Principals’ Federation Annual Conference

Speech to the Principals’ Federation Annual Conference on 5 July 2008 at Christchurch Town Hall.

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Good morning everyone and thank you, Paddy [Ford – NZPF President] for inviting me here today.

I would like to take this opportunity, first of all, to introduce myself to you. I know I have met many of you in my visits to schools, but for most of you this may be the first time that you hear me speak.

I am one of you. I began my working life as a classroom teacher. Like many of you I went into teaching because I wanted to make a difference to the lives of young New Zealanders. I was then, and am now, passionate about teaching and learning. Like you, I know that the future of the next generation lies in your hands as teachers and educational leaders.

I began my teaching career as a secondary school teacher and for over 20 years I taught in a number of secondary schools, intermediate schools, in special education and in primary schools. I also did a stint teaching in the United Kingdom. Immediately prior to being elected to Parliament I taught history and English at Rutherford High School in my electorate of Te Atatu. My partner of 30 years, as many of you will know, is a primary school teacher and is currently Principal of a U6 and decile 6 school in Te Atatu, West Auckland.

I can reassure you that I understand the work you do, the pressures you are under and the issues that are important to you. Indeed, I hear these personally every night when I return home!

I also know that the best place to learn about the real issues being faced by teachers and educational leaders is by visiting classrooms and schools. Since being appointed Minister of Education I have visited more than 150 schools all over New Zealand. This morning I visited Aorangi School in Papanui.

In keeping with the themes of this conference, Learning Leaders, Leading Learners, I would like to talk about the government’s vision for education and the key role that quality leadership in schooling has in helping to realise our goals.

As principals, you have a key leadership role to play in taking our students and schools forward on this challenging journey. It is vital that you as principals are given the opportunity to recapture your role as professional leaders.

For our part, the government has invested in professional development including our on-going support of the Aspiring Principals programme. I am keen to see this pilot continue and expand if possible. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the NZPF for your support of this work.

As principals, you are the key leaders who will inspire and lead the way. This isn’t just my opinion. As you’ll have heard the Prime Minister say in her opening address, research tells us that principals who are leading the learning at their school make the biggest difference to student performance.

Principals’ salaries need to reflect the ever-increasing workload as well as provide an adequate incentive to encourage our best possible teachers into principalship.

This is why I made the settlement of teachers’ and principals salaries a priority. I also wanted to ensure that the workload of principals is recognised and remunerated accordingly. You will have effectively received a 17% payrise, and also for the first time received additional financial recognition of your role as educational leaders in literacy and numeracy.

We need to reaffirm the principal as professional leader. This means we need to look for ways to reduce paper work and administrative compliance. Are there others who are not principals who can do some of this work? For example, we could trial the networking of small rural schools to reduce compliance and administrative overload.

So I want to see principals free to engage with their teachers as professional leaders, focussing on student learning outcomes.

There is concern that the average age of principals is 55 years and yet the average age of retirement is 58 years! Clearly we need to support principals to remain in the job, as well as recruit new principals into leadership.

Following this years Budget schools will get an increase of $171.6 million over four years in operations grant funding, a 5% increase which includes $65.3 million over four years to help meet the costs of information communications technology (ICT).

However, clearly the cost and complexity of ICT continues to be a problem. I am currently looking at a number of ways for schools to access effective technical resources.

One possibility is to free up 5YA funds for use on high end ICT resources like server capabilities and other hardware. Currently I am aware that the only ICT cost that can be claimed under 5YA is for cabling. This may present a potential danger if schools choose to invest in ICT by deferring other maintenance projects. Principals and boards would have to make these decisions carefully. However, it is my intention to explore how we can provide more flexibility to principals and boards over 5YA funds.

Technical support is another area where longer term solutions could be found by investigating the way that schools could network and cluster ICT. I would be interested in hearing your feedback on this issue.

Furthermore, the contestability of ICT Professional Development (PD) has been raised with me on a number of occasions. There is a view that the time has come for this to be available when each school is ready and willing to undertake ICT PD. I am sympathetic to this idea and would like to explore how this could be achieved.

Each day I receive emails from people throughout the sector, sharing with me their own passion for education. Each day I read these emails and they provide me with a wonderful insight, although regretfully I cannot always find time to reply the same day. However, you will receive a response from me.

Other issues raised with me recently, not only via email but also in person, were Special Needs Support, Special Education and managing behavioural issues. I know that this is an area that is very difficult for you as principals.

While there are many examples of success and many fine professionals engaged, the system is fragmented, over-burdened by red tape and paperwork. Not enough of the money earmarked for Special Education is actually getting to the school level and more importantly to the individual student with special needs.

There may need to be radical restructuring on how these resources are delivered and also how we can most effectively reallocate existing funds. I am hearing that the role of Resource Teachers for Learning and Behaviour should be further reviewed, as does the funding of ORS students. To that end if the government is re-elected, then I will give a directive to the Ministry of Education for a full review of Special Education.

The liaison between schools and homes also requires some attention. There is an obvious link between dysfunctional homes and student behavioural issues. Cross agency work is likely to be the most realistic way to combat this. I am talking with my colleagues Ruth Dyson and Maryan Street about this. I am keen to explore how we can extend the very successful Social Workers in Schools (SWIS) programme in partnership with CYF.

I think we would all agree that these are the main issues facing the sector. I know that compliance is a huge problem and that many principals find themselves bogged down in paperwork. I believe there is a way through this without having to dilute the principle of self-managing schools.

However, there is no blank cheque, our priority has to be around how we can more effectively use resources. I am keen to hear from you and I will continue to listen to the issues raised with me in the daily emails I receive and at the coal face when I visit schools around New Zealand.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind union and federation members that we are all advocates for our sector. It is vital the message is heard loud and clear that teaching is a profession we can be proud of. My experience at the APEC Education Ministers’ conference in Peru reminded me of the fantastic reputation the New Zealand education system has on the world stage.

Thank you again for the opportunity to speak to you today. I look forward to talking more with you, and continuing our joint efforts to build on our education successes.