand-alone commercial phonics programmes as their main resource for teaching about the English orthographic system. There are currently few if any phonics programmes that give sufficient attention to the assessment or teaching of the important precursor phonemic awareness skills. Also phonics programmes tend to not have any focus on improving teachers’ research-based pedagogical knowledge relating to how children learn to read and/or why some have difficulties. Finally, phonics programmes tend to assume that all children need to be exposed to a whole lot of information about all the letters and spelling patterns (including many spelling rules) and then expect them to somehow remember all this when reading and writing at some later stage. For the phonemically aware student, some of this information may be recalled at the appropriate time as a means to help them decode, but this is more likely to occur if the students are also taught about the alphabetic principle and how this develops cipher and lexical knowledge.

Given that the ultimate purpose of phonics-based instruction must be to develop improved decoding and spelling skills, it makes sense that the effects of such instruction should also be seen to transfer to regular reading and writing contexts.

The current modus operandi of most stand-alone phonics programmes are likely to be even less effective if the students then go into an instructional reading environment where phonological-based word identification strategies are not also promoted and encouraged.

References: Juel, C., & Minden-Cupp, C. (2000). Learning to read words: Linguistic units and instructional strategies. Reading Research Quarterly, 35, 458-492.

Moats, L.C. (2000). Whole language lives on: The illusion of “balanced” reading instruction. Washington DC. Thomas B Fordham Foundation.

Conclusions Any phonics is probably better than no phonics at all. However phonics programmes are likely to have differential effects on different children depending upon each child’s level of phonemic awareness. Teachers who have the relevant pedagogical knowledge about how children learn to read and why some have difficulties learning to read are likely to be more able to design and implement relevant and focused instruction in their

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Can ‘Neuroscience and Educa the Is-Ought Gap of Theory an A/Prof John Clark

School of Educational Studies, Massey University, Palmerston North

There is a growing interest in exploring the contribution neuroscience might make to education. However, linking the two gives rise to a particularly serious philosophical problem – the ‘is-ought gap’. That is, an evaluative statement about what we ought to do (education) cannot be derived from descriptive statements about what is the case (neuroscience). Once some of the difficulties raised by this problem are understood then we might reach a better appreciation of just what sort of contribution, if any, neuroscience can make to education.

a fundamental distinction between two basic concepts – learning and education. All too often they are run together as meaning the same thing when they are altogether rather different. Here is as good an example as any. Klemm (2011) reports on a conversation with the Nobel Prize physicist Carl Wieman: “He also made the point that anybody who has gone to school tends to think they are an expert in learning. But he explained, ‘novices seldom recognise what they do not know, especially in education’”.

The two concepts of learning and education must be kept well apart: they are not two terms meaning the same thing but are two expressions with very different, even if related meanings, which will have contrasting implications for the application of neuroscience.

The Is-Ought Problem The is-ought gap presents those connecting neuroscience and education with an intractable problem. Hume (1978) observed that from a set of descriptive or ‘is’ statements or premises it is not logically possible to derive a normative or ‘ought’ conclusion. Learning What is required is the addition of one or more normative Learning is what goes on in our heads or, better still, in our premises to the factual ones to enable an ought conclusion to brains. We learn all manner of things over a lifetime. Some of be drawn from the conjunction of is and ought premises. This the things we learn will be stored in our memory and recalled to the end of our days while other things is the problem that those advancing the are almost immediately forgotten. Some descriptive claims of neuroscience to be The advances in of our learning figures in our awareness able to solve prescriptive educational neuroscience can begin while other learning does not. Learning, concerns must address. a neural process, occurs in ways about to tell us more about how as Neuroscience which we have very little direct and Neuroscience, as an evolving field, is children learn, but immediate control, at least in schools. generating an increasing number of Neuroscience can tell us more and insights into the nature of the brain, how much more remains more about what happens when we especially its structures, functions and learn something, it can inform us how an open question. processes. We have already discovered and why we remember some things and much about neurons (brain cells) and how their axons and forget other things, it can advise what the consequences might dendrites connect via the synaptic gap to process information be of neural changes brought about by ageing and accident and received from our senses. We have found that the brain possesses by interventions such as surgery and medication. All of this is a degree of plasticity which facilitates the growth of new axon/ located firmly in the empirical realm of what is. dendrite connections and the pruning of old ones. It is evident The advances in neuroscience can begin to tell us more about that the brain consists of certain components which perform how children learn, but how much more remains an open particular functions related to learning and memory, amongst question. MRI scans might reveal where in the brain particular other things. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are being cognitive functions take place and trace out the sequence of used to track changes in the brain which appear to be connected cognitive operations which occur when this task or that is to the tasks people undertake under experimental or clinical undertaken. It might some day even be able to get down to the conditions. It is likely that there will be much more yet to come. micro-level of explaining how the electro-biochemical processes Whether we will ever arrive at a complete mapping of the brain in various parts of the brain make learning possible. Geake remains to be seen but as progress is made towards achieving this (2011), for example, suggests that we might in due course be goal it seems certain that there will be those in education or with able to “answer questions about learning, memory, motivation an interest in education, whether academics, politicians, policy- and so on” (p.46), all of which will be empirical solutions to makers, practitioners or parents, who will seek to harness the empirical problems. findings of neuroscience to achieve particular educational ends.

