- There are approximately 60,000 young people struggling in New Zealand primary schools, according to education leaders. - Exercising education leadership in this context requires taking a holistic view of the big picture, maintaining accountability, empowering teams through communication and support, organizing resources effectively, and continuously upskilling oneself and others. - True education leadership is about creating a sense of unity and shared responsibility ("tātou") from the perspectives of different groups ("mātou" and "rātou").

1. Aligning the Talent Quest Professor Paul Dalziel AERU, Lincoln University

2. Mihi E ngātumuaki, e tau nei, tēnākoutoukatoa. Ka tinonuiākumihi o arohaki a koutouitēneirā. Kei temihiahauhokikingātaonga o ngātāngatawhenua o Aotearoa. Ka tinonui o tātoumahi; no reira, me āwhinatātouki a tātou. Nātōrourou, nātakurourou, ka oraaiteiwi. Tēnākoutou. Tēnākoutou. Kia oratātoukatoa.

3. Mihi Education leaders gathered here, greetings to you all. Many are my warm greetings to you today. I acknowledge also the treasures of the tāngatawhenua of New Zealand. We have a lot of work to do, so let us help each other. From your food basket and my food basket, the people will be kept well. Greetings, greetings, may we all enjoy good health.

4. Introduction This is a facilitated session based on my work as science leader for the Education Employment Linkages research programme. The focus of the session is: What does it mean to exercise education leadership (in the context of a specific issue)?

5. Where in education are we leading? Early childhood education (including kōhanga reo) Primary/intermediate (including kurakaupapa) Secondary Tertiary (including wānanga) Business/policy

6. Introducing the Issue In July the New Zealand Institute published a well-received discussion paper on “two proposals to reduce youth disadvantage”.

7. ‘More ladders, fewer snakes’ proposes that accelerated roll-out of e-learning to low decile schools and improving the school-to-work transition will materially reduce youth unemployment and resulting social issues.

8. One Symptom of the Issue

9. Another Distressing Symptom

10. Summary by the NZ Institute

11. An Insider’s Perspective Ernie Buutveld is Immediate Past President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation. He is Principal of Havelock School in the Marlborough Sounds. While he was President of NZPF, he made the following observation about students in New Zealand primary schools.

12. An Insider’s Perspective “There is a small number of children in our schools who are struggling – for all sorts of reasons. The number varies. The Minister of Education believes the number is one in five. This is still just less than the OECD average of 21%, but significantly higher than the numbers cited by educators and leading academics, who agree the reality in our primary schools is more like 15-16%.” - Ernie Buutveld (2010).

13. An Insider’s Perspective “There is a small number of children in our schools who are struggling – for all sorts of reasons. The number varies. The Minister of Education believes the number is one in five. This is still just less than the OECD average of 21%, but significantly higher than the numbers cited by educators and leading academics, who agree the reality in our primary schools ismore like 15-16%.” - Ernie Buutveld (2010).

14. There are about 400,000 primary school students in New Zealand, so that the figure of 15% suggests there are 60,000 young people struggling in our primary schools.

15. The Question What does it mean to exercise educationleadership in the context of 60,000 young people struggling at primary school? I am NOT asking you for solutions. What does it take to be an educationleader in this context?

16. The Question What does it mean to exercise educationleadership in the context of 60,000 young people struggling at primary school? Brainstorm ideas for 6 minutes. Write/Draw/Prepare something creative in 6 minutes.

17. The Question What does it mean to exercise educationleadership in the context of 60,000 young people struggling at primary school? REPORT BACK

18. Elements I prepared earlier… The Big Picture Accountability Teamwork Organisation Upskilling

19. The Big Picture Facing up to difficult issues Gathering a sound evidence base Using best practice Focusing on the overall goal Fostering creativity

20. Accountability Maintaining accountability to the young people we are seeking to help learn. Empowering young people to measure success.

21. Teamwork Empowering other leaders Supporting networks Communicating with other parts of the overall system Celebrating and rewarding success

22. Organisation Organising resources Organising people Organising the right sequence But fostering creativity!

23. Upskilling Upskilling yourself Upskilling your team Upskilling your students

24. Education Leadership The Big Picture Accountability Teamwork Organisation Upskilling

25. Conclusion I want to finish this session with an exercise that in a sense we could do only in Aotearoa New Zealand. In preparing this exercise I am indebted to the late Michael King who argued that te reo Māori is an important part of Being Pākehā.

26. Pronouns with Two Groups!!

27. Mātou and Rātou

28. Tātou

29. Conclusion No word in English conveys the power of tātou in te reo Māori. It is an example of why I agree with Michael King that te reo Māori is an important part of Being Pākehā. “Creating tātou from mātou and rātou” is common in Māori practice.

30. Education Leadership I think education leadership is about creating TĀTOU from MĀTOU and RĀTOU. The Big Picture Āccountability Teamwork Organisation Upskilling