Leadership in Action

Student-centred

leadership in action at Botany Downs Secondary College

When a copy of Distinguished Professor Viviane Robinson’s book Student-Centered Leadership accidentally turned up on the desk of Botany Downs Secondary College principal Mike Leach, he swiftly tucked it away for safe keeping. “The book was actually meant for Associate Principal Karen Brinson and it was left on my desk by mistake,” says Mike with a grin. “I took it home, read it and thought wow, what a great book to share with the leadership team at school.” So, the next day and twenty copies later every member of the leadership team at Botany Downs Senior College received a personal copy of the book and Mike set about planning a professional development day to engage the school’s leaders in discussion and critique about how they contributed to and supported student outcomes at the school.

Viviane Robinson is perhaps best known in New Zealand for her three-year research project that culminated in the publication in 2009 of the Ministry of Education’s Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) iteration School Leadership and Student Outcomes: What works and why. Her research brought student-centred leadership to the cognisance of principals, teachers, researchers, professional development providers and policy makers around the country by identifying the relative impact of five critical leadership dimensions on student achievement and the knowledge and skills leaders needed to engage in the practices involved in each of the dimensions. In Student-Centered Leadership Viviane builds on her research from the BES and transforms it into a digestible and practical resource that school leaders can use to experiment with changing how they lead and transform schools for the better.

“I have been a principal for 14 years,” said Mike. “I was in Otara for six years when schools were bombarded with initiatives, research and all sort of things being done to them. Most of the research we got given was written in a way that makes it hard to take, interpret and embed into practice. Viviane’s book was not just a quick read, it was written in a way that was easy to understand and guides you through the steps you need to take. It offers some challenging questions in itself but also creates good discussion points through some of the comments Viviane makes in the book.”

As a principal, Mike understands that teachers come into leadership roles in a variety of different ways and for some it is simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time. He believes that taking ownership and responsibility for raising student outcomes is critical for school leaders and that his role, as principal, is to facilitate collaboration and professional discussion so that staff can critique and present their various ideas.

“Schools are incredibly busy and with 1,800 kids and 150 staff at Botany, once the day starts it is full on,” says Mike. “Most school leaders simply don’t get the time or opportunity to think and reflect about what leadership in education really looks like or how to distribute it. After reading the book I wanted to create a space for the leadership team to engage in professional discussion around what student engagement and student-centred learning looks like. As a Microsoft mentor school the leadership team were also talking about embedding some of the Microsoft competencies around personalised learning, collaboration and self regulation — all of which fit nicely into the leadership dimensions Viviane talks about.”

Mike organised a professional development day for the leadership team at the beginning of last year using the book as the primary focus for discussion. “By creating the time and space for discussion before school started for the year our leadership team had the opportunity to reflect on their practice,” says Mike. “I didn’t want to dictate what happened on the day so we worked in groups to discuss, critique and present around each of Viviane’s five dimensions and three capabilities for effective student-centred leadership.”

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FA CU L T Y O F E D U CAT I ON THE U NIVERS ITY O F AU C KLAND

Each group consisted of a mix of whānau and department leaders who were asked to read and focus on one chapter in the book. Mike asked each group to consider the dimension or capability, why it was important and how it translated into practice in the school. They used the reflective questions at the end of each chapter to guide discussion, critique and debate before relating it back specifically to their school context.

Mike asked leaders to consider how each chapter related specifically to their practice by asking them to consider the powerful ideas in the chapter and what they meant for their own leadership.

Each group wrote a statement about what they thought the chapter meant and presented back to the group. “The power of writing a statement instead of a question creates discussion,” he says. “When you write a question it can be open ended. A statement can be critiqued because there is no right or wrong.”

Mike equates the process the leadership team went through to a “mini inquiry” and emphasises the importance of driving professional discussion internally rather than relying solely on external consultants to deliver professional development. “Unless external work is embedded into the school it will never be effective,” says Mike. “We have so much expertise within the school that can be shared through this process.” For many of the school leaders this was the first opportunity they had to think about and reflect about what educational leadership looks like and the responsibilities they have as leaders to improve student outcomes. “It is certainly hard to get the time to have these discussions but the rewards are evident when the conversation in the staff room throughout the year moves from administration issues into discussing key things about teaching and learning at the school.”