What practical implications can we draw from this body of Before they do so, however, it is important that they recognise empirical understanding? On the face of it, not much. There

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t ion’ Bridge d Practice?

seems to be little that points to any teaching practices which teachers could adopt to enhance student learning. We simply have no way of connecting what we might do as a teacher to what goes on in a child’s brain. We are not able to establish a causal connection between a particular teaching activity in the classroom and the learning which might take place via a child’s neural pathways. There are some interventions applied to students, such as medications, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), surgery, digital implants and the like, which certainly could be taken up, possibly with some benefit to learning, but doing so takes us beyond the narrow confines of neuroscience and into that of neuro-ethics. This shift is captured by the ‘if p then q’ conditional: if we want to raise student achievement in high stakes assessment then give them cognitive enhancers, or whatever. Empirically, it may well be the case that if p then q but whether we ought to value achievement in high stakes assessment and whether we are ethically justified in providing students with medications and other interventions to enhance memory are matters of deep public debate. That we can do something is never a justification that we ought to do it; something more is required in the form of an ethical argument which takes us beyond what neuroscience alone can offer.

in educational activities without some learning occurring. But education cannot be reduced to learning for there is far more to education than learning alone. Education is about valuing certain things and not other things, of becoming a particular sort of person, of being able to make moral judgements, and the like, all of which go well beyond the far more limited sphere of learning.

Further, not all learning has educational value. We learn many things which have no educational worth at all even though they may have value in some other areas of our lives. Learning how to cut our finger nails has no educational value but might have some value in a social sense of acceptable personal appearance.

Neuroscience has a very limited role to play in education. At the level of policy, Ferrari (2011) puts the matter thus:

Education What ought to be done brings us to education. Education is a normative activity when used in such expressions as ‘education is a good thing’ or ‘she is an educated person’ or ‘this is a worthwhile educational activity’ or ‘education is to be valued for its own sake’.

Education may require some learning to take place for it is hard to see how we could become educated or successfully engage

Ferrari cautions that while neuroscience can inform the aims of education it does not set them: “educational neuroscience can help fulfil the mandate of public education but only as a tool that is part of a broader conversation . . . about what schools should strive for” (Ibid., p.35). This might be good advice but it seems to be lost on those who are enthusiastic supporters of popular so-called brain-based teaching-learning approaches. Geake

We need an educational neuroscience that follows the medical model at least in this way: that pure research informs practice . . . But unlike medicine, education promotes values that reflect the kind of citizen and ultimately the kind of society we aspire to create. Although educational neuroscience necessarily involves evidence from cognitive science about the brain, it also concerns people and how they choose to live their lives, as shaped by the cultural influences they are exposed to (p.34).

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(2008) critiques four of these – multiple intelligences, split brain, 10 per cent and learning styles – although there are bound to be others: what they all appear to have in common, despite the claim of being based on neuroscience, is an almost complete disregard of what the advances in neuroscience tell us about the workings of the brain. Rather, some aspects of neuroscience are seized upon to give ‘respectable’ support to programmes, often linked to commercial purposes, which feed on parental anxieties for their children to do well at school. In such cases, the is-ought problem is brushed aside in the pursuit of financial gain by the promoters and the promise to parents of enhanced learning by their children. The financial gain is not likely to be matched by a similar gain in learning.

Conclusion Can neuroscience and education bridge the is-ought gap? Bruer’s (1997) remark that “Educational applications of brain science may come eventually but as of now neuroscience has little to offer teachers in terms of informing classroom practice” (p.4) still holds now as it did then. However, given the un-closable divide between the ‘is’ of neuroscience and the ‘ought’ of education it is inconceivable that significant educational applications will emerge from neuroscience. This is not to deny that neuroscience may very well tell us more about how the brain functions in regard to explaining learning and memory but it is to deny that a better empirical understanding of neural processing can ever have any prescriptive educational implications for classroom teaching and learning.

