Ten years ago, she took over and turned the place upside down.
Where there was failure, there's now a 92% university entrance mark for Year 13s. It was less than 50% when she started.
The article gives the impression of a driven, serious, and quite determined leader, there for the right reasons.
We need more of them.
Interestingly, one of the things she found most difficult was not the kids, but the teachers.
Getting them to believe the kids could actually do better and be better. Be more successful. That was the challenge.
Thank goodness she's succeeded.
We often, rightly, put focus on the curriculum and the style of teaching and the assessments, but at the end of the day, leadership, vision, goals, and guts are what drive organisations to improve.
It's as true in business as it is in schools.
Ryan Bridge is a New Zealand broadcaster who has worked on many current affairs television and radio shows. He currently hosts Newstalk ZB's Early Edition - where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
Yes in my many years in staff rooms I noticed teachers were a negative lot. This was explained to me by a very experienced colleague who said that teachers spend their working lives finding ways to fail the students so end up failing themselves. It only got worse further up the food chain as failed teachers ran from the classroom into management roles, and then the worst of them went into either the ministry or the union.
Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach. Those who cannot teach join the union to help fend off any attack on their own failings.
Yes, Anon 10.29, that is an old and somewhat cruel saying, from Bernard Shaw wasn't it? But cynicism aside there may be an element of truth. Hand a "doer" a clock & they will use to measure the passage of time,...& get on with "doing".
Hand a clock to a teacher (I was one myself)& he/she will take the back of it apart to find out what makes it tick.
Both qualities are needed in any society ..just need to make sure teachers stay in theur lane & don't get involved in management of their field.,
Coming from a teacher family and being involved in education most of my life, I find Anonymous's comments 10:29 AM fairly negative. From my perspective it is academia , politicians and NZ educational institutions that have systematically destroyed our once world class education system .The teachers in schools are victims of this as much as the students .
Disastrous Whole Language reading method which resulted in us having the worst reading scores in the English speaking world was a complete brain-child of Marie Clay , an educational psychologist at Auckland University . Teachers early on when Whole Word and Whole Language was being imposed on schools , spoke out , but consequently lost their jobs or grading .
It is therefore destructive ideologies and theories that have produced the appalling standards and values in our schools.
Progressive Education ideology is the enemy and it is so entrenched it is going to be extremely difficult to oust.
Hearing of a secondary principal who has achieved good results is encouraging . A family member who taught advanced STEM subjects at a secondary school , moved into a job , with twice the salary. Here is a massive problem. Also it is progressivism, theory that promotes child -centered education ideas that has resulted in such bad behaviour in students as well as poor academic standards.This , behaviour , is what drives many competent teachers out.
Please Anonymous read up and become more knowledgeable about the real evils that are affecting our schools .Your analysis is quite accurate .at one level, but not helpful in fixing things. I agree the teacher unions have been radicalized and are part of the problem. Gaynor
Things got worse when special needs kids were mainstreamed. They are a huge distraction to concentration of other students and the teacher.
And it is plain cruelty when you see a frail child in a wheelchair sitting in a biting cold wind with no hat or jacket so they can watch the sports activity.
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