Leading Learning for School Improvement

Over the last couple of days I have attended the NZ Primary Principals Conference and managed to hear some (unfortunately not all) of the presenters. The key focus of the conference was 'Power to Innovate' and presenters were skillful at weaving this theme through their presentations. A summary of tweets throughout the conference is available here.

School self-review and strategic planning are particular interests of mine so I really enjoyed listening to a session with James Nottingham - Innovative Leadership - lessons from around the world.  James highlighted the purpose of creating and having and a clear vision, that is shared, owned and implemented by the people who create it. He referred to the following diagram - emphasizing the importance of always starting with the vision, not the event.

Adapted from Organising for Learning by Daniel Kim, 2010

When leaders work with their communities to identify and develop a vision they undertake a process of clarifying 'educative purpose, values and core beliefs about learning.' Part of this process provides an opportunity to unpack and understand individual mental models. This is a critical phase - as only through this phase can we gain an understanding of others perspectives. Using this process to develop shared understandings and beliefs promotes ownership and commitment towards achievement of the vision. 

Vision provides a goal, a focus and direction for future school growth and development and it is our job to turn the vision into reality. I have continued to reflect on James's presentation. As a school leader I would be asking the following questions:

• Can all members of our school community clearly articulate our vision?
• Is this shared, owned and enacted by all?
• Is our vision a constant point of reference to guide our development and  decision making?
• Is it consistently referenced and used to promote learning?
• Is it visible?

In my opinion the sign of a good conference is when you leave with more questions, thoughts and wonderings than when you arrived. The opportunity to think, reflect, challenge, question, discuss, consider is invaluable, but as Sir Graham Henry so aptly reminded us, "It is not about the game.... it is all about the people."

Are you ready for this?

I recently caught up with some of my 'nearest and dearest' and had the pleasure of observing my great nephew as he contemplated the differences between technologies. He had been playing a game on an iPad and then switched to watch a DVD on a portable DVD player. I watched with interest as he pinched and expanded his fingers, on the screen, in an attempt to make the screen bigger. As a two year old he has already identified some of the key functions, similarities and differences between technologies. He knows which technologies to use for particular functions.

I have reflected on this over the last couple of days and I wonder - 'Are we ready for him?' As a two year old he has another three years of pre-school learning before he enters his first primary school. Imagine how much knowledge he will have developed by then.

What will his first school learning environment look, sound, feel like? Will we have learning programmes, that are personalised and designed

• to build on his existing knowledge, fostering new knowledge
• to challenge his thinking and stimulate his inquiring mind
• to capture and foster his creativity
• to promote the dispositions of 21st century learning eg. collaboration, risk taking, open-mindedness, reflection
• to integrate technology seamlessly and discerningly

He will be expecting this. Will we have the capacity and capability to deliver?