References Bruer, J. (1997) Education and the brain: A bridge too far. Educational Researcher. 26(8), 4–16 Ferrari, M. (2011) What can neuroscience bring to education?

Educational Philosophy and Theory. 43(1), 31–36.

Geake, J. (2008) Neuromythologies in education. Educational Research.

50(2), 123–133.

Geake, J. (2011) Position statement on motivations, methodologies, and practical implications of educational neuroscience research: fMRI studies of the neural correlates of creative intelligence.

Educational Philosophy and Theory. 42(1), 42–47.

Hume, D. (1978) A Treatise on Human Nature. (ed L.A. selby Bigge).

Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Klemm, W. (2011) Neuroscience: The hot new area in education.

Psychology Today Memory Medic. 28 September.

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OPINION: Positivism and Negativism – Tools of Mind for Leading Educators Lester Flockton

feedback, feedforward, Feedup, feeddown lester.flockton@otago.ac.nz

It is simplistic nonsense to think or suggest that within an education leadership context, positivism equates with “good”, “progressive”, “productive” or “forward thinking”, while negativism equates with “bad”, “backward looking”, or “unproductive”. Sure, in personality psychology, some so-called positive people do tend to have a shiny, optimistic and uncritical disposition, while some negatively skewed people can be over burdened by doom and gloom.

But here we are not talking about personality. We are talking about professional minds. Discerning leaders recognise that positivism and negativism co-exist in much the same way as yin and yang, particularly those leaders who are genuinely committed to high order professional integrity in their leadership. They recognise that there are policies, programmes, and promotions that should rightfully withstand rigorous scrutiny and critique before they are willingly admitted to professional practice and belief (which is not negativism), just as there are policies that are readily acceptable because they are widely known to be well grounded in proven success and have genuine benefits for teaching and learning (which is not positivism).

This particular column of School Lines was prompted after reading an editor's piece in a widely distributed weekly education publication. The editor noted that a principal, while commending the publication, urged less “negative” and more “positive” articles.

The editor responded by saying that articles that critically examine policies and issues would continue. Two things struck me about this. First, I read this particular publication reasonably often and it has very few articles of any length or depth. Indeed, the critiques tend to be relatively mild on the scale of things.

Second, the articles that the aforesaid principal presumably judge “negative” would very typically be critiques of current policies, programmes and promotions that are more often than not stamped “government”. Herein lies the professional calamity: critique is deemed negativity, which is a kind of thinking akin to flat earth postulation.

Government and its agencies, like any others in a democratic society, are perfectly entitled to dream up, drum up, knit and spin their ideas about what should be done, why it should be done, and how it should be done. But for leaders to simply accept such stuff at face value, to have blind faith, or to rush to flutter the school's flag on the mast of the bandwagon, is to greatly dishonour the true essence of professionalism. After all, professionalism is about altruism (the practice of doing our best for others), competence (doing the job well), and autonomy of mind (forming and exercising our own judgments about what is put before us).

So how well do we exercise our judgments, and how much

strength do they have? Sound judgments on serious matters can seldom be reached in an instant. They require skills of critical thinking, or “critical literacy”. Simply put, critical literacy ■■

■■

involves the analysis and critique of the relationships among texts, language, power, social groups and social practices Shows us ways to see, question and challenge the attitudes, values and beliefs that lie beneath the surface of written, visual, spoken, multimedia and performance texts http://www.education.tas.gov.au/english/critlit.htm

Too many principals and teachers, however, are vulnerable to the positivist ideologies that perpetuate a naive faith in the “promises” of policies, programmes and promotions that are put before them. It seems that most have little exposure to opportunities for critically exploring the implications of what

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they might be asked or told to do, let alone the resources and know-how to do this. How much time, for example, is set aside at staff meetings for open and informed critical analysis and debate around programmes or approaches before the school decides to follow them, whether or not in the prescribed form? How much importance is given to developing a professional culture where this can happen without fear of sanction? Are skills of critical thinking and analysis learned and practised as part of professional development? Is professional authority distributed and shared or is it assumed and imposed by a few? These are important questions that every leader who subscribes to high order professionalism is obliged to tackle.

Critical literacy is profoundly important in a nation state that professes democracy. Indeed, it is enshrined in The New Zealand Curriculum key competency of “thinking”. It would be sadly ironic therefore, for a school's leadership to deny itself and its colleagues ample opportunities for the exercising of critique within its own professional community, while expecting those same people to support students to develop the competency! If leaders and teachers don't do it, then how can we expect students to do it with confidence?