All the discussion notes, ideas and outcomes from the day were then loaded into a shared OneNote, a computer application designed for freeform information gathering and collaboration, so that teachers could continually build on the work and reflect on what their outcomes were throughout the year. In his reflection and review meetings with the leadership team each term, Mike includes questions related to aspects of the five leadership dimensions and their reflective practice. He also meets with heads of learning and whānau leaders each week and makes sure to include a focus on the dimensions and capabilities. “We will talk about how their leadership is focused on improving student outcomes and the evidence they have to support this,” says Mike. “We also discuss departmental goals and specific targets they are focusing on in their learning area and why.”

Deputy Principal Michael Hart says the chapter on ensuring quality teaching (dimension three) has had a significant impact on how he constructs and frames conversations with heads of learning and whānau leaders to build their confidence using data in the school. “Viviane explains the use of data really clearly which reinforces our impetus to use data effectively in the school,” says Michael. “It reinforces the way we are using it and the way we have incorporated data into our appraisal process for teachers. I had read the BES but the important thing about this book is that it is palatable. It isn’t new - it is accessible and more meaningful.”

Michael is responsible for the data the school is collecting and using. He is currently examining whether the data is making a difference to teaching practice in the school and has introduced data mentoring for students to help them understand and interpret their data to inform their subject choices for NCEA. Parents also have access to the data through a new parent portal which allows them access to student’s data in real-time. “The next step for us is

to have the data used in formative feedback and assessment-based reporting with students,” says Michael.

Michael is also using this chapter to review the staff appraisal system. Teachers are required to use data from their NCEA or junior subject areas in their appraisal and make comments on it. He uses Viviane’s reflective questions to guide discussions in appraisal meetings. “This encourages teachers to start thinking about using data to inform and change their practice,” says Michael. “Some of the key questions in their teacher appraisals are ‘what have you done this year or are doing this year to raise student achievement?’ and ‘what evidence do you have that achievement has been raised’,” he says. “Teachers’ professional development goals are constructed from these as an inquiry into their own practice.”

Michael says that while the school is making good use of school-wide and department based data they are working on bridging the gap for continuous data use by teachers within the classroom. “That would be a good inquiry for me this year,” he considers. “Does this actually make a difference?”

Mike also found Viviane’s guidance on building relational trust, one of the three capabilities of student–centred leadership, particularly valuable when he faced some challenges managing staff through change last year. He went back to the book and realised they hadn’t spent enough time on building relational trust with staff before implementing the changes. “It is so important to embed change and bring staff alongside,” says Mike. “So we built on this by attending a session run by Viviane. This certainly helped to guide us through the process and look at how we could do things differently.”

“One of the things about this book and what we have started is that the potential is unlimited,” says Mike. “It is how you use it, whether it is to start a professional discussion, or a reminder about what it means to be a good leader. It is simple to read and gives very good messages. There are few books you can read as an educational leader in 2-3 hours and get a full picture of what you should be doing.”

Michael agrees: “The key message for me is that our leadership should be around raising student achievement. We have to manage the school well, we have to do NZQA, we have to ensure the school functions efficiently but the key to our leadership is to make sure we are raising student outcomes and that we can verify what we are doing.”

As a principal Mike feels it is important that professional development opportunities like this are open to all teachers, and this year he is planning to share what the leadership team have learned with other teachers in the school. “I see leadership in education every time a teacher walks into a classroom or into a meeting,” he says. “Leadership is not bound by age or hierarchical systems, it is bound by situation. We have teachers in the school with incredible leadership capabilities. For me the value of StudentCentered Leadership is summed up in Viviane’s opening statement: “The more leaders focus their leadership, their work, and their learning on the core business of teaching and learning, the greater will be their influence on student outcomes.”

Student Centered Leadership by Viviane Robinson is available from Kohia Education Centre.

Order online at store.educationcentre.auckland.ac.nz/ student-centered-leadership

TE KUAKA ISSUE 1 2013

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