We have come to expect politicians and those responsible for promoting and activating their policies to assign the dismissive label of “negativism” to those who might question or challenge what they conjure up. Yet there is a paradox here. Sometimes the so-called “negativisms” give rise to “positivism”. A case in point: the design and flimsy justification for “Investing in Educational

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Success”. The insistent professional critique of this policy within the Primary sector led by sector leadership resulted in a distinctly positive outcome: its dismissal. Hurrah! It is possible for sense and sensibility to prevail.

Education in a democracy relies on talented lead educators who are true to the principles of a profession. While we know that leaders are too often shaped and professionally weakened by the contexts in which they work, a serious disservice is nonetheless done to by those who are unwilling to admit to the legitimacy and importance of critical analysis and professional resolve. Professional resolve is misrepresented when the insights and learning derived from critical literacy are dismissed as negativism.

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OPINION: Education for all Helen Kinsey-Wightman

Unsurprisingly, I have always been a passionate supporter of women’s right to be educated. Since I began working in a girls’ school I have begun to share this passion with my students more overtly. This week – with the goal of relationship building – I shared a short presentation about myself, my education and achievements, my family and my passions with the girls I will teach this year and I took the opportunity to remind them that according to UNESCO an estimated 31 million girls of primary school age and 34 million girls of lower secondary school age were not enrolled in school in 2011 – narrowing their horizons and undermining their potential to contribute to society.

I suggested that on the days when they struggle to get out of bed they should remind themselves that in many countries in the world they would be getting up to go off to work to earn money for their families; in order that their brothers could go to school. To silence the nagging voice in my head that laughingly compared my mother urging me (in vain!) to think of the starving children in Africa and eat up my brussel sprouts . . . I also told them about Malala Youfsazai.

I was really heartened to find that several of my Year 9 students knew who she was and something about her story. Malala grew up in Pakistan where the local Taliban had, at the time, banned girls from attending school. Her father, a school teacher, was approached by the BBC to find a schoolgirl who would be willing

to write a blog about the situation – unable to find a family prepared to take the risk, he suggested his own daughter. Over the next 3 years she became well known through her blogs and interviews with overseas press and in 2012 as she boarded her school bus a gunman called her name – when she turned he shot her in the head.

Malala was flown to Birmingham, UK where she slowly recovered and a petition was lodged in her name calling for all children worldwide to be at school by 2014. Following her recovery Malala went to school in the UK and continued to campaign for girls’ rights to education both in her own country and worldwide. On 10 October 2014, at the age of 17, Yousafzai was announced as the youngest ever co-recipient of the Nobel

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Peace Prize for her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.

Having worked as a teacher in Kuwait during the years after the Gulf War I taught many young Muslim girls whose families valued the opportunity for them to be educated in a bilingual environment where their cultural and religious beliefs would be respected whilst educational expectations would be high.

Here in New Zealand our schools have a growing number of young Muslim students from the Middle East and Asia, many of whom wear a hijab (headscarf) to school – watching these girls return to my own school this week I have begun to wonder how the ripples from the attacks, on Lindt Café in Sydney and the coordinated attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher Supermarket in Paris, over the Christmas period will affect them.

Whilst I believe in the right to free speech and could never condone the slaughter of the journalists working for Charlie Hebdo, I also believe in respect for the beliefs and values of others and could not stand comfortably alongside those who deliberately choose to mock and belittle others for beliefs they do not fully understand.

When Pope Francis was asked by a French journalist whether there were limits when freedom of expression meets freedom of religion, he responded:

"There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others," he said. "They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasparri (his companion on the Papal tour) if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit." NICOLE WINFIELD, ASSOCIATED PRESS JAN. 15, 2015.

The terror threats and assassinations by those who claim allegiance to the Islamic State – brought very close to home just before Christmas with events at the Lindt Café in Sydney – have changed the lives of many Muslims across the world who frequently feel forced to distance themselves from the activities of those who choose to kill in the name of Islam. I wonder what effect this is having on Muslims in New Zealand and my own school – it isn’t an easy question to frame, but we do need to ensure that our focus on wellbeing is inclusive of all.

Looking beyond our Muslim students, we live in an increasingly secular society and many of us work in schools where religious education does not form a part of our curriculum. I wonder what messages we send to the students of all faiths who have strong religious beliefs, what struggles they experience and how we can go about supporting them to ensure school is a supportive, positive place.

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